Italian 402 – 90 min
Description
Italian 402 is a high-intermediate course designed for learners ready to engage with Italian culture through the dynamic worlds of sports, urban life, and cross-cultural communication. In this immersive course, you’ll develop the sophisticated linguistic skills needed to express opinions, make comparisons, and navigate complex social situations with authenticity and nuance.
Building on the strong foundation from Italian 401, this course focuses on mastering the subjunctive mood—one of Italian’s most distinctive and expressive grammatical features—while exploring topics that matter in contemporary Italian life. Using Nuovo Espresso 2 as our guide, you’ll learn to discuss sports and athletic culture, debate the merits of city versus country living, and share stories of linguistic and cultural mishaps with humor and insight.
You’ll develop the ability to express hopes, doubts, and personal opinions with the precision that marks truly fluent speakers, while learning to make nuanced comparisons and articulate preferences. Whether you’re discussing your favorite region of Italy, debating urban planning, or recounting a cross-cultural misunderstanding, you’ll communicate with the confidence and sophistication of an advanced learner.
Beyond grammar and vocabulary, you’ll discover the cultural dimensions of Italian expression—from the art of showing disapproval appropriately to mastering those untranslatable expressions like magari that capture the Italian spirit.
What You’ll Learn:
- Subjunctive Mastery: Learn the present subjunctive of regular and irregular verbs to express necessity, hope, and personal opinions
- Comparative Skills: Master comparative structures (più… di/che) and learn to make analogies and express preferences
- Urban and Geographic Vocabulary: Discuss city life, regional characteristics, and geographic locations with precision
- Advanced Grammar Structures: Explore the past conditional for unrealized wishes, combined pronouns, and the trapassato prossimo (past perfect)
- Idiomatic Expressions: Use pronominal verbs (tenerci, volerci, spuntarla) and expressions like mi tocca and non sono affatto d’accordo
- Cultural Communication: Learn to express surprise, relief, agreement, and disagreement in culturally appropriate ways
Course Benefits:
- Deepen Language Skills: Our lessons provide students with the time and space to truly build fluency—ideal for learners who want to strengthen their skills through in-depth practice and meaningful interaction.
- Authentic Expression: Develop natural-sounding Italian for real-life social situations
- Interactive and Engaging:Â Practice speaking with classmates and your instructor.
- Learn Anywhere, Anytime:Â All ONLINE classes are recorded, so if you have to miss a class, you will be given access to the material 24/7.
Schedule of Dates
Location: ONLINE
Day & Time: Wednesdays 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm (PST)
Class Dates: Apr. 22, 29 – May 6, 13, 20, 27 – Jun. 3, 10, 17, 24
Your teacher is Sylvia
What if Class Has Started?
For our adult classes we can accept new students once a course has started on a case-by-case basis up to mid-way through the course. If you join a course late, the course fee will be pro-rated so that you don’t pay for the lessons you missed before joining the class.
Textbook Info
For this course the textbook we will using is NUOVO Espresso 4. You can purchase the books along with your course at the time of registration or you can purchase it from our bookstore at a later date.
Cancellation & Refund Policy
Please review our class terms and conditions page here.
