Franklin Introduces Italian Immersion Program
04/22/2010
Franklin College takes yet another step to amalgamate with its Ticinese community. Fascinated by alluring academic travels and easy access to the European front which Franklin College Switzerland offers its students, it can be easy to neglect the rich and abundant Swiss Italian culture of the canton of Ticino where the college is located. As a means of mitigating this neglect, the Italian Department with the support of Dean Sara Steinert Borella, has initiated an Italian Immersion Program which will commence this upcoming Fall 2010.
Italian Professor Laura Orsi, inspired by what Steinert Borella termed as a “eureka” idea, approached the Dean with the notion of creating an Italian Immersion Program for Franklin, a proposal which seems long overdue and a simple solution to upgrading the Italian Department as a whole. The program essentially involves 3 to 4 classes concentrating on Italian language, culture, history and politics, living with a host-family or in designated Italian speaking residence halls with other program participants, and enrolling in a new academic travel to be taught in Italian.
Both Orsi and Steinert Borella emphasized the flexibility of the program which can accommodate students’ individual academic plans. It requires students to have completed a minimum of four 3-credit or three 4-credit courses in Italian language. While the program of immersion largely targets study-abroad students, it also remains open to any Franklin student and is encouraged especially to those students completing their language requirement in Italian, “Full immersion exists mainly for study abroads… and is meant to attract students for a semester, but there is nothing in the program that is not accessible to Franklin students,” stated Orsi.
Orsi, former senior lecturer and coordinator of the Italian language program for Boston University’s study abroad program in Padova, mentioned the over 130 programs of Italian Immersion programs represented in Italy today, thus highlighting the appeal of Franklin’s unique location which incorporates the language of Italian and also the appealing fusion of Swiss Italian culture. “Lugano is an ideal place to make the experiment happen,” she said. Orsi also stressed the outstanding opportunities the city’s location offers to students saying, “…Combining more of Europe than just Italy… One cannot help notice how deeply Italian Ticino is language-wise, involving a real heritage one can draw from, which is nice, even from my point of view as an Italian.”
One of the most appealing aspects of the immersion process is the introduction of new courses to Franklin’s curriculum. Possibilities range from history of Renaissance theatre taught by Franklin-favorite Professor Fabio Ferrari to a political course concentrating on the politics of Machiavelli, taught in Italian by political science Professor Morris Mottale. Franklin College is also initiating a program in which immersion students will have the possibility of taking humanities courses with native Italian speaking students, such as film and philosophy, at the Facoltà di Teologia, an institution connected with the Vatican and associated with local Università della Svizzera Italiana.
The program has also instigated an evolution of academic travel, known for its splurge of academic decadence for Franklin students. Academic travel functions as a one credit course, implementing Franklin’s mission statement of providing “a multi-cultural and international academic environment.” The course focuses on a particular country (or countries) which students travel to with a professor to study applicable subjects of interest. With the immersion program however, the class will not only visit Italy specifically, highlighting relevant themes for students, but will also be taught in Italian. The immersion travel for Fall 2010 will make its way to the former Venetian Republic, including visits to the cities of Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, Chioggia, Brescia and Bergamo, where students will study the artistic heritage and history of Serenissima, "The Most Serene", as she (Venice) was once known. Future academic travels destinations include Paestum, Pompeii, Naples and Rome; The Pianura Padana (The Po Valley); Tuscany, and Venice and Her Lagoon, many of which formerly were offered in English.
The Italian Immersion Program is a great leap for further integrating Franklin College into our Ticinese community, one which will foster greater interest, enthusiasm and respect. As Steinert Borella remarked, “I think that this program speaks to Franklin’s mission and it’s really about who we are as an institution.”
For more information, see the Italian Immersion Program section of the Franklin web site.
