Italian Course Descriptions:

Italian 1:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This is a beginner-level Italian language course designed for students who have little or no prior Italian learning experience. Students are introduced to the four basic language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, as well as to Italian culture. An emphasis on pronunciation, vocabulary, gestures, and sentence patterns will establish strong communicative skills which students will be able to use in authentic contexts. Students will also acquire the basic knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to carry on basic conversations in the target language as well as read and write sentences using the structures learned. Students will be able to spell words in Italian, pronounce Italian words with accuracy, greet people, use expressions of politeness, state the day of the week, month and date, count to 100, introduce and describe themselves and others, talk about transportation, ask for directions and have conversations about places familiar to them, describe things. Students will be able to communicate in the present tense, use the appropriate subject pronouns in formal and informal ways, and use simple prepositions “preposizioni semplici”, use the verbs “essere” and “avere” including some idiomatic expressions with “avere”, and use definite articles. Chapters “Preliminare”, 1, and 2 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 2:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 1. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire the basic knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to carry on simple conversations in the target language as well as read and write short passages using the structures learned. Students will be able to tell and ask about the time and have a conversation about the weather. Students will also be able to talk about their schedule or plans, family, hobbies, education, and sports or activities they prefer to practice. They will also learn about Italian cuisine. The grammar points covered in this course are as follows: present tense of verbs ending “-are”, “-ere” and “-ire”, direct object pronouns “pronomi di oggetto diretto”, posessive adjectives “aggettivi posessivi” and demontrative adjectives “questo” and “quello”. Finally, the students will learn how to appropriately make use of interrogatives in Italian, used for asking and answering questions that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no with the goal of maintaining lengthier conversations. Chapters 3 and 4 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 3:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 2. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire more knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to appropriately use the past tense “passato prossimo”, discerning between those verbs conjugated with “essere” and those conjugated with “avere”. Students will be able to use the verbs “conoscere” and “sapere”, direct and indirect object pronouns “pronomi di oggetto diretto e indiretto”, “prepsizioni articulate” and adverbs. In this course, students will also discuss Italian cuisine in more detail and learn more vocabulary related to this topic. Chapters 5 and 6 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 4:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 3. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire more knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to discern the differences between the past tense “passato prossimo” and the imperfect tense. Students will also be introduced to the “trapassato” or past perfect and the “futuro semplice” future tense. Students will also be introduced to Italian suffixes, comparative phrases, and superlatives. Students will review reflexive verbs and adverbs. In this course, students will also be introduced to Italian cinema and popular Italian films. Chapters 7 and 8 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 5:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 4. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire more knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to identify and use the disjunctive (stressed) pronouns “i pronomi tonici”. Students will learn how to make comparisons of people and things and will learn how to construct superlatives. Students will also learn the “futuro semplice”, “usi speciali del futuro”, and “si impersonale”. Students will be able to “parlare di situazoini future e di situazioni probabili”. Students will be able to talk about topics related to well-being “benesere”, illnesses and the body, and famous vacation destinations in Italy. Chapters 9 and 10 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 6:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 5. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire more knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to use the pronouns “ne” and “ci” in different ways, combine direct and indirect object pronouns by constructing double object pronouns “pronomi doppi”, use the imperative form “tu, noi, voi, lei, loro”, and use the indefinite adjectives “aggettivi indefiniti” and indefinite pronouns “pronomi indefiniti”, and “expressioni negative”. Students will be able to talk about specialty shops, markets, shopping, expenses, houses, and apartments “negozi, mercati, spesa, spese, case e appartamenti”. Chapters 11 and 12 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 7:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 6. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire more knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to use the conditional “il condizionale” in the present and in the past, possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns “i pronomi possessivi”, relative pronouns “i pronomi relativi” , “chi”, and infinitive constructions in Italian. Students will be able to talk about “l'ambiente, riciclaggio, traffico, il Festival, musica, e teatro in Italia”. Chapters 13 and 14 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 8:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 7. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire more knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, Students should be able to use the “passato remoto” or remote past which is most used in narrative writing. Students will also be introduced to expressions of time like “volerci” and “metterci” and study the gerund form “il gerundio”. Students will also learn the subjunctive form “il congiuntivo” to express uncertainty or possibility and will study in which cases it is used. Students will be able to talk about “arte, lingua e letteratura nei secoli, quando si vota, e il sistema politico in Italia”. Chapters 15 and 16 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 9:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Italian 8. The focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, and grammar knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will continue to delve into Italian culture. Students will also acquire more knowledge of grammar structures and practice them in real conversations and dialogues. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to use the subjunctive form “il congiuntivo” and explain when it is appropriate to use this form. Students will also learn about the imperfect subjunctive “l'imperfetto del congiuntivo” and the pluperfect subjunctive “il trapassato del congiuntivo”. This course will focus on higher levels of speaking and reading. Chapters 17 and 18 of the textbook will be covered.

Textbook: Prego: An Invitation to Italian (8th Edition)
ISBN: 978-0073386256

Italian 10:
(3 hours per week for 6 weeks)

In this course, the focus is on expanding students' vocabulary, fluency, grammar and culture knowledge. We will continue to develop the four basic language acquisition skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We will delve into the Italian culture, and specifically into the Italian education system and food/meals preparation/kitchen tools vocabulary.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to use the “futuro anteriore” and explain when it is appropriate to use this form. Students will also review how to use “aggettivi e pronomi indefiniti”, verbs who take both essere and avere as an auxiliary verb in the passato prossimo, and will learn how to use the “si passivante” and some of the “verbi pronominali”. This course will focus on higher levels of speaking, reading and listening. Chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook Nuovo Espresso 4 will be covered.

Textbook: Nuovo Espresso 4 - Student Book & Exercise Book with Free Online Audio

(ISBN: 978-88-6182-716-5)

Private Italian lessons:

We offer Italian language private lessons. Private lessons are $80 per hour for 1 to 4 students. We will schedule lessons based on the availability of the student(s) and teacher. Start dates are flexible. Please register at least 2 weeks before your first lesson.