Avanti!: Beginning Italian

by Janice M. Aski

Informed by second-language acquisition research and supported by cutting-edge digital tools, the complete Avanti! program creates a dynamic learning environment that fosters communication and motivates students to succeed. With Connect and LearnSmart, Avanti's learning platform gives instructors maximum flexibility to structure the learning experience inside and outside the classroom. Avanti! is known for its focus on the most critical language for communication, its active presentation of vocabulary and grammar, systematic review and recycling, and inclusion of real-world culture. With Avanti!, students not only learn Italian- they develop a deep appreciation for Italian culture. The Avanti! program is built around the following principles: Focused Approach / Flexible Content: Avanti! responds to instructors’ concerns that most programs attempt to cover too much material in the first year. Informed by second-language acquisition research, this introductory course reflects a reasonable expectation for the amount of material that most beginning learners can acquire in one year of classroom instruction. The Strutture sections include the core structures that are necessary for meaningful communication at the elementary level. Additional structures are either presented “for recognition only” or appear in Per saperne di piu with associatedinductive presentations and activities in Connect , giving instructors maximum flexibility to teach the grammar they want to teach. The Connect platform includes an assignment builder feature that allows instructors to fully customize the course content to meet the needs of their particular students. Instructors may choose to assign all or some of the textbook and workbook activities as well as some or all of the grammar points presented in Per saperne di più, based on their course goals and the course delivery method: face-to-face, hybrid, or online. A major highlight of the fourth edition is the addition of 25 engaging Grammar Tutorial Videos that present key grammar points with related practice activities. Communicative Competence: Avanti!satisfies students’ desire to communicate in everyday situations from the very beginning through a guided and gradual process of acquisition. In the Strategie di comunicazione videos that open each chapter, students see and hear Italians of all ages and backgrounds using high-frequency, practical expressions that students can immediately begin using. The Lessico sections have been revised to include the most up-to-date high-frequency vocabulary in use today. The Strutture sections guide students from working with Italian at the word- and sentence-level until they arrive at the final section of each chapter, Cultura , where they engage in listening, reading, writing, and speaking activities at the discourse level. Outside of class, Connect provides voice tools such as Blackboard Instant Messaging for partnered speaking practice and the Voice Board for posting voice recordings to an asynchronous voicemail thread. With Avanti ! students are always well supported in their practice inside and outside of the classroom, building their communicative competence and their confidence. Cultural Competence: Avanti! provides a meaningful and extensive exploration of Italy’s rich and unique culture. In addition to the Strategie di comunicazione videos and the Grammatica dal vivo videos that feature contemporary language as it is spoken today, the Il blog di… videos showcase four

Genres: Textbooks, Nonfiction

576 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 12, 2006

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

In short, it's a mess. First of all, the authors aren't native speakers and it shows. Second, they seem intent on hiding the Italian language under a barrage of superfluous information and, frankly, ego (How do you pronounce Musumeci? That's in what, Chapter 1? Answer: Nobody cares). They feel it's appropriate to stick the the past tense in Chapter 2 (Dov'e' nata il jazz?) but don't bother to explain it. There are a million ways to introduce the verb essere without the past tense. Do the authors even know they used the past tense? Boh. They don't really get the subtleties of the Italian language. The communicative method is great, to some extent. I remember when everybody was acting like the communicative method was Jesus. I had doubts then and I have stronger doubts now, but when doubts meet a career academic's agenda, doubts go to the wall. There has to be a better way, and this is not it. If you're stuck trying to learn Italian with this mess, buona fortuna.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, terrible structure. Whoever thought that direct objects, indirect objects, and reflexive verbs should all be learned in two back-to-back sections of a chapter was completely wrong.