Unit 5: Unit 5 Il Passato Prossimo (Italian Present Perfect Tense)

The structure of the passato prossimo (auxiliary verb avere or essere + past participle).
Common past participles of high-frequency verbs (mangiato, andato, fatto, visto, avuto, detto, finito).
Which verbs typically use avere vs. essere (with limited memorized sets at this level).
How to form agreement with essere verbs (masculine/feminine, singular/plural).
Key time expressions used with the past (ieri, la settimana scorsa, ieri sera, due giorni fa).
That the passato prossimo is used to describe completed actions in the past (not ongoing or habitual past actions).

Conjugate and use the passato prossimo in spoken and written sentences.
Choose correctly between avere and essere in guided and communicative tasks.
Describe what they did yesterday, over the weekend, or during a trip.
Ask and answer questions about past activities in partner conversations.
Sequence events using time markers (first, then, after, finally).
Read and interpret short texts or dialogues in the past tense.
Write short paragraphs or journal-style entries about past experiences.

Students will show mastery by completing communicative, performance-based tasks, such as:

• Interpersonal Task:
  Conduct a paired interview asking and answering questions about what they did recently (e.g., Che cosa hai fatto ieri? Dove sei andato/a?).
• Interpretive Task:
  Read or listen to a short passage about a past event and answer comprehension questions (who, what, when, where, why).
• Presentational Task:
  Create and present a “Weekend Story,” “Vacation Narrative,” or “A Day in My Life” using the passato prossimo accurately.
• Creative Extension (DOK 4):
  Produce a photo story, digital slideshow, or Instagram-style post series narrating a past experience entirely in Italian, including captions in the passato prossimo.