Italian Opera and Culture: Puccini, Rossini and Verdi

Course Description

This online course is designed for teachers who wish to learn about three famous Italian Operas and their composers in order to improve and refine their language skills in Italian and to develop practical lesson plans for the classroom. The course is designed around three great Operas: Tosca, The Barber of Seville and La Traviata. Given the popularity of these Operas, students and teachers who are familiar with the Opera can focus on the language and the arias without having to decipher the plot. Those who are not familiar with these three Operas, will have the chance to learn the plot and story and then focus on the language and music. Emphasis will be on comprehension, vocabulary building, improving listening and writing skills, in addition to Opera analysis and discussions on the composers and the history of the Opera in Italy.  Students will also listen to and analyze the most famous arias from each Opera. Group work will be in the form of discussion boards and lesson plan development. Conducted in Italian with occasional readings in English. Teachers have 3 months from date of registration to complete the online course material.

What participants are saying about this course

“This course was an excellent way to expand my curriculum for my 4th year students.”

Required Texts 

Opere: Tosca (by Puccini), The Barber of Seville (by Rossini) and La Traviata (by Verdi)

Course Delivery 

Online modules, collaborative discussion boards. This course is self-paced.

About the Instructor

Monica Canetta, Instructor. Read more about Monica here.

Click here to request a syllabus.