Culture and Language Class: Italian at an Intermediate Level

First semester: during the classes, the students will discuss grammar and lexical issues, and practice their listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills, up to level B1. Grammar issues will be introduced and developed through practical exercises and translations of sentences and short texts, containing familiar grammatical structures. The vocabulary is broken down into thematic blocks. Listening skills are practiced on the basis of original recordings or statements presented by the lecturer. The understanding of contents is checked through tasks related to the text. Writing skills are developed by analyzing texts in Italian and attempting to create one’s own written statements. During the classes, the students will practice their ability to create spoken statements about topics introduced within a framework of selected thematic blocks.

Second semester: during the classes, the students will discuss grammar and lexical issues, and practice their listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills, up to level B2. There are two main goals set for this course: firstly, it aims to broaden the student’s knowledge of grammar and lexical structures so to enable them to handle most communicative situations and engage in spontaneous conversations with a native speaker. Secondly, it aims to provide the student with a variety of texts dedicated to the culture of contemporary Italy. The material presented during the classes will mainly consist of articles from the Italian press, literary excerpts and short stories, videos, advertisement, etc.