The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover over a 10-week period, and include typical themes, grammar and vocabulary fields. They are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers may decide to adapt their learning plans to the specific level, aims and interests of their classes.

• Italian Beginner
• Italian Beginner Plus
• Italian Elementary
• Italian Lower Intermediate
• Italian Intermediate
• Italian Upper Intermediate

Themes/Lexical Fields

• Greetings & introducing yourself: exchanging personal info (name, nationality, job, where you are from, where you live, age, languages you speak, status…)
• Your daily routine: from dawn to dusk (hence, relevant vocabulary)
• Dates & asking / giving the time
• Asking / Telling the time (opening / closing times)
• Asking / Giving permissions
• Buying / Ordering Food and Drinks
• Booking into hotels
• Likes & Dislikes

Grammar

• Phonetics: the Italian sounds
• Questions words
• Formal/ Informal language: hence, subject pronouns
• Nouns: masculine / feminine, singular / plural
• Definite/Indefinite articles
• Verbs: to be, to have & idiomatic uses (affirmative / negative forms)
• The Present Tense: structure and uses (the conjugations are, ere, ire and isc group)
• Some irregular verbs & some reflexive verbs
• Prepositions: simple & with definite articles
• Verb “to like”
• Adverbs of frequency
• Direct object pronouns
• Possessive: adjectives & pronouns
• Modals: vorrei / vuoi / vuole, posso / puoi / puo’

Vocabulary

• Alphabet & numbers (1 – 1000)
• Days, months & seasons
• Daily habits & objects, sports & activities
• Food and drinks
• Adverbs of manner, place and time
• Colours
• Directions: buildings and addresses

And…

• Pronunciation – key sounds
• Speaking practice, at least 40 minutes per lesson
• Listening comprehensions: at least one per lesson

NOTE Guideline: Units 1-4, CONTATTI 1

Themes/Lexical Fields

• Asking / giving directions, describing places & getting about in town
• Enquire about transportation (departures / arrivals)
• Buying goods: shopping for food and clothes
• Understanding prices and rates changing money
• Talking about / describing yourself, hobbies, family and friends
• Your daily life (present and past)
• Talking about past experiences
• Expressing ability: what you can do
• Making a phone call

Grammar

• Revision and practice of Beginner level grammar (eg. through dialogue creation)
• Modals: volere, potere, dovere, sapere
• Possessive: adjective and pronouns
• Adjectives: comparative
• Prepositions: time / place, simple and with articles
• Quantities: partitive
• Impersonal forms: si, bisogna
• Linking words: conjunctions
• Pronouns: direct and indirect object, places and quantities
• The Italian Present Perfect (ie. Passato Prossimo), structure and uses
• Time phrases & adverbs of frequency
• The Present continuous

Vocabulary

• Revision and practice of Beginner level vocabulary
• Places & buildings
• Weights, measures & materials
• Shops
• Clothing, food & drinks
• House & furniture
• Feelings & emotions
• Idioms

And…

• Pronunciation – key sounds
• Speaking practice, at least 40 minutes per lesson
• Listening comprehension, at least one per lesson
• Reading comprehension: at least one every two lessons
• Writing: creating dialogues, paragraphs & simple compositions (up to 200 words)

NOTE Guideline: Units 5-9, CONTATTI 1

Themes/Lexical Fields

• Talking about films, books, TV programmes
• Choosing hotel and restaurant
• Making suggestions & Accepting / refusing invitations
• Asking / giving advice
• Talking about the weather
• Your daily life (present and past) & talking about past experiences, things you used to do
• Describing actions, situations, people & things in the past
• Health: body and illnesses
• Asking / Giving suggestions
• Making comparisons

Grammar

• Revision and practice of Beginner PLUS level grammar (eg. through dialogue creation)
• More questions
• Impersonal expressions: bisogna, e’ meglio
• Adjectives: comparatives & superlatives
• The Italian Perfect tense (ie. Imperfetto), structure and uses
• Imperfetto & Passato prossimo: compare uses
• Continuous forms: present and past, structure and uses
• Pronouns: direct and indirect object
• Relative Pronouns
• The Future structure and uses

Vocabulary

• Revision and practice of Beginner PLUS level vocabulary
• Adjectives
• Body & illnesses
• The weather
• Holidays
• Idioms

And…

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Listening comprehensions: at least one per lesson
• Reading comprehension: at least one per lesson
• Writing exercises: creating dialogues, paragraphs & compositions (up to 400 words)

NOTE Guideline: Units 10 – 14, CONTATTI 1

Themes/Lexical Fields

• Asking – Giving opinions
• Talking - Comparing opinions, people and places
• Expressing desires, emotions and doubts
• Talking about professions and workplaces
• Making acquaintances
• Hotels/places to stay
• Food
• Making phone calls, getting information

Grammar

• Revision and practice of Beginner and Elementary level grammar
• Adjectives: Comparative and Superlative
• Pronouns: indefinite
• The Conditional
• The Imperative
• The Subjunctive (regular and irregular) and the uses of some conjunctions
• The Relative pronouns

Vocabulary

• Revision and practice of Beginner and Elementary level vocabulary
• Idioms
• High frequency words and expressions from reading comprehensions and listening activities

And…

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Lots of listening
• Writing reports
  

Themes/Lexical Fields

• Describing Past actions
• Talking about Hypothetical situations
• Expressing opinions on specific fields
• Reporting some other’s speech
• Talking impersonally and a wide range of possibilities: entertainment & mass media, work & education, social & political issues, books, generation changes, cities, people, relationships, the arts, technology, health & fitness, social life, night life, national traditions/customs & culture, consumerism, globalisation

Grammar

• Revision and practice of Lower intermediate level grammar
• The Trapassato Prossimo
• The Subjunctive (Imperfetto, Passato, Trapassato)
• The Conditional and the Subjunctive
• Suffixes and Prefixes
• Modifying words

Vocabulary

• Revision and practice of Lower intermediate level vocabulary
• Idioms
• High frequency words and expressions from reading comprehensions and listening activities

And…

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Lots of listening
• Writing reports and translations

Themes/Lexical Fields

• Talking about the distant past
• Reporting what others have said
• Expressing opinions on specific fields, such as: entertainment & mass media, work & education, social & political issues, books, generation changes, cities, people, relationships, the arts, technology, health & fitness, social life, night life, national traditions/customs & culture, consumerism, globalisation…

Grammar

• Review, consolidate & extend intermediate level grammar. Especially:
• The Hypothesis in the past :Conditional and Subjunctive
  Conjunctions
• The Simple past (passato remoto)
• The Passive (“si” passivizzante)
• Indirect Speech
• Modifying words

Vocabulary

• Review consolidate and extend Intermediate level vocabulary
• Idioms
• More words and expressions from reading comprehensions and listening activities

And…

• Speaking/active practice through readings and discussions
• Lots of listening
• Writing activities, reports and translations