Il Tavolo Italiano's Italian language workshops

Enhanced Italian Pronunciation

This 6 week (1 hour) class is going to focus only on the alphabet and pronunciation of the Italian Language. You will learn some Italian words along the way but only because we will use them for pronunciation examples. The focus will be solely on learning the Italian alphabet along with all the names for the letters and pronunciation of Italian words. We will not be focusing on grammar, vocabulary, sentence construction or conversation. The reason for this class is that many people find they still struggle with pronunciation for some time after they start studying Italian. This tends to be an impediment to their learning experience as they find they have to focus so much on pronunciation that they often aren't able to focus on the main goal of the class they are in.

This class is designed to address that issue. We will spend one hour per week going over a very limited amount of material so we can review it thoroughly will a substantial amount of participation from everybody. When we leave each class we should walk away knowing and feeling confident about the limited amount of information we have studied. By time we reach week 6 we should be able to pronounce with relative ease the vast majority of Italian words that we will encounter. Oral class participation will be required so if you don't wish to speak in front of others, this class is not for you.

I would personally recommend that anybody who does not already understand the pronunciation rules for Italian take this class first (those who intend to study the language and those who plan to take the "divertente" series phrase classes).

The class will cost $35.00 total for all 6 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This will be an enhanced class so there will be online support for this each lesson. This class has a maximum limit of 12 students.

The schedule is as follows:
Week 1 The Alphabet
Week 2 Sempre a, e, i, o u
Week 3 Diphthongs and other oddities
Week 4 Hard and Soft C's and G's
Week 5 Syllabication and Double Consonants
Week 6 Accented letters and approstrophies

Here are a few reviews:

What did he say? Just finished the last session of the pronunciation class. Exccellante! Everything is easier now that I can actually pronounce (Well Almost!) what I am trying to learn. After six weeks I'm proud to say that I no longer sound like a "dope-pee-ah-voo". Chuck and his assistant Mike were great and understanding too. A lot of fun coupled with a lot of learning. I highly reccomend this class.
Ed R.

I'm pleased with this very valuable class.
Suzanne K.

I would certainly recommend this class to anyone who is even thinking of beginning to learn any italian. What a huge help this class has been. Grazie mille Carlo e Michele!
Carolyn H.

Enhanced Divertente 1 - Saying hi and breaking into small talk!

This 12 week (1 hour per class) class is going to focus in all honesty more on having fun than on education! The workshops are actually a great way to get out, meet people and just do something different and this is really the focus here. We will be learning some Italian but it will be at an extremely "no pressure" pace. If you are planning to go to Italy for your job and you need to learn the language, this is not the class for you. If you want to have some fun, meet good people and after a 12 week class be able to say Hello, bye, how are you and some small talk then you should consider this class.

The pace will be learning 2 words a day (each day you are not at class), thus for instance one day may be "grazie" and "mille". In class we will use the words we learn during the week to assemble phrases and practice speaking Italian at week 1! We will not study any grammatical or pronunciation rules so leave your big notebooks at home!

I would recommend this class to anybody who would like to say hello, how are you and maybe very little small talk in Italian, just enough to say something at social gatherings here or in Italy but really just does not have the time to study a language.

The class will cost $45.00 total for all 12 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This will be an enhanced class so there will be online support for this each lesson. This class has a maximum limit of 20 students.

The schedule is as follows:
Week # 1 Hi - how are you
Week # 2 Please, thank you, good bye
Week # 3 Just a little curious
Week # 4 First round of answers
Week # 5 Second round of answers
Week # 6 How many and introductions
Week # 7 One through twelve
Week # 8 I have, we have and to twenty
Week # 9 likes and dislikes
Week # 10 Can, want to, have to
Week # 11 A little demanding
Week # 12 More demands and gossip

Enhanced Beginner 1 Italian Course

If you have been wanting to learn Italian but haven't started yet. This 12 week (1 hour 20 min per class) is the class for you. We start off very basic (pronunciation and the alphabet) and slowly lay a sure foundation on which you will be able to go on to learn this beautiful language. This class includes online exercises, embedded videos, vocabulary CD's, podcasts, printable learning crosswords and more.

An excellent value, a good time but most of all, a start at actually learning to understand and speak Italian.

I would personally recommend that anybody who does not already speak Italian and intends to study with the goal of someday being conversational to some degree.

The class will cost $75.00 total for all 12 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This will be an enhanced class so there will be online support for this each lesson. This class has a maximum limit of 20 students.

