CILS B1 CITTADINANZA – OCTOBER 16th – REGISTRATION will close on September 9th

Created by the University of Siena in Italy, the CILS certification attests one’s linguistic-communicative competence in Italian as a second language.

The CILS certification is the first Italian language certification to have applied six levels of linguistic-communicative competence from the Common European Framework of Reference and to have offered specific certifications for foreign workers in Italy.

Please note that examinations will only be activated if a minimum number of 6 participants is reached. If the minimum number is not reached, the school administration may cancel the exam anytime due to low enrollment. Upon cancellation, registrants can receive a full refund or use the amount already paid as a credit for the next exam session.

Exam Fee

The cost for CILS B1 Citizenship is $290 + GST for Early Bird purchases. This price is available until August 25 and includes the enrollment fee that is paid directly to the University for Foreigners of Siena. Please get in touch with us for enrollment instructions. The regular fee is $340 + GST.

Schedule

On Thursday, October 16th
8:00 am – 2:00 pm PST

Tickets

$290 (+ GST)  – Early Bird Fee – up to August 25, 2025
$340 (+ GST) – Regular Fee – from August 26, 2025

 

Please note that submitting payment for the exam does not automatically confirm your registration.
In order to complete your enrollment, we require the following:

  • A clear copy of your ID (passport or government-issued ID)

  • Proof of payment (receipt)

  • Information on any additional citizenship(s)

  • The exact city and state/province where you were born

Additionally, please be aware that the exam will only take place if we reach a minimum of five participants. You will receive a confirmation email from our school once the exam is officially confirmed.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Beginner 1 (In-Person) – Thursday evenings

Beginner 1 is an introductory course that teaches the four basic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) in the context of major themes in Italian culture. It is designed for those with little or no previous knowledge of the Italian language.
This course is being delivered virtually with live instruction and interaction.
If you already have a basic understanding of the language, consider Italian for Beginners II.

What you will learn

  • How to communicate in a variety of social situations, such as introducing yourself, talking about daily activities, describing what you do for work, writing and reading simple texts, such as an e-mail, talking about the things you like dislike, ordering a meal, and telling time
  • Basic grammar structures such as articles and nouns, adjectives, and present tenses of regular and irregular verbs
  • Italian culture, including daily life, film, cuisine, and vacationing

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!
Textbook: Nuovo Espresso – The course consists of Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4

Schedule

Thursday evening, APRIL 13TH TO JUNE 22ND, 2023
6:00 am – 8:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week in our downtown school 

Courses Fee

279$ (+ GST) Early Bird Rate available until March 30th

310 (+ GST) after March 30th

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses at any time due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.
For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund Policy.

Conversation 2 online – Wednesday evenings

Conversation 2 is for intermediate learners of Italian and is intended to improve your Italian speaking skills in everyday situations through conversational practice. 

Teachers will bring new topics to discuss every week and will prompt the conversation in different ways such as questions, requests for opinions, and brief exercises. Spoken accuracy and fluency are the focus of this course, but the teacher will signal and correct the main grammar mistakes too, and will be at the student’s disposal in case there is a need to clarify some concepts in order to improve learners’ accuracy and confidence while speaking.

 

What you will learn 

  • Students will strengthen and refine oral fluency through guided conversations and presentations in Italian. 
  • Students will enrich their vocabulary and verbal expressiveness in a way that will benefit both general conversation and discussion of specific topics 
  • students will enhance familiarity with various current issues relating to Italy through different sources (short readings, websites, videos, music, etc.)

Completion of the Intermediate 3 Course is recommended.

 

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!

Students will be provided with handouts and class materials.

No textbook is required 

Wednesday evening, JANUARY 11 to MARCH 22, 2023
10:00 am-12:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week on Zoom

 

Course Fee

Early Bird Rate 240$ (+5%GST) – available until December 17th

 

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.

For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund policy

Conversation 2 online – Saturday mornings

Conversation 2 is for intermediate learners of Italian and is intended to improve your Italian speaking skills in everyday situations through conversational practice. 

Teachers will bring new topics to discuss every week and will prompt the conversation in different ways such as questions, requests for opinions, and brief exercises. Spoken accuracy and fluency are the focus of this course, but the teacher will signal and correct the main grammar mistakes too, and will be at the student’s disposal in case there is a need to clarify some concepts in order to improve learners’ accuracy and confidence while speaking.

 

What you will learn 

  • Students will strengthen and refine oral fluency through guided conversations and presentations in Italian. 
  • Students will enrich their vocabulary and verbal expressiveness in a way that will benefit both general conversation and discussion of specific topics 
  • students will enhance familiarity with various current issues relating to Italy through different sources (short readings, websites, videos, music, etc.)

