Once a year I teach an intermediate Italian language course at my large state university in the Midwest.1 I follow a textbook that is organized around cultural themes, and through these, the authors introduce new vocabulary and grammar. When I was editing my syllabus for the fall of 2016, I had not noticed that the beginning of the fourth chapter, the one on politics (with the sophisticated title Il valore delle idee [The Value of Ideas]), would coincide with the most contentious presidential election of my lifetime. On Monday, November 7, 2016, after working our way through a few introductory ideas, I invited the students to converse in small groups using a conversation section in the textbook that I often turn to for how it incorporates new vocabulary. The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew tense as the questions invited my students to ponder, “Is there a political party to which you feel close? Did you vote in the last election? Is there a politician in particular that you admire?”2 As I walked around the room to different groups, I noticed that many students were awkwardly avoiding responding. Finally, the students began to speak up—to me, in English. “These are awfully personal.” Another student: “This isn’t a political science class.” At that point, I guided the conversation to come together as a whole class and I briefly defended these questions as a cultural example of the fundamental importance of civic engagement. “In Italy,” I told them, “politics is for everyone, not just students of political science,” ending with my joke, “so when you’re in Italy and go to il bar to have your morning cappuccino, be prepared to talk about two topics: politics and soccer.” That day, my students helped me realize that there was something far more valuable to the conversation questions than

中文翻译：

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Dario Fo 和 Franca Rame 的持久剧场

我每年都会在我位于中西部的大型州立大学教授一门中级意大利语课程。1 我遵循围绕文化主题组织的教科书，通过这些，作者介绍了新的词汇和语法。当我编辑 2016 年秋季的教学大纲时，我没有注意到第四章的开头，即关于政治的一章（带有复杂的标题 Il valore delle idee [思想的价值]）与最我一生中充满争议的总统选举。2016 年 11 月 7 日星期一，在完成了一些介绍性想法之后，我邀请学生使用教科书中的对话部分进行小组对话，我经常参考教科书如何结合新词汇。房间里的气氛一下子变得紧张起来，问题让我的学生们思考，“有没有一个你觉得亲近的政党？你在上次选举中投票了吗？有没有你特别欣赏的政治家？”2 当我在房间里向不同的群体走来走去时，我注意到许多学生都笨拙地避免回应。最后，学生们开始大声说出来——用英语对我说话。“这些都是非常私人的。” 另一名学生：“这不是政治科学课。” 在这一点上，我引导整个班级的谈话走到一起，我简要地为这些问题辩护，作为公民参与根本重要性的文化例子。“在意大利，”我告诉他们，“政治适合所有人，不仅仅是政治学的学生，”以我的笑话结尾，“所以当你在意大利去 il bar 喝早茶时，准备好谈论两个话题：政治和足球。” 那天，