Italian resources

In reply to the enquiries of some of my students, today I would like to talk about some books that could be useful to complement your Italian course. The first book is an Italian grammar for foreigners called Gramm.it, complete with exercises and recently published by Bonacci Editore (www.bonacci.it). I came across this book for the first time at a language fair in London last October and have been using some of the suggested exercises ever since in my own courses. The grammar has the advantage of being devised for non-native learners of Italian and to avoid the use of complicated terminology, while still being detailed and complete. As far as I can see it is one of the best grammars on the market at the moment and I recommend it.

The other resource I would like to tell you about is a series of Italian short stories available at different levels, from beginners to advanced. Each booklet contains a CD, so that you can couple the reading with the listening at your own pace. The series is published by Blackcat-Cideb (www.blackcat-cideb.com). I used resources from this publisher for years when I taught English in Italy, as they are available for a number of languages. I usually used the CD in class but these short stories are a very good tool also for self study. Hope this helps you shed some light on the jungle of grammars and course books available on the market. Enjoy learning Italian!