Contract Renewal Statement

 Academic Years 2010-2012

Ryan Calabretta-Sajder

Since my last contract renewal in December 2011, the Italian Language Program has continued to grow in every category: student enrollment, course curricula, extra activities offered within the program, and even outside funding.  Both the interest and sentiment revolving around the Italian Language Program has grown continuously better, and I hope to create a stronger, more diverse program in the years to come.

Student Enrollment:

Student enrollment in the Italian Language Program has been greater than it has been in the last four to five years.  Intermediate Italian hosts an average of ten students per semester, and in Fall 2011, students requested a three-hundred level course, which has nine students, an extremely high number compared to past enrollments.  The program has continued to grow; last year I created and taught Italian 301 and Italian 302.  Due to the contact hour changes and study abroad credits, the Italian Program did not offer Italian 301 this year; however, the program will offer Italian 302 in Spring 2012.  Three students will be applying for the Certificate in Language and Cultural Competency and next year at least four more.   I hope to continue to develop the program, enticing more students to choose to study Italian by keeping the curricula fresh and interesting, offering numerous outside opportunities, and even creating internship opportunities for students in Houston and abroad.

Course curricula:

During my first year at Rice University, I quickly learned about the students’ needs, interests, and the student learning outcomes set forth by the CSL.  Therefore, I decided to change the Italian Language Curriculum to become more grounded in the communicative approach through the five skills set forth by ACTFL – reading, writing, speaking, listening, and culture – built around the five Cs: cultures, communication, communities, connections, and comparisons.

In my second year at Rice, I focused on reorganizing the Intermediate Italian curriculum.  I completely redesigned it basing it on language, culture, and cinema rather than literature, which was its previous state.  I do incorporate literature into the curriculum; however, it is no longer the foundation of the course.  I selected a new textbook, and students spend much time communicating on numerous concepts along with maintaining blogs, digital storytelling projects, a cuisine blog/cooking project, conducting interviews, and taking trips to the Menil with an intense description project and to the opera along with a composition.  Students have truly benefited from the textbook change (Immagina from Vista), and I am currently considering changing the Elementary Italian textbook for next academic year since students have responded so well to this grammar manual.  Students also embark on an extensive study of twelve of the twenty regions in Italy.  Along with this study, students watch a film revolving around each region students are studying in class.  Students have been very responsive to the new materials and continue to be engaged in the courses.  Additionally, I created a new three hundred level course entitled Italian 330: “Madonnas and Divas: Images of and from Italian Woman.”  This course introduces students to diverse images of Italian women from the Middle Ages to the present.  Students study woman through diverse media (art, literature, cinema, politics, and history) and cover the feminist movement in Italy.  Simultaneously they are taught to analyze literature and cinema.  This course is one of few offered in the Center for the Study of Languages which falls under “Languages Across the Curriculum” and is cross-listed with the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality and Film Studies.

In the past, three hundred level courses in Italian were content courses.  After discussion with the director, Dr. Wendy Freeman, we decided Italian should also offer advanced language courses.  Italian 301: Advanced Italian for Written and Oral Communication aims at fine-tuning students’ written and oral proficiency in Italian while introducing them to advanced and specialized modes of communication, emphasizing stylistic variations and lexical nuances. Students increase their knowledge of contemporary Italian culture through various media as expressed through literary, journalistic, and creative projects.  Students write seven stylized components along with six diverse presentations.  They are asked to complete basic research in Italian.  To study advanced linguistic concepts, students use an Italian grammar manual from Italy, which focuses on the intricacies of the language.

In Spring 2011, I created a course entitled “L’amore nella tradizione italiana”.  As the students’ first content course taught in Italian, I decided to offer a broad-ranged course so it would interest many students.  In this course, students examined the concept of love from the Troubadour poets (in Italian), through the Middle Ages and Renaissance and then examining the ‘love of nation’ which arises during the 1800s with the Unification of Italy.  In the 1900s, students read poetry concerning love of nature and the course concluded examining love of family with Lessico familiare and ‘other’ love.  Currently, I am designing another Italian 302 course (second semester of the Advanced Italian curriculum), which will linguistically continue the first semester course but will culturally follow a diverse theme.  In this course, students will examine the migration phenomenon which Italy has faced since the turn of the century.  We will approach Italy as both country of emigration but also immigration, through a historical, cinematic, literary, cultural, and sociological approach, keeping in mind the current events of Italy.  This course will incorporate video conferencing first hand with migrants but also with government officials working with migrants in Sicily.

Over the summer of 2013, I am planning on launching a new Italian proficiency exam.  The current exam has been in place for over five years and is in need fine-tuning and a strong foundation reflecting ACTFL’s standards.  The exam has already been structured and my aim is to make it more proficiency based and less grammatically focused.

