UCL CENTRE FOR LANGUAGES
& INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION
Evening Courses
Italian Level 1
Prerequisite for entry
None.
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.
Meeting Italian people formally and informally.
Talking about your country/nationality and other people’s country/nationalities.
Talking about yourself and your family.
Likes/Dislikes.
Buying and ordering food and drinks.
Asking for the time.
Organizing a holiday: booking a hotel, asking for information, making travel
arrangements.
Course Content: Main topics/themes to be covered
-
Introducing yourself. Greetings. The alphabet.
First contact around nationalities.
Job and professions.
The family.
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 /d/
gli
UCL Centre for Languages & International Education
Evening Courses
1
Grammar
-
Gender and number of Italian nouns/some adjectives.
Personal pronouns: subject pronouns.
Negative and interrogative structures.
Definite and indefinite articles.
Possessive adjectives (1, 2, 3 sing).
Present tense of regular verbs.
Present tense of some irregular verbs (essere, avere, dare, fare, andare, bere, venire,
etc).
Some prepositions (di, a, da, in…).
Adverbs.
Indirect pronouns with like/dislike (mi / a me…).
Present tense of modal verbs (potere, volere, dovere).
Possessive adjectives.
Learning Resources
Books
-
Espresso 1. Libro dello studente ed esercizi. Chapters 1-5.
Handouts provided by the tutor.
In addition there is a wide range of language learning materials for self-study in the
Self-Access Centre.
Bilingual Dictionaries
-
Bilingual Dictionary (Collins).
Reference:
-
Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana. ISBN 8886440340.
Italian grammar in practice. ISBN 9788886440899
Useful websites:
-
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/language-centre/Self-AccessCentre/index.php?Language=Italian&UserID=
Bookshops:
-
Waterstone’s – 82 Gower Street WC1E 6EQ
Italian Bookshop - 5 Warwick Street
London W1B 5LU
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.
UCL Centre for Languages & International Education
Evening Courses
2