Florence, Italy Academic Program
Rock Creek Bldg. 3, Rm. 223 | 971-722-7152 | FAX: 603-614-7170 | studyabroad@pcc.edu
General Coursework Description
Students will sign up for a total of 14 general education credits. All program participants are required to enroll in an Italian language course for 4 credits and the Italian Life and Culture course for 2 credits. In addition to these courses, students will be required to enroll in two more, 4 credit classes that are listed under "Additional Course Offerings. Immersion into the Italian culture setting will occur with active participation in a language course, lecture classes and culturally-focused field trips, as required by course instructors.
Required Course Offerings
Students are required to enroll in both courses listed below, for a total of 6 credits.
Italian
Students are required to enroll in the Italian language course listed below. Once they arrive into Florence, students take classes at the ABC Language School where they will participate in 5 hours of Italian per week. Taught by the AIFS faculty, the course is designed for beginner students and emphasizes active communication in Italian. Student will develop basic skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking the Italian language. No previous Italian language experience is required to apply for this program
- ITAL 101 - First Year Italian (4 credits)
Italian Life and Culture
Students are required to enroll in the biology course listed below. Students will participate in two hours a week of Italian culture study which will be comprised of in class lecture sessions and field trips to historic and artistic sites of interest in and around the city of Florence.
- ITAL 199 - Italian Life and Culture (2 credits)
Elective Course Offerings
Students are required to enroll in two of the courses listed below for a total of 8 credits.
Introduction to Creative Writing: Nonfiction
Introduces students to writing creative nonfiction, adapting the personal essay to multiple purposes, such as nature writing, travel writing, memoir, biography, and journalistic essay. Prose craft exercises, critical reading of published authors and responding constructively to other student work are essential learning processes. In Florence, we will focus on the students' local experiences and explore how their perceptions as outsiders change as they become more familiar with Italian culture. The course fulfills 4 credits of the Humanities distribution or disciplines studies requirements for the AA degree. Recommended prerequisite: WR 121.
- WR 240 - Creative Writing - Nonfiction (4 credits)
Introduction to Literature: Drama
Examines the traditions, imaginative purposes and organizing visions of drama, such as tragedy, comedy and realism. Close reading and interpretation of selected plays with attention to the cultural contexts of their creation and to the literary dimensions of character, dialog, setting, language and theme. In Florence, readings will include one Shakespeare work set in Italy and the dramas of Italian playwrights, such as Luigi Pirandello, Carlo Goldoni, Dario Fo, and one Renaissance comedy. More specific connections to the Florentine setting will be a backstage tour of Teatro Pergola; an opera in Italian, for which we will read the English libretto; Children's puppet theater based on ancient Italian folk tales at Puppi di Stac, and hopefully a live performance in English.
- ENG 105 - Introduction to Literature (4 credits)
Introduction to Film
Enhances student enjoyment and understanding of film through exploring the film languages of acting, directing, cinematography and narrative. Includes discussion and written analysis of cinematic techniques with a focus on the Italian works of such directors as DeSica, Rossellini, Tornatore, Soldini, Visconti, the Taviani brothers and Radford.
- ENG 195 - Film Studies: Film as Art (4 credits)
If enrollment is less than 20 students, the additional course below will be offered by an AIFS faculty instructor:
Introduction to Art History: Medieval to Renaissance
This course provides an introduction to Western Art, covering the art and cultures of the Early Middle Ages, Romanesque, Medieval, Gothic, Early and High Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, and Mannerism, though the focus will be on Italian Renaissance art. Instruction focuses primarily on painting, sculpture and graphics and covers selected examples of architecture to introduce key principles and centers for each period. Students will take many field trips to Florence's impressive galleries and museums--including the Uffizi Gallery, the Galleria Palatina, the Bargello, the Santa Maria Novella, the Santa Croce Museum, and the Medici Chapels--that house some of the world's most celebrated works from this significant period in art history. This course is designed for non-majors as well as art majors.
