LANGUAGE CLASSES

Each course consists of twelve weekly classes of 2 ½ hours each, for a total of 30 hours per course. Classes run from 6:30 to 9:00pm.

Course	Session Dates
Beginner I	September 15 – December 1, 2026
Beginner II	January 12 – March 30, 2027
Beginner III	April 20 – July 6, 2027
Intermediate I	September 16 – December 2, 2026
Intermediate II	January 13 – March 31, 2027
Intermediate III	April 21 – July 7, 2027

Each course session costs CAD $330.00 (+$60.00 CAD dollars for the textbook). Payment is required before the beginning of each session. Late registrations are not allowed.

The classes of Beginner I, II, and III will use the textbook Nuovo Espresso Plus 1.

The classes of Intermediate I, II, and III will use the text book Nuovo Espresso Plus 2.

Each session follows a carefully designed curriculum that progressively builds language competence across grammar, vocabulary, and communication. Below is a detailed overview of the topics covered across all Beginner and Intermediate sessions.

Beginner Session I

• Numbers from 0 to 100
• The Italian alphabet and pronunciation of letters
• Articles and nouns
• Subject pronouns and interrogative adverbs
• Formal and informal register
• Present tense of regular verbs (-ARE, -ERE)
• Key irregular verbs: essere, avere, stare, fare, andare, volere, and others
• Greeting expressions
• Ordering at a restaurant
• How to ask and answer questions
• Demonstrative pronouns

Beginner Session II

• Present tense of regular verbs (-IRE)
• Telling the time; days of the week
• Leisure time activities and vocabulary
• Important verbal constructions: Mi piace / Mi piacciono
• Indirect pronouns
• Irregular verbs: potere, venire
• Months and dates
• Describing a house or a place
• Expressing desires and preferences
• Numbers above 100
• Reflexive verbs
• Expressing wishes
• Possessive pronouns

Beginner Session III

• Past tense: passato prossimo and participio passato
• Temporal and other adverbs
• The superlative
• Partitive pronouns
• Impersonal constructions
• The four seasons and related vocabulary
• Reflexive verbs (continued and expanded)
• The relative superlative

Intermediate Session I

• Prepositions: key forms and usage
• The comparative
• Clothes and colours vocabulary
• The imperative tense
• The imperfect tense (imperfetto)
• Expressing feelings and emotions
• Indefinite pronouns
• The present conditional
• Time expressions

Intermediate Session II

• The gerund and the Italian equivalent of the -ing form: stare + gerund
• Relative pronouns: che and cui
• Exclamations expressing surprise and displeasure
• Giving and understanding directions
• Negative imperative
• Comparative and superlative of ‘buono’ and ‘bene’
• Diseases, symptoms, remedies
• Sport and physical activities

Intermediate Session III

• The future tense
• Time expressions with quando, fra, and prima
• The verb bisogna and its constructions
• The construction mi piacerebbe + infinitive
• Conditional clauses expressing irreality
• Expressions of courtesy
• Near-future expressions: stare per + infinitive
• Present subjunctive of regular verbs (-ARE, -ERE, -IRE) and selected irregular verbs
• The comparative construction (expanded)

The in-person classes have a maximum capacity of 10 students per session and one instructor.

There are no make-up classes.  Students can inform their teacher of their planned absence and request any missed materials.

No credits or refunds after the second lesson.

Upon request, the office will be pleased to provide a letter of course completion, however the classes won’t issue credits, academic certifications nor diplomas.

Giulio Leghissa holds a PhD in Classics, Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology from University of Toronto. He is currently Sessional Lecturer at University of Toronto Scarborough. His research focuses the reception of Classical ideas and texts in modern Western culture, including Italian literature, from the Medieval to the contemporary age. His most recent publications are about the reception of Greco-Roman environmental views of Egypt and Mesopotamia in Western culture from the Medieval/early modern age to the early twentieth century. He is currently working on the relationship between Latin studies, grammar studies, and linguistical thought between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Italy.