Communicative Italian courses
Our communicative courses are mainly meant to develop oral skills.
In these courses grammar is used to aid communicative activities.
NEXT SESSION OF COMMUNICATION COURSES: JULY 2025
REGISTRATION FROM MAY 26 TO JUNE 8
Course recipients - check if you can attend these courses
IMPORTANT:
Bilateral Agreements or Erasmus+ students in mobility at the University of Padova can’t attend the intensive Italian courses.
These students will have to enrol in the Italian biannual courses in order to obtain 3 ECTS credits, if included in their agreements.
Attendance is free of charge.
Since places are limited, students who have never attended an Italian language course at the Language Center always receive priority.
If you have already attended a course, even partially (10 hours or more) and regardless of the course type and duration, you will be able to enroll in a further course, but if places run out you will be placed on a waiting list, which will be scrolled in the event of withdrawals/no shows.
You can take up to three free courses only if you are:
– a student that have to pass Italian A2 TAL within the study plan;
– a political refugee;
– a student of Medicine and Surgery or Languages, Literature and Cultural Mediation;
– a student of Scuola Galileiana.
Course information - verify courses details and duration
The next session of courses will be held in July 2025.
For most classes the lessons are held in-person in the classroom, but there are a few classes entirely held online.
The courses are organised in intensive 15-hour modules spread over one week (3 hours per day). Each student can decide whether to attend 1 or 2 modules.
Courses are offered at different levels and a minimum number of 10 people is required for a course to start: teachers can make changes to levels for teaching reasons, if necessary.
Communicative courses develop mainly oral skills (including from text, audio and video cues), in ways that encourage exchange within the class group. Collaborative tasks, simulations in pairs or small groups that reproduce situations close to real life are favored.
The aim is to improve fluency, with different objectives depending on the level chosen.
The use of grammar is functional to communicative activities, so some of the communicative tasks and functions provided for each level by the Common European Framework of Reference and the Companion will be addressed, and some linguistic indices of the chosen level may also be introduced, if useful for the development of communication.
The end of course test will take place in the last classes and may involve oral interaction in pairs, a presentation given by individuals or in small groups, or debates on topics agreed upon with the class (individual skills or grammar will not to be tested).
Course registration - read carefully and complete all steps by the deadlines set
Register on the platform register using your university account (SSO credentials – name.surname@studenti.unipd.it) and fill in all the required fields.
There is a limited number of places, so you are advised to register as soon as the registration period opens.
Once all places available are filled up, a waiting list will be opened.
If you have a formal relationship with the University of Padova but do NOT have SSO credentials (e.g. European Voluntary Service, Visiting Professors, PhD exchange students) you must first create a temporary account in Uniweb through the following link: obtain temporary credentials.
You will be able to enrol for the Italian courses the day after you register on Uniweb.
To proceed with the enrolment you must take the self-assessment test during the registration period.
You find the link for the self-assessment test directly within the registration platform.
The test is on Moodle CLA platform: you must login using your SSO credentials (name.surname@studenti.unipd.it).
If you have ONLY a numerical account (e.g. 12345678@unipd.it) and this is your first access, please download this file and follow the instructions: Moodle first access.
The number of courses provided for each level, will depend on the number of students who sign up and on the results of their self-assessment test!
You will receive an email confirming your enrolment and including more details about your class (teacher, classroom).
The classes will be activated on the basis of the levels resulting from the placement test, only if a minimum number of 10 students is reached for each level.
The in-person courses will be held at the Language Centre in Via Venezia 16 (building no. 4 of the Citadel of Psychology).
Students enrolled in online classes will receive the course link by e-mail from the teacher before the first lesson.
If you do not show up for the course without informing us for two consecutive lessons, you will be unenrolled from the course. Your place will be given to the next person on the waiting list.
If you decide not to continue the course you are attending, please write an e-mail to the Students’ Office and inform the course teacher within the first two days of the course.
Self-assessment test and course contents
The right course level for you is determined by the result of the self-assessment test you have to take during the enrolment period. You can find the link to the self-assessment test in the enrolment form.
The self-assessmenttest is divided into six levels (from A1 to C2). You choose which level you want to start with to test your knowledge of Italian.
- If you are an absolute beginner, you must take the A1 test.
- If you are not an absolute beginner but you do not know which level to start with, you can consult the self-assessment grid (Self-assessment grids_CEFR) and the course topics divided by level in the files below.
- You can always try and take the higher level test after you’ve successfully finished one level, so if you are not sure, start lower and work your way up through the levels.
- Some days after finishing the test, your resulting level will be uploaded on the registration platform!
Teachers can make changes to levels for teaching reasons, if necessary.
Below you can find the topics that will be covered in each course level:
| PreA1 course | A1 course | A2 course | B1 course | B2 course |
No communicative courses are offered for C1 level, but students can attend the C1 biannual courses (October-December; March-April).
Alternatively, students can enrol in communicative B2 courses.
Students enrolled at the University of Padova can use the self-learning multimedia materials freely available on the CLA Moodle platform.
For further information, please contact the CLA Students’ Office using the contact form below.
You can also book an appointment in Zoom via the following page: https://cla.unipd.it/en/zoom-meeting/
Our offices in Via Venezia, 16 (Padova) are open to the public Monday to Friday from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm.