Italian
10-week Conversation Course

Course Description

• 20-hour course over 10 weeks, one 2-hour class per week
• Focuses on discussion and debate
• Ideal for building conversational competence at a higher level
• Uses authentic materials to stimulate engaging exchange
• Fun, lively course format

Class Times: 6:30pm - 8:30 pm

Start Dates Available: Oct 2010 , Jan 2011 , Apr 2011

Minimum Age: 18

School: Cactus London Piccadilly Circus / Map

Location: London - Piccadilly Circus

Language: Italian

Course Type: 10-week Conversation Course

Cactus Curriculum

Cactus part-time language courses are typically offered at seven levels, from Cactus Level 1 to Cactus Level 7, suitable for students with and without prior knowledge of the language. Studied in sequence, the seven levels are designed to progress students from beginner level through to advanced. The programme can be picked up at any level, according to existing language skills. Each level can also be studied as a one-off course in its own right to build or refresh language skills at the chosen level.

Courses run consecutively throughout the year with breaks for the Easter and Christmas periods. This provides the opportunity for continuous training, allowing students to progress and move up to higher levels as their skills develop.

What level am I?

To help you decide which level is right for you, please look at the course level descriptions and take our online language level test.

Cactus Level 6

What will I learn?

The course outlines give an overview of the content and learning framework of Cactus part-time group courses and include themes, grammar and vocabulary you can typically expect to cover. These are intended as a guide only and our teachers may at times adapt the course content to suit the specific level, aims and interests of the class.

Read the Italian course outlines for all levels

All of our courses are carefully structured and designed to cover a wide range of topic areas, grammatical structures and skills. Cactus Foreign Language Courses include the following elements:

• Spoken communication to build confidence in interacting with native speakers
• Listening and comprehension skills to improve understanding
• Grammar and sentence structure
• Everyday language for use in real-life situations, both spoken and written
• Core vocabulary
• Pronunciation
• Reading practice and written communication

All of our teachers are fully qualified and experienced foreign language teachers with a specialised background in adult education.

What progress will I have made by the end of the level?

The Learning Pathway provides a guide to what you can expect to achieve by the end of your course at any given level and also shows what progress you can expect to make if you stick with it and carry on studying subsequent levels

Cactus Level 6 pathway

The School - London Piccadilly Circus

This school is located in the heart of London and is easily accessible from all areas by bus and tube. The school runs three centres across London, each of them equipped with modern and comfortable rooms and student facilities.

Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus

More on Cactus London Piccadilly Circus School

Our teachers are qualified and experienced language trainers, and are all native or bilingual speakers. They have been interviewed by our full time Academic Team, and have had their references followed up. We assign classes according to the strengths of our teachers and work with them to ensure the quality of course delivery is excellent at all times. We have also introduced a comprehensive Teacher Development Programme at Cactus, which incorporates a range of seminars, classroom observations, same-language teacher forums, regular newsletters, and information on methodology and hands-on teaching techniques. Our teaching philosophy is based on looking at ideas, asking questions, and meeting challenge.

For all Cactus Foreign Language Courses you will be supplied with course materials, which form the basis of your study.

• 0.3 miles / London Soho
• 0.5 miles / London Oxford Circus

Student Feedback - See what students have said

At the end of your course you will receive a questionnaire. Your feedback enables us to maintain the quality of our language courses and ensure you're getting the maximum out of your chosen course.

Read the feedback here

School Feedback

• Nicholas communicates well with the class and does make the lessons interesting. He has recently brought in some articles and poems which have been very useful. We need to spend less time on the book and going over grammar points and more time talking and reading real French.

  (Rebecca, Feb 2010 )

• This is my first time ever attempting to learn a language and I am impressed with the professionalism of the school. Our teacher is also very good and her good-natured personality helps the 2 hours not become mundane.

  (Kim, Feb 2010 )

• I think Greg is a fantastic teacher. He has a very easy and approachable style and his understanding of how to introduce a new language is very good. The lessons have been very enjoyable so far, and I feel we are making excellent progress.

  (LAURIE, Feb 2010 )

• The timing of the course was very convenient and it fitted in very well with my working hours. I loved the classes - they were very fun and engaging, and I thought they were a great way to have fun while improving confidence in speaking Spanish. The school itself was pleasant.

  (Hannah, Feb 2010 )

• This is my first time ever attempting to learn a language and I am impressed with the professionalism of the school. Our teacher is also very good and her good-natured personality helps the 2 hours not become mundane.

  (Kim, Apr 2007 )

• I really like it. The teacher is managing well to attend to everyones different learning capabilities.

  (Cassianie, Apr 2007 )

• Nicholas communicates well with the class and does make the lessons interesting. He has recently brought in some articles and poems which have been very useful. We need to spend less time on the book and going over grammar points and more time talking and reading real French.

  (Rebecca, Jan 2007 )

• I am enjoying my course very much. My teacher has great communicational skills, which helps our French to progress. Excellent ability to teach and to develop our understanding of the language.
  

  (Kseniya, Jan 2007 )

• I think the teacher is excellent. It is obvious that he has a very good grasp of the grammar of his own language and teaches it very well. One of the best Italian teachers I have ever had and I have been attending lessons for a number of years. I also like the fact that he takes the time to set us homework.

  (Linda, Jan 2007 )

• The class is enjoyable. It's good that as a class we are learning and having fun also.

  (Graham, Oct 2006 )

• Ciao! I thought I'd report that I found the course very enjoyable, and Paulo was a good tutor. Arrivederchi!

  (Marcus, Aug 2004 )

• I was very impressed with the standard of teaching and methods of teaching on the course - far better than my previous Spanish courses, and it suited my learning style better. I think I have improved!

  (Hannah, Jul 2004 )

• Just to let you know that Mark and I thoroughly enjoyed our Spanish course...so much so we are booked onto the next 11 weeks. I think we both found the course quite hard work which didn't do us any harm. The course content was very good and not in the least bit boring. The two hours seem to fly by each week. Our teacher was Valentina Gamba who was brilliant and we are sorry she will not be able to teach us for the next session.

  (Helena, Jul 2004 )

• I found your website good and informative, and you offered the course I wanted. The school offered excellent classes and location. Alberto, my teacher, was very patient and the group exercises made learning easy.

  (Clare, Apr 2004 )

• I booked through Cactus due to the ease of access, low cost and decent timings. The school and classes were very good and the location perfect.

  (Pankaj, Apr 2004 )

• I've been studying Italian through Cactus for one year now. The school is great and our most recent teacher, Mario, has been fantastic. The location in central London is perfect for me to get to straight from work.

  (Rebecca, Oct 2002 )

Images of the School