Study Abroad Opportunities:

During my first year at Rice University, I created a study abroad opportunity for students in Taormina, Sicily.  The program is a complete immersion opportunity; students live in home-stays with native speakers, take intensive language study, attend on-site lectures in Italians and activities (thematic lectures and films,) on campus in Italian, receive free entry to the functions of the Taormina International Film Festival along with a certificate of accreditation from the Italian ministry of Education, and are exposed to diverse optional cultural activities.  Last year, for example, Babilonia offered two Sicilian Jazz concerts and two book presentations while Rice University was in Taormina.  Students were able to meet and discuss with two Sicilian authors along with Deborah Young, artistic director of the film festival and Vanity Fair magazine.  Last summer, students say a play based on the monologue of an author from Taormina.  After seeing the play, students meet the author at a book signing on campus.  Additionally, one of my students performed a violin concert on campus.  Each year I have added more programs as part of the experience.  In 2011 and 2012, students spent the weekend in Palermo, Italy, experienced LiberaTerra (a program which educates people about the realities of the Sicilian mafia and introduces them to the history of the anti-mafia movement, which is very strong in Sicily and Italy at large), and enjoyed a cooking class completely in Italian.  For 2013, I am considering adding another week to the program in Palermo through our university exchange agreement.

In June 2011, Rice University signed an exchange agreement with the University of Palermo in Sicily for one student or faculty member each semester.  This agreement will allow a Rice student to be completely immersed in an Italian university without the hassle of organizing housing, transferring credits, or worrying about financials.  Moreover, this summer our students spent the weekend in University of Palermo housing for free.  Additionally, I hope to nurture this relationship and attempt to receive an advanced graduate student who studies FL pedagogy to assist in teaching courses in the future.

Extra curricular activities:

Since my arrival at Rice, I have consistently tried to create Italian opportunities and contacts for my students and the program.  During my first year, I worked with my students to create Circolo Italiano, the Italian club on campus along with Tavola Italiana, the Italian conversation hour.  Each year, Circolo Italiano grows and becomes diversified.  During my first year, Circolo Italiano attended Festa Italiana with support from the CSL while last year they volunteered at the festival.  This year, however, Circolo Italiano will be teaching children Italian at Festa Italiana hosted by the Italian Cultural and Community Center.  Last year, students began to take initiative and organize diverse events, not just social ones.  For International Education week last year, students presented on the negative stereotypes of Italian Americans in the media through the Office of International Affairs.

In Spring 2010, I organized the CSL International Film Festival.  As part of that activity, Dr. Antonello Borra (Associate Professor, University of Vermont) introduced the Italian film Le fate ignoranti and offered a poetry reading to my students in Intermediate Italian and gave a faculty workshop using cinema in the L2 classroom.  Last year, students were invited to a lecture I gave at the Italian Cultural Community Center (ICCC) on Pinocchio.  Because I serve on the Board of Directors at the ICCC, students have begun to attend various activities there, in particular the cinema series.

This academic year, I received funding from the Ugo di Portanova Foundation to sponsor lectures in Italian. In October 2011, I organized the showing of Mamma Roma with an introduction by cinema scholar Sandra Celli Harris (University of Houston) thanks to funding from the CSL.  The Portanova Foundation sponsored Dr. Colleen Ryan’s (Associate Professor, Indiana University Bloomington) lecture entitled “The Feminine Sacred in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Mamma Roma” along with Dr. Elisabetta D’Amanda’s lecture entitled “Nouvelle Vague and Intimism in a Meeting of Fiction and Reality in the Cinema of Mimmo Calopresti” (March 30, 2012), and lastly Dr. Diana Iuele Colilli’s lecture entitled “The Italian Presence in Canada: Can Italiese Survive” (April 4, 2012).   In February 2013, Dr. Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean of the John D. Calandra Institute will be lecturing on Italian Migration to America.   In Spring 2013, Dr. Daniela Bini (Cavaliere d’Italia, Professor of French & Italian, Chair of French & Italian, University of Texas Austin) will also give a lecture, most likely on a theme revolving around Italian theatre.  As one can see, even the outside activities revolving around the Italian program are on the rise.

Awards & Grants:

At the end of my first year at Rice (May 2010), I was awarded the Sarofim Teaching Award for Excellence from the School of the Humanities.  I am very proud of this award because overall I am a teacher first and a researcher second.  I am dedicated to my students and the betterment of their linguistic and cultural proficiency.  Additionally, I have received two technology grants from the Center for the Study of Languages and the CSL Lab.  In May 2010, I worked with two CSL colleagues to create and implement E-portfolios across the L2 curriculum.  In May 2011, I was awarded the grant for a project entitled “Learning Language and Culture through the Lyric,” which I am currently implementing in my Elementary courses.