The schedule is as follows:
Week # 1 The Italian alphabet, pronunciation and basic greetings
Week # 2 Subject pronouns, essere (to be), avere (to have) & vocabulary
Week # 3 Nouns, gender, indefinite articles, nationalities & stare (to stay)
Week # 4 Definite Articles, this, that, these, those and family members
Week # 5 Regular ARE verbs and adverbs
Week # 6 Irregular ARE verbs and idiomatic expressions
Week # 7 Prepositions, negatives, interrogatives and more regular ARE verbs
Week # 8 Regular ERE verbs, direct object pronouns and sapere
Week # 9 Irregular ERE verbs, Part's of a house, c'è, ci cono and ecco
Week # 10 Numbers and Math
Week # 11 Regular IRE Verbs, Adjectives, With and Without
Week # 12 Irregular IRE Verbs, Personal Possessive Pronouns and Colors

Enhanced Italian Verbs 1

Verb Drills I is a 12 week (1 hour per class) workshop suitable for beginners and is the first workshop we ever had as a group and is still my favorite because you get such great returns in the way of being able to say more when you are learning Italian. It focuses solely on learning verbs and how to conjugate them but just learning this took me to another level in my quest to learn Italian. Not only did I learn the words for “to read, to accept, to be able to, to look for, to laugh…” etc but I also learned how to use them in different tenses so now I could say “I will try….” or “I was going….” or “I ate …” so that I could address the past and the future. The best part was that it wasn’t that hard to grasp. However, having said that, it is important to note, that if you do not know many Italian verbs in their infinitive form, i.e. “to dance, to cook, to sing,…” etc then you will have quite a bit of studying to do for the first three of the first six weeks. After that it gets much easier as we continue to mostly work with the same verbs to learn the various conjugation patterns. And now this class has been enhanced to include a host of online support modules as well such as videos, podcasts, online exercises, etc.

This is a course that can benefit anybody learning Italian from the absolute beginner to the student who already knows some Italian but not all of the tenses that we will be covering.

Verb Drills I covers about the first third of the book “Italian Verb Drills” by Nanni-Tate. If you decide to take this course you will need to have this book. You may find this book locally at Barnes and Noble for about $10.00 or simply purchase it at:
Il Tavolo Italiano Bookstore You will want to make sure that you get the "Third Edition"

I would personally recommend this class to anybody who has taken Beginner's 1 but does not already fully understand the Italian verb system for all of the tenses listed below.

The class will cost $75.00 total for all 12 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This will be an enhanced class so there will be online support for this each lesson. This class has a maximum limit of 20 students.

The schedule is as follows:
Week 1 – Regular ARE Verbs in the present tense
Week 2 – Irregular ARE Verbs in the present tense
Week 3 – Regular ERE Verbs in the present tense
Week 4 – Irregular ERE Verbs in the present tense
Week 5 – Regular IRE Verbs in the present tense
Week 6 – Irregular IRE Verbs in the present tense
Week 7 – The imperative tense
Week 8 – The Future tense
Week 9 – The imperfect tense
Week 10 – Passato Remoto tense and Essere/Avere in various tenses
Week 11 – The Passato Prossimo
Week 12 – Irregular Past Participles

Italian Comprehension Reader 1

This 12 week (1 hour) class is going to spent reading the book "Diario della studentessa Jean" together a little bit at a time so each of us has a turn reading, pronouncing, listening and understatnding. This book while written in Italian is designed to be read by those studying Italian and for whom Italian is not a mother tongue. We will read a small segment each week together and then we will take an in depth look at that section while translating it together.

This is a great opportunity to see some of what you have learned in Beginners 1 and Verb Drills 1 put into use or context. It is also a great opportunity to practice your pronunciation and to get a little used to other people speaking Italian. This is a relatively easy class if you have already taken the Beginner's and Verb drills 1 class and is actually a good companion class to a grammar class.

You will need the book "Diario della studentessa Jean" by Jean L. Farinelli for this class. It is very inexpensive. You may be able to find it locally or purchase it online at:
Il Tavolo Italiano Bookstore

I would personally recommend that anybody who has already taken the Beginner's and Verb drills 1 class and has a desire to be involved with more Italian conversation take a look at this class.

The class will cost $45.00 total for all 12 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This is not currently an enhanced class so there will be no online support. This class has a maximum limit of 12 students.

NOTE: There will be some vocabulary, grammar and verb tenses you will see that you will not know but we will work through that together.

Enhanced Comprehensive Italian 2

This 12 week (1 hour 20 min per class) course is not really a beginner class as it is the second of our basic grammar "enhanced classes" with a myriad of online elements supporting this class including Podcasts, exercises, videos, etc.

