Buondì.
Today’s free material for learning Italian is yet another native speaker conversation (with transcript), this time the topic being:
Previous audio recordings in this series are linked to from our ‘New’ page, so if you need listening practice, go binge!
Or, if this current material is too hard for you, check out the ‘Listening’ page on the club website, which has a mass of recordings at six different levels.
The interviewer you hear in the audio was taking her questions from this set of conversation prompts: ‘Il passato e il futuro’.
So that’s the free audio + transcript here, and the source questions here.
Other sets of conversation prompts, on various topics, are here and, as I mentioned, other ‘native-speaker conversations’ with transcripts are here.
A mercoledì.
The ‘Book of the Week’ is back!
It’s been literally AGES since I’ve done a ‘Book of the Week’ offer, which is a shame as people always seemed to value them.
The idea is to pick out an easy-reader ebook that we published aeons back, which you may not therefore have heard of, and discount it for a limited period (a week, obviously…)
This with the aim of tempting you to put down that grammar book and do some reading/listening instead – which’ll be much more useful!
So, what’s it to be, this week?
I figured I’d start with something EASY, or at least fairly easy, given that the current series of free materials (above) is quite challenging.
Il giocoliere (The Juggler) is described as level A1/2.
We first published it way back when, so it’s quite probable you haven’t seen it.
Club members who have read it commented:
“I found that I wanted to keep reading because I was intrigued by the story line.”
“The easy readers are great for keeping you motivated. This one is perfect for wetting your appetite.”
“Wished the story would have continued. Good for beginners of Italian who have learnt the basics and some verbs to strengthen skills and word knowledge…”
“A really beautiful little story. Anyone with a couple of years of Italian should be able to read it easily and SHOULD READ IT and others as well.”
“Wished the story was longer, I enjoyed it so much.”
It ISN’T longer, deliberately.
Easy readers at this level are designed to be, well, ‘easy’, and part of being ‘easy’ means ‘easy to finish’.
The idea is to keep people’s motivation up – you managed to finish something! A whole story in Italian!
Now go do another, and another.
Once you get the habit of reading/listening, you can look for something a level up, and così via, gradually increasing the level of difficulty until you are confident enough to read authentic Italian texts (it shouldn’t take long, if you practice…)
How to know if the material is too hard, too easy, or like the little bear’s porridge, just about right for your current level?
Simple.
From the product page in our online shop, look for the free sample chapter link (.pdf)
Download and read/listen to the first chapter to see how it grabs you.
If you get through it without effort, it’s probably too easy, so go choose something more suitable from our Catalogue page, where you’ll find all our ebooks along with links to free sample chapters for each one.
If on the other hand you find it a struggle, then ditto. Find easier material on our Catalogue page and repeat the process of evaluating the free sample chapter.
What else can I tell you about Il giocoliere?
Here’s the ‘blurb’ from the product page:
“A student has her purse stolen on a crowded bus in Bologna. It contains little of value, except a photograph which is precious to her…”
And here’s the rest of the info from the shop
-
- .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online at soundcloud.com)
- 8 chapters to read and listen to
- Comprehension questions to check your understanding
- Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
- Suitable for students at any level
- Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)
Your e-book will be emailed to you within 24 hours of your purchase.
And the price?
The price! I almost forgot the price!
It’s normally £7.99 but this week, with the ‘Book of the Week’ offer, it’s half price.
So that’s just £3.99.
The ‘Book of the Week’ offer ends on Sunday night.
Here are those links again:
Buy ‘Il giocoliere’ | Free sample chapter (.pdf) | Catalogue