Completion of the Intermediate 3 Course is recommended.

 

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!

Students will be provided with handouts and class materials.

No textbook is required 

Saturday morning, JANUARY 14 to MARCH 25, 2023
10:00 am-12:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week on Zoom

 

Course Fee

Early Bird Rate 240$ (+5%GST) – available until December 17th

 

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.

For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund policy

Intermediate 1 (Online) -Tuesday evenings

Our Intermediate 1 course is great to build knowledge and strengthen your skills. Whether you’re buying a holiday home in Italy or taking a road trip along the Amalfi Coast, this course will equip you with helpful vocabulary for everyday conversation. You will continue to build on previously acquired competencies in A1 and you will be introduced to more complex language structures used to communicate in a variety of situations by using different tenses and modes. Aligned with CEFR level A2 objectives.

Completion of Beginner 3 and Conversation 1 Courses is recommended. Or if you can have simple intermediate-level conversations on familiar topics, this level is ideal.

What you will learn

  • Students will understand and ask for information about how to shop for clothes, describe someone’s physical appearance or personality, express wishes, and desires, and talk about childhood memories. Furthermore, you will make comparisons, you will argue in favor or against something, and you will be able to provide advice
  • You will focus on the imperfetto tense, so you can talk about the past and how this differs from passato prossimo, which we will also revise.
  • Italian culture from newspaper articles extracts from novels, films, and audio clips are also used to add authenticity and context to your learning.

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!
Textbook: Nuovo Espresso 2 – The course consists of Chapters 1,2,3,4

Schedule

Tuesday evening, APRIL 11 to JUNE 20, 2023
6:00 pm-8:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week on Zoom

Courses Fee

Early Bird Rate 240$ (+5%GST) – available until March 30th

260$ (+ GST) after March 30th

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses at any time due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.
For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund policy.

Advanced 2 (Online) – Monday evenings

Advanced 2 will help you to perfect your skills in Italian (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), and by the end of this course, you will be able to express opinions and hypotheses, and sustain an argument using a variety of registers. You will also expand your vocabulary to include topics beyond everyday conversation. Italian culture is an integral part of this course: through interviews and readings you will learn about many aspects of Italian art, history, politics, and contemporary society

Once completing Advanced 1, 2, and 3 you’ll be able to converse with native speakers, follow debates and discuss current issues using more complex and linguistically accurate structures and a greater range of vocabulary.

This course is for students who have completed the Intermediate 3 course, Advanced 1, or those who have high intermediate experience with the Italian language and are comfortable having conversations in different verb tenses.

What you will learn

  • You will improve your command of topic-related vocabulary
  • You will be able to communicate with a high degree of accuracy, state opinions, and express feelings, make comparisons, convince and dissuade people
  • You will learn critical grammatical structures, such as the subjunctive in various tenses, passive form, second conditional, particular comparatives, future in the past, etc

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!
Textbook: Nuovo Espresso 3 is required. The course consists of chapters 5,6 and 7.

Schedule

Monday evening, APRIL 10 to JUNE 19, 2023
6:00 pm-8:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week on Zoom.

Tickets

Early Bird Rate 240$ (+5%GST) – available until March 30th

260$ (+ GST) after March 30th

 

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses at any time due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.
For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund Policy.

Intermediate 3 (Online) – Thursday evenings

Our Intermediate 3 course will focus on expanding fundamental notions and presentation of elaborate structures, present, past and imperative tenses, and different modes. You will enhance your ability to comprehend, interact and express yourself in common personal and social contexts. Enriched opportunities to explore Italian culture and develop intercultural skills. Aligned with CEFR level A2 objectives.

Completion of the Intermediate 1 course is recommended.

What you will learn

  • Students will continue to expand their vocabulary and develop the complexity of their sentences in everyday situations, like learning how to express surprise, ask for the duration and cost of a trip, talk about their holidays, learn to interact on social media in Italian
describe food and taste
  • Focus on speaking correctly and distinguishing between regular and irregular past, present and imperative tenses, pronouns, and verbs pronominal
  • Deepen understanding of the nuances of Italian, including correct registers of language to use in various situations.

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!
Textbook: Nuovo Espresso 2 – The course consists of Chapters 8, 9, 10

Schedule

Thursday evening, JANUARY 12 to MARCH 23, 2023

6:00 pm-8:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week on Zoom

Tickets

Early Bird Rate 240$ (+5%GST) – available until December 17th

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses at any time due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.
For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund Policy.

Intermediate Plus (Online) – Wednesday evenings

Our Intermediate Plus course is great to build knowledge and strengthen your skills. Whether you’re buying a holiday home in Italy or taking a road trip along the Amalfi Coast, this course will equip you with helpful vocabulary for everyday conversation. You will continue to build on previously acquired competencies in A1 and you will be introduced to more complex language structures used to communicate in a variety of situations by using different tenses and modes. Aligned with CEFR level A2 objectives.

Completion of Beginner 3 and Conversation 1 Courses is recommended. Or if you can have simple intermediate-level conversations on familiar topics, this level is ideal.

What you will learn

  • Students will understand and ask for information about how to shop for clothes, describe someone’s physical appearance or personality, express wishes, and desires, and talk about childhood memories. Furthermore, you will make comparisons, you will argue in favor or against something, and you will be able to provide advice
  • You will focus on the imperfetto tense, so you can talk about the past and how this differs from passato prossimo, which we will also revise.
  • Italian culture from newspaper articles extracts from novels, films, and audio clips are also used to add authenticity and context to your learning.

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!
Textbook: Nuovo Espresso 2 – The course consists of Chapters 1,2,3,4

Schedule

Wednesday evening, JANUARY 11 to MARCH 22, 2022
6:00 pm-8:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week on Zoom

Courses Fee

Early Bird Rate 240$ (+5%GST) – available until December 17th

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses at any time due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.
For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund policy.

Beginner 2 (In-Person) – Monday evenings

Beginner 2 is an introductory course that teaches the four basic skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) that uses and expands on what was learned in Italian for Beginners I. A basic understanding of Italian pronunciation and grammar is expected.

What you will learn

  • How to communicate in a variety of social situations, such as traveling around Italy, asking and giving information
  • Basic grammar structures such as past tenses of regular and irregular verbs. Increase grammar skills to build more conversation
  • Italian culture, including daily life, film, cuisine, and vacationing.

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!
Textbook: Nuovo Espresso – The course consists of Chapters 5, 6, 7

Schedule

Monday evening, APRIL 10 to JUNE 19, 2023
6:00 pm-8:00 pm PST
11 weeks – Classes meet once a week in our downtown office.

Courses

279$ (+ GST) Early Bird Rate available until March 30th

310$ (+ GST) after March 30th

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses at any time due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.
For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund Policy.

Learn Italian for Travel (In-Person) – Tuesday evenings

Learn Italian for Travel! For Beginners & Travellers  is designed for people who want to get the most out of their trip to Italy and students who want to start communicating with their family or friends. There are typical and most common scenarios that a beginner student or traveler will encounter on their trip to Italy. This course is designed to arm the student with knowledge that will be most relevant for their trip. It is an introductory course that teaches the four basic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) in the context of major themes in Italian culture. It is designed for those with little or no previous knowledge of the Italian language.

If you already have a basic understanding of the language, consider Italian for Beginners II.

What you will learn

  • The instructor will also impart key, culture-specific tips regarding everyday life in Italy (e.g. hours of operation, restaurant etiquette, tip expectations, etc.) and how to communicate in a variety of social situations, such as meeting and greeting others, requesting information, ordering in a restaurant and asking for directions, talking about daily activities, describing what you do for work, writing and reading simple texts, talking about the things you like dislike, ordering a meal, and telling time
  • Basic grammar structures such as articles and nouns, adjectives, and present tenses of regular and irregular verbs including meeting and greeting others, requesting information, ordering in a restaurant and asking for directions.
  • Italian culture, including daily life, film, cuisine, and vacationing
  • Travel-related vocabulary: includes specific words and phrases for travel, such as transportation, accommodation, and sightseeing.
  • Italian cuisine: Italy is famous for its cuisine, so knowing Italian food and drinks is essential. This includes menu items, ordering food, and understanding regional specialties.
  • Numbers and money: being able to count and understand money is crucial when traveling. The instructor will teach students how to ask for prices, make purchases, and understand currency exchange rates.

Syllabus

Benvenute e Benvenuti!
Textbook: Nuovo Espresso – The course consists of Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4

Schedule

TUESDAY evening, JULY 4TH to SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2023
6 pm – 8:00 pm PST
10 weeks – Classes meet once a week in our downtown school 

Courses

279$ (+ GST) Early Bird Rate available until JUNE 30th

310 (+ GST) after JUNE 30th

Course Cancellations

Please note that the school administration may cancel courses at any time due to low enrolment. Upon cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund.
For any further info about our cancellation policy please visit Cancellation & Refund Policy.