With the whole of the week stretching ahead of us, Monday’s a great day for making ambitious plans, and taking those first small steps on the journey to achieving them.
Yes, you really could improve your Italian. All you have to do is to get into the habit of studying regularly… which is, of couse, easier said than done.
But here’s a solution: the regular, three-times-a-week e-mail from OnlineItalianClub.com!
We always have something new and stimulating to keep your Italian moving along in the right direction.
All you have to do is open the email, click the link, listen a couple of times while trying to answer the questions, and check your answers using the transcript provided (and a dictionary, if you really must…)
In ten minutes or so, you’re done. Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?
Do that three times a week, 52 weeks a year, and just watch as your level in Italian improves!
Today’s listening task is B2 (upper-intermediate), but there’s no reason why students at any level can’t profit from it. In any case, there are plenty of easier materials on our site – over 1000 pages.
Inspired?
Click here for today’s exercise.
Or here to view free materials at other levels.
Buono studio!
P.S.
On Sunday I had an email from Joni, who had just bought an easy reader from our shop. (Yes, I answer emails on Sundays.)
She asked, “How do I read and listen at the same time. Do I have to print it off?”
As it seems likely that Joni’s not the only OnlineItalianClub.com member scratching her head about this, I’m posting my reply here below.
But before you get lost in the technical stuff, here’s the link to our online shop where you’ll find the easy Italian readers.
If you’re doubtful about the computery, technical stuff, my suggestion is to give the free sample chapters a try first. If you can make those work on your smartphone, tablet or computer, then you’re good to go with the complete, paid-for version.
(Get the free sample chapter for each book by clicking on the cover image in the shop and scanning through the blurb until you see the link… Give it a try here.)
O.K., here’s my reply to Joni:
This is easier than it looks.
If you click the audio link in the ebook, it will open a window in your usual browser. Careful, you were reading the ebook in a .pdf reader, now you’re looking at a browser window that shows Soundcloud, where the audio is stored.
It’s natural to assume that something has gone wrong, but actually you should still have the .pdf open. It’s just that your device is now showing you the browser instead.
You need to leave the audio playing and locate the .pdf icon on your toolbar. Cick it to restore the page you were viewing. Or just minimise the browser window, so you should once again be looking at the .pdf viewer.
On a computer this is easy. I don’t have an Apple tablet or phone, and I know there are differences. But even with Apple’s infernal devices, it should be perfectly possible to listen to an audio stream from your browser while reading a .pdf document, now you know that that’s what you want to do.
Printing the document is another solution, of course. And it’s handy for annotating. But bad for trees.