Italian Lower Intermediate (part 1)

In part 1, you’ll revise beginners topics to refresh your memory. You’ll then talk about family members in more depth and describe physical and personality traits.

Italians are known for their sartorial style and we’ll examine clothes shopping in detail – teaching you how to ask for different sizes and colours, and to try them on.

You will reinforce and consolidate the passato prossimo, and begin using reflexive verbs, and indirect pronouns.

This is an immersive course, taught mostly in Italian, so you’ll really hone your skills – particularly listening. It’s a truly authentic way to learn, giving you more confidence when chatting to fast-talking native speakers.

Who is it for?

Join us here if you have studied Italian for around 60 hours. Some of you may have completed our beginners syllabus, have rusty GCSE or can communicate at CEFR A1. You can find more detail in the eligibility section.

Timetable

This course takes place one evening a week at 18:30 for 10 weeks.

Benefits

• Part 1 gives you a feel for the course without signing up to the full year
• Follow best practice from the Common European Framework Reference
• Taught mostly in Italian and lead by a trained native tutor.

By the end of this course you will be able to

• go shopping for clothes (ask for sizes, colours and to try them on)
• talk about your family members in more detail
• describe people, parts of the body, and talk about personality traits and physical appearance.

Grammatical structures

• reinforce and consolidate the passato prossimo with avere and essere
• the reflexive verbs in the past tense
• indirect pronouns (to him, to her, to us, to them).
• possessives, adjectives and pronouns.

You will be awarded an official City, University of London certificate on completion of the course if you attend over 70 per cent of the classes. The course is not formally accredited.

Assessment

You will be set weekly homework and your tutor will assess and feedback on your progress throughout the course.

Teaching

The course it taught mostly in Italian, using a mix of role-play, games, and pair and group work. You’ll learn using props, pictures and authentic articles from newspapers.

Part 1 is aimed at those who have approximately 60 hours of prior formal study.

It is the right level if one of the following applies:

• you can communicate at A1 level, according to the Common European Framework Reference of languages
• you have completed our full Italian Beginners syllabus, or equivalent elsewhere
• You have a rusty GCSE.

You should already be able to:

• introduce yourself and talking about your family, profession, hobbies etc.
• use numbers and tell the time
• order food, buy tickets and objects
• describe past events
• use the definite and indefinite article
• understand personal pronouns and prepositions.

If you need a different starting point, see what other Italian courses we offer.

English requirements

You will need a good level of spoken and written English to enrol on this course.