ILP Standard Curriculum
NUOVO CURRICULUM 2022
Textbooks: Nuovo Contatto edited by Loescher (A1-C1) or Nuovo Espresso edited by Alma Edizioni
(Textbooks are available at the ICS starting at $40 . Email us for details.)
Not sure if a class is for you? You can try it out by purchasing a Drop-In.
Beginners
Beginners 1 (A1)
If you only know a few words — Ciao! Buon giorno! — but really don’t know any grammar or have much vocabulary, this is the course for you. You will learn how to pronounce words properly, how to greet each other formally and informally, how to introduce yourself, how to ask for information, and how to describe things using the present tense. You will also be learning gender distinction for nouns and adjectives. Gradually you will be called upon to speak, to play roles with your classmates, and to read out loud.
We will cover Lessons 1-5 of Nuovo Espresso 1 (A1) from Alma Edizioni.The textbook is available at the office: cost is $40
Beginners 2 (A1)
This course goes further in grammar to cover irregular verbs, modal verbs, the past tense, and improve your use of adjectives and prepositions. You will talk about daily activities including leisure, inviting, accepting or declining invitations, describing your home, expressing possession and doubts, and using the imperative and the past tense.
We will start with a review and cover Lessons 6-10. Nuovo Espresso 1 (A1) from Alma Edizioni. The textbook is available at the office; cost is $40.
Beginners Intensive 1 (A1)
Beginners Intensive 1 is for people who are native or near-native speakers in one other Romance language such as Spanish, Portuguese, or French, and can therefore move at a faster pace.
We will cover Units 1-5. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. A1The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Elementary
Elementary 1 (A2)
You will learn to express yourself in the past tense, talking about leisure activities, travel, and the weather and asking for turistic information. The grammar will cover the pronoun ci, some of the direct object pronouns, prepositions and connectives and you will review the imperative formal and informal.
We will cover Units Pronti e Via and Unit 1. Nuovo contatto, Vol. A2 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Elementary 2 (A2)
You will learn about holydays and presents, how to interact in a shop, talk about famil,y and to describe the physical appearance. The grammar will cover the indirect and partitive pronouns, possessive adjectives and pronouns, stare and gerundio, and how to use the imperfetto.
We will cover Units 2 and 3. Nuovo contatto, Vol. A2The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Elementary 3 (A2)
You will learn to ask for information about renting and buying a house, to talk about sports and health, and to express feelings and emotions. The grammar will cover the future tense, the difference between imperfect and simple past, and the imperative with pronumns.
We will cover Units 4 and 5. Nuovo contatto, Vol. A2The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Elementary 1 Intensive (A2)
You will learn to express yourself in the past tense and in the imperfect tense, talking about leisure activities, family, work, ideas, planning, and useful expressions to travel by train. You will know how to order at a restaurant and talk about movies and cinema. You will learn to make comparisons and interact when shopping. The grammar will focus on nouns and articles, present tense and irregular verbs, reflexives, and imperative. It will also cover direct and indirect object pronouns, prepositions, comparatives, and the si impersonal form. You will be reading stories, watching videos, and making elementary presentations.
We will review the material of the A1 level, and cover Unit Pronti e Via, 1, 2 Nuovo contatto, Vol. A2 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Elementary 2 Intensive (A2)
You will learn to ask for information about renting and buying a house, to talk about sports and health, and to express feelings and emotions. The grammar will cover the future tense, the progressive form, possessive adjectives, indefinite adjectives and pronouns, the conditional form of potere and volere, the difference between imperfect and simple past, and the formal imperative.
We will cover Units 3, 4, 5. Nuovo contatto, Vol. A2 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Intermediate
Pre-Intermediate (B1)
We will talk about Italians abroad, living in a foreign country, tell a travel misadventure, tell news and stories, and words of the news. We will describe the features and the personality of a person, express feelings and emotions, understand humorous cartoons, and explore the Italian giallo genre of film. The grammar will cover past perfect with modal verbs, stare and gerund vs stare per, past perfect tense, passive form, and conjunctions. You will be reading and listening to stories, watching videos, and making presentations.
We will cover Units Pronti e via, 1. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. B1 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Intermediate 1 (B1)
We will talk about trips and vacations, describe vacation places and environments, sports and physical activities, and food and local products. You will learn how to make assumptions, learn bureaucratic language, and language of social media and of the young people; and colloquial expressions. The grammar will cover present conditional, future and conditional, pronoun ne, present subjunctive, combined and relative pronouns, regular comparatives, relatives and superlatives, verbal prepositions, and conjunctions. You will be reading and listening to stories, watching videos, and making presentations.
