Oggi in Italia: A First Course in Italian

The book does spread a verb tense over two consecutive chapters for highly used and complicated tenses. In this way, it doesn't confuse me with too much information all at once. I can first learn the basics of the tense and in the next chapter learn more of it's use. As an adult I found it organized and well written. The book is clear, it explains grammar thoroughly, and the vocabulary and exercises are interesting. It is a very popular italian language program and there are lots of used versions at a great price. After studying the first half of this book, I can read Italian articles on-line and have a fairly good understanding of them without using the dictionary a lot.

I am in the second semester of an Italian course and find Oggi in Italia interesting to read and to work from. The pattern to the book is given at the beginning, and each of the lessons follows the pattern. Especially noteworthy in the book are the currency and relevancy of its references to people, places, TV shows, etc. If I were teaching a course in Italian, I would choose this book as a text. In my opinion, the companion workbook isn't really needed, since the textbook has many exercises in it. Also, it should be supplemented with audio tapes, either the companion set or other tapes aimed at the basic-intermediate levels.

Oggi in Italia, Fourth Edition, is an excellent textbook. It is clear and concise and very well organized. The vocabulary and situations presented are everyday, realistic situations that anyone visiting the country would be faced with. I do wish this book was still in print! There are a lot of drills and that is really the best way to learn a language.