Beginning in the fall, an Italian class will be offered at CLU that will fulfill the Core 21 language requirement.

Sheridan Wigginton, the department chair of languages and cultures, said that for the past two years, she’s received emails and phone calls from students and the community asking about offering Italian classes on campus. Due to increasing interest in the language and the growth of the department, Wigginton said that adding Italian classes was the next step in expanding the department.

With the addition of Italian, students will have more options to fulfill their language requirement. The department already offers Spanish, French, German and Chinese. American Sign Language will also fill the Core 21 requirement.

“I think the more opportunity to explore language and culture that we offer our students and the community, the better,” said Wigginton. “We’re open to really moving forward and as big as we can.”

One section of elementary Italian (Italian 282) will be offered for fall registration. The class will focus on reading, writing, listening and speaking. Brittany Asaro, the professor who will be instructing the class, said she will use paired work and role playing to help students learn the language. She will also show the Italian culture through films, music, fashion and food.

“They should overall expect to be able to engage with the language in a very authentic way,” said Asaro. “I think they’re going to have a very dynamic experience with the language.”

From visiting California Lutheran University, Asaro believes that this will fulfill the interest in Italian that is already expressed on campus.

“It’s going to be a really good addition,” she said. “I’m just really looking forward to working together with [the students] and offer the study of this beautiful language.”

Junior Adara Groves is happy with the new addition to the curriculum.

“I am really excited. I think that it’s wonderful that CLU is finally getting another language option, and I think that it can appeal to a lot of different people,” said Groves.

Groves studied abroad in Florence, Italy, last fall. She hopes this class will be popular and that it will encourage more people to study abroad.

“I think a lot of people are interested in studying abroad in Europe and specifically Italy, so I think it’s gonna be a catalyst for more people to study abroad there,” said Groves.

Wigginton also thinks this class will add to the already popular study abroad programs.

“I think they will generate even more interest that students already have in some of the Italy-based programs,” she said. “It’s nice to offer students a way to kind of prepare before they depart.”

The department must gauge student interest as the class gets going in order to see if they can offer more than one section of the language.

Wigginton said that there are signs that plenty of people on campus would have an interest in this class.

“Although it’s not a minor or a major right now, it still has a place in our department as a thread that students can sort of pull on to explore culture, explore language,” she said.

Lauren Blachowiak
Staff Writer
Published April 24, 2013