We will cover Units 2, 3. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. B1 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Intermediate 2 (B1)
We will talk about work, job preferences and learning how to have a job interview. We will talk about "bon ton" rules, relationships with others, daily life, Italians and altruism, gender roles, proverbs, letters of complaint, and the 21st-Century family. The grammar will cover imperative and personal pronouns, present subjunctive and indicative, indefinite adjectives and pronouns, something / nothing and of / from, impersonal verbs, idiomatic pronominal verbs, present gerund, and concessive conjunctions. You will be reading and listening to stories, watching videos, and making presentations.
We will cover Units 4, 5. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. B1 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Intermediate 3 (B2)
We will talk about prejudices and stereotypes about Italians, aspects of Italian culture, Italian regional cuisine and beauty; gestures of Italians, environmental problems and causes, ecology and energy saving, pollution and climate change, understanding theses, arguments and counter-arguments of a text, and the language of science. The grammar will cover adverbs in-“mente,” adverbial expressions of time and manner, adjectives derived from verbs, the passive form, modal verbs in the past, imperfect subjunctive and concordance, hypothetical period, possibility, subjunctive and indefinite, the expression of hypotheses with gerund / with + noun deriving from the verb. You will be reading and listening to stories, watching videos, and making presentations.
We will cover Units Pronti e via, 1. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. B2 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Intermediate 4 (B2)
We will talk about Italian society, marriage and cohabitation, civil rights, racial stereotypes and prejudices, language of law, biographical story, media, Italian and television, television programs, Italian comics, and the language of politics. The grammar will cover past subjunctive, subjunctive and indirect interrogatives, subjunctive and superlative, remote past, idiomatic pronominal verbs, past conditional, future in the past, concordance of tenses, to which as a complement of specification. You will be reading and listening to stories, watching videos, and making presentations.
We will cover Units 2, 3. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. B2 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Advanced
Pre-Advanced (B2)
You will learn about the history of Italian culture, Italy's contribution to cultural heritage, Nobel prizes, archeology and great works, festivals and events, ancient Rome, Pompeii and Herculaneum, descriptive text of works of art, food consumption, food counterfeits, forms of saving, genres of Italian cinema, and the role of food in cinema. The grammar will cover past tense subjunctive, indirect speech, impersonal “si,” simple and compound gerund, hypothetical period of possibility and unreality, and subjunctive concordance. You will be reading and listening to stories, watching videos, and making presentations.
We will cover Units 4 and 5. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. B2 The textbook is available at the office at $40.
Advanced 1 (C1)
Students will learn the language of advertising, Italian psychology, how to present statistical data, describe art works, and working with idiomatic expressions and metaphors. The grammar will focus on nouns, adjectives, and pronouns. We will read excerpts of literary texts, watch video clips, and listen to stories and interviews.
We will cover Units 1 and 2. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. C1 The textbook is available at the office at $50.
Advanced 2 (C1)
Students will learn the different types of Italian spoken, as well as the influence of English on Italian and the dialects. We will also take a look at the language of bureaucracy. We will talk about the brain drain phenomenon, jobs and the education system, as well as technology. The grammar will focus on indefinite adjectives/ pronouns, expressions that require the subjunctives, relative pronouns, verbs that are followed by the infinitives and the prepositions “a”/”di”, the impersonal forms, irregular subjunctives, and the sequence of the subjunctive tense present and past. We will read excerpts of literary texts, watch video clips, and listen to stories and interviews.
We will cover Units 3 and 4. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. C1 The textbook is available at the office at $50.
Advanced 3 (C1)
We will talk about contemporary art, science, social networks; we will go back in history to learn how Italy became a country, learning about Garibaldi and the famous questione meridionale. The grammar will focus on the future passive, the present participle, passive versus active form, sequence of the subjunctive tense, and imperfect and pluperfect. We will read excerpts of literary texts, watch video clips, and listen to stories and interviews.
We will cover Units 5 and 6. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. C1 The textbook is available at the office at $50.
Proficient (Native Speaker)
Proficient 1 (C1–C2)
We will be talking about ethical issues, family relationships, and friendship. We will also jump back to the past to talk about fascism and resistance, as well as women’s movements and discrimination on the workplace. The grammar will focus on double pronouns, the causative verbs and the if clauses of the I-II-III type. We will also look into the mixed hypotetical period and the use of the subjunctive in the negative sentence and with the indefinite pronouns. We will also explore the language of the law and look into the Italian Constitution. We will be reading excerpts of literary texts, watch video clips, and listen to stories and interviews.
We will cover Units 7 and 8. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. C1 The textbook is available at the office at $50.
Proficient 2 (C1–C2)
We will talk about immigrations and the “new” Italians, sports, religions, and health. Grammar will focus on the sequences of tenses of the subjunctive, the adjectives that work as nouns, indirect speech, use of the subjunctive in relative clauses, independent use of the subjunctive, and pragmatic subjunctive with object dislocation. We will read excerpts of literary texts, watch video clips, and listen to stories and interviews.
We will cover Units 9 and 10. Nuovo Contatto, Vol. C1 The textbook is available at the office at $50.