Buonasera

Looking for book suggestions from Italian teachers or learners!

I was taking A1 Italian classes through my local university and the teachers were using some exercises from Spazio Italia 1 in class. I want to keep up with my Italian and prepare to hopefully take A2 classes. I watch tv, listen to music and read short stories but I am looking for some exercise book recommendations for some extra study. I discovered that Spazio Italia is actually a very dated book and is only available with CD listenings and so I am looking for other options.

Grazie mille

Question

Buonasera

Looking for book suggestions from Italian teachers or learners!

I  was taking A1 Italian classes through my local university and the teachers were using some exercises from Spazio Italia 1 in class. I want to keep up with my Italian and prepare to hopefully take A2 classes. I watch tv, listen to music and read short stories but I am looking for some exercise book recommendations for some extra study. I discovered that Spazio Italia is actually a very dated book and is only available with CD listenings and so I am looking for other options.

Grazie mille

Answer

Ciao Jodi,
ti consiglierei questi titoli:
- Dieci lezioni di grammatica, Alma Edizioni
- Dieci lezioni di lessico, Alma Edizioni
- Grammatica della lingua italiana per stranieri 1, Alma Edizioni
- Grammatica di base, Alma Edizioni
- Italiano in 5 minuti, Alma Edizioni

Vedi un po' tu cosa preferisci:)

Answer

Buonasera Jodi!

If you are looking for modern, self-study friendly exercise books to bridge A1 and A2, here are some of the best current options:

1. "Grammatica pratica della lingua italiana" by Susanna Nocchi (Alma Edizioni)
One of the clearest and most popular practice books. It covers grammar rules simply and includes plenty of practical exercises with answer keys.

2. "Nuovo Espresso 1 & 2" (Alma Edizioni)
Unlike older textbooks, this series is modern and includes access to online audio/video tracks directly on their web platform, so you don't need a CD player!

3. "Dieci A1 / A2" (Alma Edizioni)
A very modern, visual coursebook designed for quick progress, with integrated digital tools for audio and video.

Tip: Graded readers like "Short Stories in Italian for Beginners" by Olly Richards are also fantastic to build vocabulary naturally alongside grammar books.

Hope this helps you transition smoothly to A2! If you ever want to practice conversation or go through exercises together, feel free to check out my profile. Buono studio! 🙂

Answer

Ciao Jodi, I suggest you this book (it's on amazon too) it's very easy A1/A2 level: 'STORIE DI DUE MINUTI' by Valeria Blasi :)

Answer

Hi! So I've used some of the Olly Richards Short Stories in Italian books! I think they are pretty decent and engaging. I did read some of the longer books by Melanie Chircop (they are on Kindle Unlimited), and they were okay. Definitely better than nothing, but I got bored through the different stories and would take forever to get through them. But I'm like that for books in my native English too. You could say I'm more of a blog than a book person. That is why I like the Olly Richards Short Stories books.

Once I got through those, I actually started using AI to have it generate some content for me. And I even built out a website that will generate custom short stories and then email them to me. You could give it a try yourself (it's free) if you're interested: https://getcartela.com/. No pressure if you're not :)

Answer

Hi. Are you looking for a language partner to have language exchange? :-)
If you want...I can help you with Italian. 
Send me a PM...well, we have to understand if we can arrange a meeting!!!

Non perdere l'opportunità di imparare una lingua comodamente da casa tua. Esplora la nostra selezione di insegnanti di lingue esperti e iscriviti subito alla tua prima lezione!