Conferences and Presentations:

Since my last review, I am been very active with my research, although as my teaching award attests, I am first and foremost dedicated to my teaching responsibilities and the innovation of my classroom.

• American Association of Teachers of Italian; Chair & Organizer: Bridging the Gap: Technology in the L2/FL Classroom. Strasbourg, France. May 2013.
• American Association of Teachers of Italian; “iExploring Intermediate Italian.” Strasbourg, France. May 2013.
• Modern Language Association: “Looking through the Glass in I cento passi (2000): Felicia Impastato as Seen by Lacan.” Boston, MA. January 2013.
• Modern Language Association; Chair & Organizer: Italian Cinema: Death or Rebirth? – A New Look at Contemporary Cinema. Boston, MA. January 2013.
• American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages; “The Fourth Gaze – Women Contemplating being Woman in La bestia nel cuore (2005).” Philadelphia, PA. November 2012.
• South Central Modern Language Association; “Feminist (Re)Awakenings in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Calderon.” San Antonio, TX. Nov. 2012.
• “A Film Symposium on the New Trends in Modern and Contemporary Italian Cinema.” Indiana University Bloomington, Dept. of French and Italian. Round Table Presentation: “The Use of Cinema in the Italian L2 Classroom;” A Comparative Study of Pinocchio in the Elementary Italian Curriculum. April 2012.
• “A Film Symposium on the New Trends in Modern and Contemporary Italian Cinema.” Indiana University Bloomington, Dept. of French and Italian. Presentation: “Tutti a tavola! Food as Aphrodisiac in Ferzan Ozpetek’s Gay Trilogy.” April 2012.
• Modern Language Association: “The Queering of the Rainbow: Color, Class, and Sexual Identity in La finestra di fronte. Seattle, WA. January 2012.
• Modern Language Association: Round Table on Italian Cinema. Seattle, WA. January 2012.
• American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages; “Connecting Worlds with the E-Portfolio: In Pursuit of Better Assessment.” Denver, CO. November 2011.

I would like to highlight my dedication to FL pedagogy, methodology, and curriculum development along with the use of technology in the FL classroom.  I have presented at two ACTFL conferences and would like the opportunity to present at CALICO or IALT; however,  I am always with the students in Sicily since those conferences are usually in the summer months.  I will be presenting again at ACTFL this November and I presented my Elementary Italian II course on a cinema and pedagogy round table at the Indiana University Bloomington Film Symposium.  I have, however, chaired three sessions on the use of technology in the FL classroom at the American Association of Teachers of Italian (ATTI) Erice Conference (summer 2011) and will be chairing another in May 2013.  I always frequent pedagogy sessions at ATTI conferences and am active in the AP Italian curriculum groups.  In addition, I am a certified AP Italian reader and I am in the process of becoming an AP Italian Trainer.

Publications and Research Interests:

Second Language Acquisition Research:

I am working with a colleague on a study concerning micro-blogging and its function in the FL classroom.  Although small, our study focuses on the user-friendliness of a micro-blogging program called “Tumblr.”  We choose “Tumblr” instead of “Twitter” because with “Tumblr” students can leave text/written messages and audio messages.  This study will examine not only types of errors versus frequency of error but also the cultural knowledge learned and shared amongst the group.  Students respond to questions prompted by the instructor at the beginning of the semester, but by the end, they take control of the dialogue and create their own conversations.  This research project should be completed by mid-spring 2013, and we will like to publish the article in a technology focused FL journal like CALICO.

Another pedagogical project I would like to continue researching is a project on Digital Storytelling.  This is another project which I have built into my Italian curricula at Rice University.  Students create diverse types of Digital Stories across the Italian curricula.  For example, students tell a mini-story about their likes and dislikes and/or that of their friends and family utilizing the verb “piacere” (to be pleasing to) in Italian 101.  While in Italian 102, students work in pairs to rewrite and then digitally retell the end of Pinocchio.  In the intermediate levels, students tell a story in the past, having to choose from the imperfect, historical, and past perfect tenses.   I have already presented my research on this project at the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (November 2010), and more recently I hosted an international webinar for the AUSJAL AJCU Consortium (Jesuit Universities of North and Central American) on August 16, 2011.

Pedagogical Text:

Italian grammar manuals have recently had a rebirth; within the last few years, pedagogues have been working hard to write updated elementary and intermediate books and have been very successful.  However, strong third year grammar books are still lacking.  A senior colleague and I have noticed this situation and are working to fill this pedagogical gap.  Our text will focus on advanced level ‘false friends’ and less commonly known meanings for vocabulary.  Some older versions of this type of book exist, but they are outdated and lacking important ‘newer’ diction such as pertaining to technology.  Our version will be thematic with each chapter commencing with a dialogue in which the targeted words are introduced in context.  Words will then be paired and introduced in a pre-matching activity.  Then each vocabulary word will be used in a sample sentence.  Students will then be introduced with advanced sentences in English and will have to translate the phrases into Italian.  Post-activities will include diverse open-ended projects in oral and/or written communicative forms.

