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Welcome to your class website! Benvenuti!


Italian Made Easy for Travelers
and/or anyone wishing to pursue this lovely language!
 
Classes have now been scheduled for 2009 (see below). In addition, there is much to avail yourselves to among these web pages and much that can be used as study materials (see the pages: Class reviews, Assignments, and Language links just for starters)!
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I thought a class web site would be a wonderful way of getting excited about the language you are learning, keeping you up-to-date on class times and making activities and reviews assessable to you. Most of all I hope to make this your starting off point to a wealth of information on the web about Italy and the Italian language. I'm providing you with lots of links - the best information I've found that will make your learning interesting and enjoyable. I hope your explorations will help you in finding the answers to any questions on travel and/or grammar.
 
Note: You will find links to a translation engine and a Italian<>English dictionary on the "Meet the Teacher" page.

Class Times (updated 7/3/09 - aggiornato 3.7.09)

Ecco il programma per i mesi di luglio/agosto 2009:

 

Italiano I (Beginners) Tuesdays 7:00-8:30 July 7 – August 4 (8 studenti)

Italiano I-b Wed 7:30 il 1 – 15 luglio (6 studenti)

Italiano II-b Mon 7:30 il 15 giugno – 13 luglio (8 studenti)

Italiano III Thurs 7:15 il 9 luglio – 6 agosto (4 studenti)

Italian IVb Wed 6-7:30 il 8 luglio – 5 agosto (8 studenti)

 

2009 Beginners Classes - each class meets for 5 consecutive weeks:

 

Aug 11 – Sept 8          Five Tues., 7-8:30 p.m.

Sept 15 – Oct 13         Five Tues., 7-8:30 p.m.

 

The Beginners' class is the only class that doesn't meet at my home. Email me for direzioni.

       

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Where do I fit in?
Let me know which class you'd like to try first! If it seems troppo facile or troppo difficile puoi sempre cambiare gruppo. Ecco la lista delle lezioni e piu' o meno cosa hanno studiato:
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Italiano I (Beginners) This is what we cover:

Week 1: Pronunciation. Useful questions and answers. Numbers. I would like (=Vorrei).

Week 2: Review of 1st week. Using the euro. New vocabulary. Singular and plurals.

Week 3: Learning the article: a + vocabulary word + adjective. Describing pictures.

Week 4: Family members. Word patterns. Telling time, days of the week, months of the year. Whats the weather like? Recognizing adverbs and learning how to conjugate verbs.

Week 5: Review of verbs. Food items and ordering from a menu.

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Italiano I-b (Libro I) A good review of all the above, plus more practice with verb conjugations, the adverbs [abbastanza, meglio, presto, spesso, ecc...], and role-play ordering from a menu. We will do the idioms using "to have" [i.e., avere fame, sete, ecc...], many useful expressions, and an introduction to the irregular verbs [andare, venire, fare, dare, dire...].

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Italiano II (Libro II-p.1) know all of the above, getting more comfortable with the language, more vocabolario, espressioni, and practice with irregular verbs.

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Italian II-b (Libro II-p.13) all of the above, plus learning more challenging vocabulary, additional grammar, sentence structure being practiced again and again to generate confidence in their ability to understand and converse. Some "passato prossimo" with avere. Are familiar with he difference between the two Italian verbs used to translate <to know> and the difference between <tempo> and <volta>. I verbi "piacere" [mi piace, ti piace...], "potere" (to be able, can) and "dovere" (to have to, must) have been added. They have learned to use il telefono and the seven ways to say "the". 

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Italiano III (Libro III-p.5) all of the above plus they are much more comfortable using the past tense (passato prossimo) of verbs using both avere and essere as the helping verb: ho mangiato, ho comprato, sono andata, sei stata, ecc... Have done role-play with clothes and shopping. They have been using the possessive and the articulated preposizioni [al, della, agli, sullo,...], the present and past gerundio [sto mangiando, stavo dormendo,...] and are slowly starting to acquire a taste for the imperfetto [mangiavo, lavoravo, ecc...]. They have briefly introduced to reflexive verbs.

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Italian III-b (Libro III-p.13): almost similar to the above, plus the "da or duration form", and some practice with the ordinal numbers and the command form.

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Italian IV (Libro IV-p.23):  all of the above, plus reciprocal verbs, i numeri ordinali, body parts, and all the direct & indirect object pronouns. Have started to comfortably use the futuro, the conditional, the imperativo, and the present subjunctive. They love speaking in italiano without any prompting on my part!

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And here are just a FEW comments from after-class evaluations:

• Cinzia was fun, wonderful, spirited. Made me want to learn.

• Great technique – easy to follow. Very effective.

• Liked interaction--Very encouraging. Made it interesting. Every class went by too fast!

• More than just language skills, lots of culture. High class participation.

• Teacher is patient and thorough. Liked its spirit--lots of fun!

• Combined good teaching skills, a very supportive attitude, a safe atmosphere, encouragement no matter our skill levels and it seemed everyone learned a lot and enjoyed it.

• She made learning fun--great knowledge & wonderful attitude.

• Energetic, enthusiastic – really keeps the class moving and making everyone talk.

• Learned a great deal of Italian, more than I expected.

• I am excited to go to Italy soon. I feel very well prepared.

• She is intelligent, personable, entertaining and well organized.

• Cinzia is a wonderful teacher! I learned a lot more than I thought I would in 5 classes.

• Recognized that adult learning is difficult ~ made the class fun.

• Excellent – Very imaginative & engaging.

• Cinzia had a very good method of teaching the language in an appropriate progression for beginners.

• She is enthusiastic and well prepared. She made the experience fun as well as educational.

• Helpful and very attentive. Very personable and welcomed questions and encouraged learning.

• Gave us very practical information. Made the class fun.

Click on the box above "Italian For Travelers - Italiano per chi viaggia: short tests for practice..." or the Fodor link below to see how much you know regarding travel vocabolario in italiano. I've moved the map of Italy, the train & car rental info to the Travel Links page!

Fodor's Language Site useful expressions, dining out, airport, hotel, taxi, sightseeing, shopping...!

Meet the Challenge!
The easiest way to learn a language is by interacting with others. Learning the basics is all well and good but actually using the language is the only thing to get the brain to acquire the language. Remember you will start understanding the language before you are comfortable speaking in the new language.
If you want to speak Italian you have to use it!
 
If you have no one to interact with in Italian outside of class, please write to me using any Italian you know. Let me know if you would like me to correct spelling and grammar mistakes OR if you just want to practice communicating in your new language!

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Il mio indirizzo email

What my web site looked like five years ago. Alcuni degli studenti sono ancora qui!

Would you like to pay for your class using your credit card? Just click on the Paypal logo. It's user-friendly though you will need to add on a $2.60 fee!

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Travel in Italia

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