- ART XXX - To Be Determined (4 credits)
If enrollment reaches 20 students, OIEC will be able to send a second instructor and offer the following set of courses listed below:
Fundamentals of Public Speaking
Introduces how to prepare and deliver public speeches with an emphasis on informative speaking. Develops understanding and practical application of communication skills and includes techniques in controlling speech anxiety, structuring and organizing information to present to a variety of audiences, and physical and vocal delivery skills. Speaking assignments for the Florence locale will be based on international experiences and interactions during excursions as well as the many works of art and culture, and the historical artifacts accessible through the program’s museum pass.
- COMM 111 - Public Speaking (4 credits)
Intercultural Communication
Explores the impact of culture on communication. Investigates how elements like language, nonverbal communication, values, beliefs, world view, and identity impact communication between different cultures and co-cultures. The Florence-based course will focus on interactive relationship forms as the basis for global understanding in the classroom, business, and travel with an emphasis on the Italians’ social norms, beliefs, and values. Another outcome of this course is to encourage critical thinking regarding both Italy’s and the United States’ social issues such as power and privilege, discrimination, and immigration patterns. Everyday interactions will challenge the students to compare and contrast their cultural identities and reflect upon their own world views.
- COMM 140 - Introduction to Intercultural Communication (4 credits)
Gender and Communication
The course will cover every aspect of the role of gender in communication from a global perspective. Since the course includes sex-differentiated language and conversational styles, the impact of the mass media on sex roles, the Florence locale will insure that students apply these in international interactions. The course will connect students’ personal experiences while connecting with contemporary social and political frameworks of the host country. Another outcome of the course will examine on both Italy’s and the United States’ gender issues, such as wage gap, reproduction and contraception, and equal opportunity policies in business and government.
- COMM 237 - Gender and Communication (4 credits)
Please Note:
Students will register for their study abroad classes during the mandatory, program pre-departure orientation session. As such, students will NOT have to enroll in any regular PCC courses during the regularly scheduled summer course registration period that occurs during the prior spring term.
Faculty Leader Information
The faculty leader of this Oregon International Education Consortium study abroad program changes each year. The Fall 2013 program advisors and general education elective course instructors are:
Greg Lyons, Central Oregon Community College, glyons@cocc.edu
As a U.S. Army dependent, Greg lived in Germany and in France for three years each. This experience developed his curiosity and empathy toward other cultures. After completing an undergraduate degree in English, he returned to France for eight months, studying the language in Aix-en-Provence and working on a communal farm in Corsica. Since then, he has made several professional and vacation trips to France, Mexico, Britain and Italy--trying to speak French, Spanish and Italian with varied success. In 2004, as part of his teaching in the OIEC Florence program, he designed seventeen field trips and fell in love with the city, Italian food, people and architecture. He plans to share the travel bug, and the fun of writing about new places, with Oregon students on an adventure.
Cerbrina Chou, Chemeketa Community College, cerbrina.chou@chemeketa.edu
As a Taiwanese national, Cerbrina is a living example of how study abroad can change one’s life! After her first transformational exchange program in the United States, Cerbrina returned to study in Michigan and received her Master’s degree in Speech Communication, worked in Washington D.C., and has been teaching at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, since 2008. With her extensive international travel experience, Cerbrina is passionate in promoting intercultural competence by encouraging her students to explore their and others’ world views, and most importantly, to get out of their comfort zones. In her free time, Cerbrina enjoys cooking, reading, and kickboxing –and she always puts on a big smile when dancing salsa and bachata.
Oregon International Education Consortium
The Oregon International Education Consortium (OIEC) offers this unique program to enable students to study abroad while making normal progress toward their degree objectives. Typically, students earn 8-15 transferable credits in courses taught by community college faculty from Portland Community College, Central Oregon Community College, Chemeketa Community College, Clackamas Community College, Mt. Hood Community College and Rogue Community College. Credits earned will appear on the transcript of their home Oregon community college.