Italian: Intermediate - Part 1



Overview

Consolidate your proficiency in Italian language and express your opinions on a range of familiar everyday topics with this 10-week intermediate-level course.

To help develop your fluency in the language, the course will focus primarily on speaking and listening skills, but will also include practice in reading and writing.

You will have plenty of opportunities to practise the target language through hands-on class activities such as discussions and role-plays.

The course is pitched at level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and completion of the course meets some of the level requirements.

Is this the right level course for you?

To benefit from the course, learners will have done one of the following:

  • Completed our 'Italian: Lower Intermediate - Part 2' course or equivalent; or
  • Gained a GCSE (Grade A/A* or 7-9) in Italian; or
  • Achieved A2 Level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in Italian.

Programme details

Course starts Monday 29 September 2025

This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Mondays, 2-4pm.

The weekly schedule below is intended to give an indication of the main topic(s) likely to be covered in each session. Please note that these may sometimes change according to the tutor’s discretion to reflect the interests of course participants.

Week 1: Cultura popolare

Week 2: Cinema e serie TV

Week 3: Problemi in viaggio

Week 4: Italiano in pratica: chiedere assistenza

Week 5: In autostrada

Week 6: Eventi e celebrazioni

Week 7: Tradizioni italiane

Week 8: Religione e superstizioni

Week 9: Abitudini di lettura: generi letterari

Week 10: Il mondo dell'informazione: stampa scritta e online

Key grammar points

  • Il congiuntivo presente 
  • Il congiuntivo passato
  • Verbi pronominali
  • Verbi e pronomi combinati
  • Trapassato e passato prossimo

Key functions

  • Esprimere opinioni personali
  • Chiedere assistenza e protestare
  • Chiedere e dare consigli
  • Sintetizzare un argomento

Textbooks

To participate in the course fully, you will need access to the following textbook:

  • DIECI lezioni di italiano B1 (Units 1-5) / C.M. Naddeo, E. Orlandino

Digital Certification

Digital badge

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be issued with an official digital badge from the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. In order to be issued with your badge, you will need to have attended at least 80% of the course.

After the course, you will receive an email with a link and instructions on how to download your digital badge. You will be able to add this badge to your email signature and share it on social media if you choose to do so.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £300.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. See details of our concessionary fees for short courses.

 

Tutor

Dr Francesca Magnabosco

Francesca Magnabosco obtained her DPhil in Italian literature from the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, Oxford University. She has been teaching Italian language and culture at OUDCE for over a decade. She is also a lecturer in Renaissance literature at Pembroke College, and teaches Italian Prose Composition for the sub-Faculty of Italian, Oxford University.

Course aims

To help you to practise and consolidate the language required to express yourself with a degree of fluency and spontaneity in some situations regularly encountered at work, educational settings, leisure centres and while travelling abroad.

Course objectives

  • To develop the learners’ language skills to be able to deal with a range of situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken.
  • To consolidate reading comprehension skills to enable learners to understand a range of texts written in everyday and job-related language.
  • To equip learners with the vocabulary and grammatical structures required to write straightforward, connected texts on some topics which are familiar or of personal interest.
  • To increase the learners’ intercultural awareness and understanding of some of the differences and similarities in social and everyday practices between their own and the target culture.

Teaching methods

You will learn through a communicative teaching approach with the emphasis on actively engaging in classroom activities in the target language. These are likely to include role-plays, pair- and small-group work, and conversational practice conducted in a supportive, collaborative and informal learning environment.

The course has been structured to help you primarily to improve your speaking and listening skills and to deepen your awareness of cultural nuances and customs in the target language.

You will also learn and practise new grammatical structures in a communicative context and will be encouraged to develop your reading and writing skills in your own time.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be better prepared to:

  • exploit language to deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the target language is spoken;
  • understand the main points of clear standard speech on most familiar matters regularly encountered at work, educational settings and leisure centres;
  • read and understand simple texts which include job-related language, descriptions of events, reasons or opinions;
  • write straightforward connected texts on familiar topics or matters of personal interest.

Assessment methods

You will be set optional assignments to consolidate your learning and to allow you to progress at your own pace.

Application

Please use the 'Book now' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form.

Level and demands

An intermediate level course for developing language proficiency to deal with familiar matters and some situations likely to arise while travelling in a country where the language is spoken.

To benefit from the course, learners will have done one of the following:

  • Completed our 'Italian: Lower Intermediate - Part 2' course or equivalent; or
  • Gained a GCSE (Grade A/A* or 7-9) in Italian; or
  • Achieved A2 Level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in Italian.

Find out more about our language levels.

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support