specific italian language courses

These courses aim to develop special linguistic skills and a specific terminology area. Classes are held on an individual basis (or in small groups) so the student will have lessons tailored to his/her personal language needs.

The learning programme and the timetable can be fitted to the needs of the individual student. We highly recommend a minimum of 10 hours of tuition in addition to the homework and study that each student will be requested to dedicate to.

Our textbook will be integrated by other exhaustive documents and teaching material, whose accurate selection and presentation will be made by our teachers.

A wide variety of real-life material such as, television programmes, newspapers and magazine extracts, as well as our blog articles (www.adgblog.it) will encourage the student to take part actively to the lessons.

Moreover, private lessons can also be carried on after your stay in Florence has finished, since you will be given the opportunity to keep in touch with your teacher through Skype or MSN Messenger.

Students can take either the below recommended study modules or ask for more made-to-measure lessons whose aim is always to meet with the students’ wants.

Business Italian
This course aims to improve students' communication skills by means of close analysis of international affairs and management-related topics. It also intends to make the student familiar with the commonest situations inside an Italian company, as well as specific texts of business Italian:

- agenda setting, writing letters, faxes and e-mails;
- problem solving and negotiations (agreeing and disagreeing), presentation of an outlined project;
- differences among small, medium and large size companies;
- reading comprehensions of contracts, economic analysis, circulars issued by banks and insurance companies;
- use of articles taken from specialized newspapers and magazines, such as Il Sole 24 ore.

Those who wish to attend this course are requested to have at least a sound knowledge of Italian, that is a B1 level according to the European Language Portfolio. In addition, the students are also offered the opportunity to take the officially recognised tests CIC I and CIC A.

Italian and the Tourist Industry
This course provides students with essential skills which enable them to understand and write texts and letters in relation to tourism-related topics, and to enhance their communication skills.

It covers a range of work areas (hotels, restaurants, travel agencies) and focuses on the employees dealing with customers in a variety of typical situations:

- professional communication skills (dialogues, hotel and travel reservations, writing letters, faxes and e-mails);
- various types of tourism, means of transportations in Italy, economical and touristic geography of the country, accommodation and restaurants, new trends and classic tours;
- writing extended prose to meet a specified purpose, e.g. the composition of a promotional letter, brochure, report, memo, exploratory letter, press article, etc.

Those who wish to attend this course are requested to have at least a sound knowledge of Italian, that is a B1 level according to the European Language Portfolio.

Italian and the Fashion Industry
This course normally consists of three parts: the first part is devoted to specific terminology, the second part to Italian fashion and the last part to a discussion on the binary concepts of fashion and society. Lessons may deal with the following main topics:

- brief history of Italian fashion;
- clothing and accessories, colours and textiles, at the tailor’s shop;
- Italian brand names and fashion designers;
- reading comprehensions from fashion magazines and blogs;
- the presentation of a model, strategies of marketing;
- visit to the Gallery of Costume in Florence and to the Museum of Textiles in Prato.

Those who wish to attend this course are requested to have at least a sound knowledge of Italian, that is a B1 level according to the European Language Portfolio.

Italian for cooking
This course addresses to those who are eager to approach the study of gastronomic sciences. It is ideal for those who wish to become familiar with Italian food and beverages as well as improve cooking terminology with ease and accuracy, both orally and in writing.

- Brief History of various regional cuisine traditions from the Romans to nowadays;
- comprehending and writing the main recipes, Italian cooking and drinking habits;
- economic and gastronomic geography of the country;
- different places to eat and drink;
- understanding articles taken from cooking magazines or websites such as slowfood.com, videos of recipes from our blog.

Those who wish to attend this course are requested to have at least a sound knowledge of Italian, that is a B1 level according to the European Language Portfolio.

Translation English-Italian/Italian-English
This course approaches the techniques of translation by examining a large collection of texts and by focusing on the translation of idiomatic expressions, as well as of literary excerpts, business articles and short scientific essays. Reference books: Cento Passi da tradurre a cura di Edwige Schulte, Liguori Editore; Translation revisited, a cura di Nicholas Brownlees e John Denton, edizioni Cremonese.

Examination Preparation
Preparation to official exams testing the student's knowledge of the Italian language, i.e. CILS or CELI exams.

Preparatory courses for Italian Universities
Preparatory courses to the admission language and culture exams for the most important Italian universities and academies.

Italian for teachers
This course has been conceived for those teachers of Italian as a foreign language who wish to improve their quality of teaching, acquire updated information on Italy and its culture, as well as learn and experiment new teaching methods for their future language classes. Please visit this page for the detailed programme (in Italian).