This class builds on the foundation laid with the beginner's 1 class by introducing past and future tenses, more object pronouns and more.

I would personally recommend that anybody who has taken Beginner's 1 and Verb Drills 1 already and how has or will also be taking the Comprehension Reader 1 class and desires to further their Italian language skills.

The class will cost $75.00 total for all 12 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This will be an enhanced class so there will be online support for this each lesson. This class has a maximum limit of 20 students.

The schedule is as follows:
Week 1: Ci, ne, né and vocabulary on food in Italian
Week 2: The future tense, conjunctions, Italian words about education
Week 3: Irregular Italian verbs in the future tense and Italian ordinal numbers
Week 4: Italian indirect object pronouns and vocabulary on transportation
Week 5: Conjugating regular Italian Verbs in the Imperfect Tense, More verbs
Week 6: Quale, che, Italian vocabulary on furnishings, appliances and accessories
Week 7: Partitives and grammatical terms in Italian
Week 8: The calendar, days of the week and telling time in Italy
Week 9: Italian verbs in the passato prossimo, some irregular past participles
Week 10: Da quando, da quanto tempo, Italian vocabulary associated with directions
Week 11: Double pronouns and Italian terms for places
Week 12: The trapassato prossimo and more irregular past participles

Italian Verbs 2

Verb Drills 2 is a 12 week (1 hour class) workshop not suitable for beginners as it covers some of the more advanced but widely used tenses in Italian. It focuses solely on learning to conjugate verbs in these tenses and learning this took me to yet another level in my quest to learn Italian. I found it amazing for instance how much we use the conditional (I would, could or should)

This is a course that can benefit anybody having already gone through the beginner and verb drills class or who already know a fair amount Italian but not all of the tenses that we will be covering.

Verb Drills 2 covers about the second third of the book “Italian Verb Drills” by Nanni-Tate. If you decide to take this course you will need to have this book. You may find this book locally at Barnes and Noble for about $10.00 or simply purchase it at:
Il Tavolo Italiano Bookstore

I would personally recommend this class to anybody who has taken Beginner's 1 and Verb Drills 1 but does not already fully understand the Italian verb system for all of the tenses listed below.

The class will cost $75.00 total for all 12 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This is an enhanced class so there is online support. This class has a maximum limit of 20 students.

The schedule is as follows:
Week 1 – Review of Verb Drills I Tenses
Week 2 – Review of Essere, Avere and Past Participles
Week 3 – Trapassato Prossimo tense
Week 4 – The Present Conditional tense
Week 5 – The Past Conditional tense
Week 6 – The Present Subjunctive tense
Week 7 - The Imperfect Subjunctive tense
Week 8 – The Past Subjunctive tense
Week 9 – The Pluperfect Subjunctive tense
Week 10 – Se Clauses and the Subjunctive / Reflexive Verbs
Week 11 – Progressive tenses and Modal Verbs
Week 12 – The Passive Voice / Verbs that follow common patterns

Comprehension Reader 2

This 12 week (1 hour) class is going to spent reading the book "Jean e Roscoe vanno a Perugia" together a little bit at a time so each of us has a turn reading, pronouncing, listening and understatnding. This book while written in Italian is designed to be read by those studying Italian and for whom Italian is not a mother tongue. It is just a little more advanced than "Diario della studentessa Jean" and is written by the same author. We will read a chapter each week (they are small) and then we will take an in depth look at that section while translating it together.

This is a great opportunity to see some of what you have learned or are learning in comprehensive 2 put into use or context. It is also a great opportunity to refine your pronunciation and to get a little used to other people speaking Italian. This is a relatively easy class if you have already taken or are taking the Comprehensive 2 class and is actually a good companion class to a grammar class. Since this class is suggested farther along in you Italian learning experience it will be taught primarily in Italian (although the translation time will obviously include English).

You will need the book "Jean e Roscoe vanno a Perugia" by Jean L. Farinelli for this class. It is very inexpensive. You may be able to find it locally or purchase it online at:
Il Tavolo Italiano Bookstore

I would personally recommend that anybody who has already taken or is taking the Comprehensive 2 class and is ready to try a class that is taught more in Italian than in English to consider this class.

The class will cost $45.00 total for all 12 classes and it is due at the first class you attend. This is not currently an enhanced class so there will be no online support. This class has a maximum limit of 12 students.

NOTE: There will be some vocabulary, grammar and verb tenses you will see that you will not know but we will work through that together.

Have a question or comment about a workshop? Please email: Carlo