Italian: Upper Intermediate - Part 1



Overview

Improve your Italian language skills to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity in a range of contexts.

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, debates and role-plays.

The course is pitched at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and completion of the course will help you meet 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: Intermediate - Part 2' course or equivalent; or
  • Gained an AS in Italian; or
  • Achieved level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) 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, 4.30-6.30pm.

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: Il Grand Tour

Week 2: Geografia italiana: le due Italie

Week 3: Scienze e futuro

Week 4: Dal medico specialista

Week 5: Il sistema politico italiano

Week 6: Dibattiti e proposte

Week 7: Personalità: vizi e virtù

Week 8: Animali da compagnia

Week 9: Storia d'Italia

Week 10: Personaggi controversi

Textbooks

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

  • DIECI lezioni di italiano B2 (units 1-5) / C.M. Naddeo, E. Orlandino

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, Oxford. 

 

Course aims

To help learners develop the language required to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity in discussions in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining own views.

Course objectives

  • To further develop the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing to enable students to interact in a range of contexts on both concrete and abstract topics.
  • To consolidate reading comprehension skills required for understanding a range of articles and reports in which the writer adopts particular viewpoints.
  • To widen the range of lexical repertoire, idioms and grammar structures required for understanding a range of news and current affairs programmes and writing clear texts to pass on information, narrate events, or express viewpoints.
  • To further develop intercultural competence and appreciation of the role that values and beliefs play in communication between cultures and social groups.

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, debates and discussions 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:

  • understand extended speech and follow lines of argument on familiar topics;
  • participate in discussions and express viewpoints with a degree of fluency and spontaneity;
  • read a range of articles, reports and news items with a degree of independence to obtain information, ideas and opinions, using reference sources selectively; and
  • write clear and detailed texts to present own viewpoints, narrate events, and explain reasons.

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 upper intermediate level course for improving your Italian language skills to interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity in a range of contexts.

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

  • Completed our 'Italian: Intermediate - Part 2' course or equivalent; or
  • Gained an AS in Italian; or
  • Achieved level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in Italian.

Find out more about our language levels.

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support