Trame

The use of the ACTFL standards in designing the reader was a welcome one...The choice of purely modern Italian readings fills a void. . ..[I]t would be well suited to courses in composition and grammar as well as in advanced conversation courses. In terms of using the reader as a standalone text, there is plenty of material for it to be used in that capacity with grammatical points being addressed by the instructor as they arise....One of the strongest features of Trame is the inclusion of the note culturali ( cultural notes ) which help students frame the text by including the context. It is clear that the editors took great care in the organization of the reader, the exercises, and their suggestions for pedagogical considerations....The editors also choose an excellent variety of issues to address in terms of content and genre, e.g., short stories, interviews, and poems. Perhaps the strongest aspect of the text is the overall pedagogy of the presentation that allows for in-depth coverage, higher-order thinking skills, and opportunities for instructors to evaluate. -Christopher D. Sams, The NECTFL Review -- Christopher D. Sams * The NECTFL Review * I have really enjoyed teaching third-year Italian students with Trame: A Contemporary Italian Reader. The short stories, passages from novels, films scripts, poems, and journalistic pieces anthologized here offer a wide array of themes and levels of linguistic sophistication. The pre-reading activities are engaging, and the post-reading questions are really well done and provoke good discussions. I expect to teach with Trame for years to come. -Jonathan Druker, Illinois State University -- Jonathan Druker