Italian Level 1

Prerequisite for entry

For complete beginners or those who have had only very little contact with the language.

Term duration

10 x 2-hour classes.

Aims and objectives

The aim of the course is to enable students to function at a basic everyday survival level. Students should be able to communicate in and understand Italian on a number of practical everyday matters. Language learning skills, including autonomous learning and how to approach some authentic material will be enhanced.

Functions

• Greetings, introducing yourself and others.
• Asking about pronunciation and spelling.
• Meeting Italian people formally and informally.
• Talking about your country/nationality and other people’s country/nationalities.
• Asking for someone’s profession.
• Talking about someone's free time
• Likes/Dislikes.
• Buying and ordering food and drinks.
• Talking about free time and leisure activities.
• Asking for the time.
• Organizing a holiday: booking a hotel, asking for information, raising a complaint.
• Giving one’s phone number

Course content

Main topics/themes to be covered:

• Introducing yourself. Greetings. The alphabet.
• First contact around nationalities.
• Job and professions.
• Numbers 1-100. Days of week, month, year.
• Hobbies and free time.
• Food & drinks – bar, restaurant – money
• Hotel.

Linguistic structures/ Phonetics

Basic rules of the pronunciation of spoken Italian: (/k/ versus /tʃ/ and /g/ versus /dʒ/gli

Grammar

• Gender and number of Italian nouns/some adjectives.
• Personal pronouns: subject pronouns.
• Negative and interrogative structures.
• Definite and indefinite articles.
• Present tense of regular verbs.
• Present tense of some irregular verbs (essere, avere, dare, fare, andare, bere, venire, potere, uscire, volere etc).
• Some prepositions (di, a, da, in…).
• Adverbs.
• Indirect pronouns with like/dislike (mi / a me…).
• Present tense of modal verbs (potere, volere, dovere).

Learning resources

Course Book

• Nuovo Espresso 1. Libro dello studente ed esercizi. Chapters 1-5. ISBN 9788861823181.
• Handouts provided by the tutor.

Grammar References

• New Italian grammar in practice. Ean: 9788861824287
• Nuova grammatica pratica della lingua italiana. Ean: 9788861822474

Please note that the syllabus might vary according to class progress and availability of materials.
Do not hesitate to contact your tutor for further information.