Abstract

The first edition of Percorsi quickly became one of the best-selling elementary Italian texts.  The new second edition features a new design, more focus on skills-development, updated cultural information and a full version of MyItalianLab.

Percorsi is an introductory program that promotes the acquisition of Italian language and culture through the integration of the “5 Cs” principles of the National Standards for Foreign Language Education. Percorsi  is designed to provide beginning learners with a variety of tools to develop their communicative competence in the four major language skills–listening, speaking, reading, and writing–as they acquire familiarity with Italian culture. All of the features in Percorsi  have been carefully thought out to support the two key aspects of the language acquisition process: language comprehension and language production.

From the start, carefully structured communicative activities based on authentic materials and texts encourage students to use Italian in everyday situations. Generous use of authentic content also offers students a chance to develop reading skills while gaining cultural awareness and understanding of Italian communities and traditions throughout the world. In addition, each chapter explicitly promotes cultural exploration through illustrated presentations that are followed by activities facilitating comprehension and highlighting cultural comparisons. Students are encouraged to analyze and compare extremely varied aspects of Italian culture while making connections to their own experiences.

MyItalianLab will be available for Fall 2011 courses.