SEMINARS & PRACTICUMS
COMM/CEP 300 – Tour Guiding & Multicultural Competence
Course Structure:
Practicum: 4 hours/week; 40 hours total
Seminar: 1 and a half hour/week; 18 hours total
The course is composed of two parts: the seminar and the practicum.
The seminar meets once a week in class with the ISI instructor and is based on students’ reports about their work, readings, and discussions.
The practicum requires 4 hours a week of activities as tour guides in a museum or one of the main churches of Florence. Students will receive detailed instructions and info from the ISI Florence Community Engagement Coordinator during the first week of classes on the church or museum available. They are scheduled to follow a tour, led by an experienced guide, and once they feel comfortable with the material studied, they start giving their own tours.
DIS/CEP 300 – Disabilities Studies Discovering Abilities, Narratives, and Identities
Course Structure:
Practicum: 4 hours/week; 40 hours total
Seminar: 1 and a half hour/week; 18 hours total
The course is composed of two parts: the seminar and the practicum.
The seminar meets once a week in class with the ISI instructor and is based on students’ reports about their work, readings, and discussions.
The practicum requires 4 hours a week of activities within local social enterprise institutions, such as a restaurant or a shop that employs or educates young adults with intellectual disabilities. Interaction and support given to these special workers will lead the students to create an incredible cultural and human exchange. Students will receive detailed instructions and info from the ISI Florence Community Engagement Coordinator during the first week of classes.
EDUC/CEP 300 – Childhood Education Teaching _ Multicultural Competence
Course Structure:
Practicum: 4 hours/week; 40 hours total
Seminar: 1 and a half hour/week; 18 hours total
The course is composed of two parts: the seminar and the practicum.
The seminar meets once a week in class with the ISI instructor and is based on students’ reports about their work, readings, and discussions.
The practicum requires 4 hours a week of activities teaching English as a second language. Students will assist English language teachers in local schools, enhancing a creative learning environment, as well as teaching Italian young kids online. The teaching assistants are often asked to create lesson plans, propose activities, and lead class discussions. Students will receive detailed instructions and info from the ISI Florence Community Engagement Coordinator during the first week of classes.
JOUR/CEP 300 – Writing for the Media and Social Media: Journalism and Public Relations
Course Structure:
Practicum: 4 hours/week; 40 hours total
Seminar: 1 and a half hour/week; 18 hours total
The practicum is composed of two parts: the seminar and the practicum.
The seminar meets once a week in class with the ISI instructor and is based on students’ reports about their work as well as on teaching, readings, and discussions of the topics covered in the week
The practicum requires at least 4 hours a week of activities to engage with the local community. Students can choose between different areas of specialization in journalism including news writing and editing, journalism on social media, and photo and/or video journalism. Depending on the area chosen, students will learn the basic theory of news writing and editing, social media reporting, and photo-and-video journalism production, and will have the opportunity to convert theory into practice by working with professionals.
INTERNSHIP
MUSM/CEP 300 – Tour Guiding for Palazzo Vecchio
Course Structure:
Practicum: 12 hours/week; 120 hours total
Seminar: 1 and a half hour/week; 18 hours total
The goal of this internship is twofold. First, have students gain deeper knowledge of one of the most important Florentine monuments, rich in both art and history. Second, teach them to lead art history tours and communicate effectively.
This internship is designed for students with good communication skills, curiosity for history, ancient art and architecture, and willing to broaden their cultural perspectives. The practicum includes a seminar component, thus allowing students to reflect on and discuss their experience.
The practicum is composed of two parts: the seminar and the field experience.
The seminar meets once a week in class with the ISI instructor and is based on readings, interactive class discussions, lectures, and examining communication and public speaking skills in culturally different settings, though always in the context of arts and history. Throughout the course, students complete weekly writing assignments (research papers) and prepare a final project under the supervision of their course instructor.
During the first part of the semester, students must study books on Renaissance Florentine history, focusing in particular on the Palazzo Vecchio and the Medici family. They will build this necessary historical background not only by studying the sources just mentioned, but also by adding materials discussed in class and participating in tours led by the other official guides of this Florentine palace.
The aim of the first part of the semester is to prepare students to guide independently a tour of English-speaking visitors through the Palazzo Vecchio. The tours run for approximately 1 hour, thus totaling 120 hours by the end of the semester.
Students commit for 12 hours per week, including two weekends per month.
During the second part of the semester, students will hone their critical thinking, develop skills to communicate effectively to a varied audience ranging from kids to senior tourists, and run the tours independently.