I have also begun working with a senior colleague on writing an Advanced Conversation through Cinema book.  This piece examines fifteen contemporary Italian films through diverse cultural themes.  Grounded in ACTFL’s Standards, this text will expose students to the cultural beauty and uniqueness of Italy, creating comparisons with students’ native culture.  This book will be ready for publication in Spring 2013 and will be adopted at Middlebury College’s Scuola Italiana in Summer 2013.

Italian Studies Research:

Currently, I have three diverse articles under review with three different refereed journals.  Additionally, “The Fourth Gaze – Women Contemplating being Woman in La bestia nel cuore (2005)” has been accepted for inclusion in The Other Gaze beyond the Camera: Lesbianism, Masculinities and Female Displacement in the work of Italian Women Filmmakers (Forthcoming Spring 2013) along with two interviews with female directors.  Lastly, I have written two book reviews which are scheduled for publication.

Grants/Outside Funding:

Over the last year, I have been busy attempting to find outside funding for the Italian Language Program at large but also scholarship money for students to study abroad.  I have maintained our relationships with the Donne di Domani and the Ugo di Portanova Foundation, in fact, increasing our grants by both organizations.  Additionally, I was able to work with donors Karol Kreymer and Robert Card to start a scholarship fund of $5,000 for five years totaling $25,000.  This money has been allotted for the Taormina Summer Program.  Lastly, Toxie K. Kliman donated $10,000 to the Taormina Program.  Of this $10,000, $5,000 was awarded to one student to study abroad while the other $5,000 went to the overall program to offer additional opportunities for the registered students.  Additionally, I received an on-site donation while we were traveling in Palermo.  My adult student purchased an entry ticket for the entire group to see a cloister in Monreale.  In November, I am organizing a reception so students can present their final projects to the donors and have an opportunity to meet and speak with them, hopefully creating additional networking opportunities.  Moreover, my goal at this reception is to secure founds for next year and attempt to find funds for a semester study abroad programs for students (a $25,000 grant for the year).

Service:

In the last two years, I have dedicated much time and attention to Rice University in general and specifically the Center for the Study of Languages.  I have sat on two CSL search committees, one in French and the other in Spanish.  I was a member of the tenure/promotion committee (Fall 2010) and the Five-credit hour committee (Fall 2011).  Additionally, I am co-organizing the CSL’s activities for International Education Week (November 2011).

On the university level, I have organized diverse lectures and film screenings.  I was an advisor for a student-taught course based on the television series Friends last spring.  I am an active associate at Wiess College and led an O-Week group this year.  Lastly, I sit on the Educational and Instructional Technologies Subcommittee of the Technology Advisory Committee.

On a city level, I sit on the Board of Directors for the Italian Cultural Committee Center of Houston.  As a member, I am Treasurer and thus am on the Executive Committee.  Additionally, I chair the education committee and am managing editor for our local newspaper, La voce italiana.  This position in particular has been beneficial for Rice students because they have had some of their work published.  This connection has allowed me to bring students to Festa Italiana and have them teach and organize their own lessons and instruct home-schooled students.  They are very excited about the project and impressed many with their creative activities.  I am very proud of them and am looking forward to seeing them shine.  Additionally, the Consulate General of Italy, Fabrizio Nava, visited Rice University last spring with Marina (Maria) Mocci, the cultural and educational attaché.  They were extremely happy to see how active and innovative the Italian Language Program is at Rice University and gave us their complete support.

On an academic level, I currently serve as the Secretary for the Italian Division of South Central Modern Language Association.  Next year I will become the President.  Additionally, I am on the Executive Council of the American Association of Teachers of Italian, representing the Plains/Southwest areas.

In closing, the state of Italian at Rice University is very good.  Student enrollments are strong and growing.  Italian students are increasingly interested in attaining the Certificate in Language and Cultural Competency (three this year, four next year), which will raise numbers and indirectly require more courses and/or new sections.  The Taormina Summer Program is growing both in numbers and content.  Hopefully the program will grow into a five-week study abroad this summer reflecting the changes the Dean of the Humanities regarding contact hours.  I am happy with the overall program and the proficiency outcomes our students achieve.  As an instructor, it is important to be open to change and in my three years at Rice University, my teaching philosophy and style has evolved and has become more student focused.  With the introduction of more face time hours, I hope to continue on this path and assist students in achieving higher proficiency outcomes.  Italian boasts new courses, both content and language courses and will continue to entice an increasing number of students through its curricula, extracurricular programs, funding, and familiar sense created amongst the students and faculty.  I am happy to be a part of such a terrific program which foresees a very strong future.