Oggi in Italia- A First Course in Italian Description:

Oggi in Italia: A First Course in Italian review:
4 stars (A Good Textbook) - This textbook has a few features that are good for the first year student. First, the beginning chapters are mostly in English, introducing only a few Italian words at a time until the student builds up a vocabulary, and then, the lessons are gradually presented entirely in Italian. The supplement and appendix provides a quick reference to noun and adjective suffixes, indefinite adjectives and pronouns, possessive pronouns, and verb conjugations. The vignettes tell little cultural stories that make learning and remembering the material more meaningful. There are also Italian proverbs throughout the chapters that are fun to practice. This textbook is very good to use for refreshing on material. However, like many foreign language textbooks, all instructions eventually are presented entirely in Italian. Without a translated explanation of the assignment, students may not fully understand the exercise. Another problem is that there are many group exercises, so teachers have to watch students to make certain that the students are correctly doing the practice. There is no answer key for students on the exercises. There is also a lot of material covered in the book and it is nearly impossible to complete the entire book within the first year, so teachers need to plan well what types of exercises to do within the classroom and to carefully decide which exercises can later be assigned for outside homework.
5 stars (A Great Introduction to the Italian Language) - As a student of Italian for over 4 years, I returned to the language in college and used this textbook. The text was great...very current and up-to-date with everything Italian. Lab/video manual was a bit choppy but did the job for our listening assignments. Can't comment on the video component for this course set. This text is very similar to Parliamo Italiano! so either textbook would serve a new student well.
5 stars (Benissimo) - Well worth the wait. This edition is the best of the Oggi in Italia texts. In the later editions, Merlonghi changes the format to some extent, making the book less attractive and the exercises less enjoyable. In Oggi in Italia, the author puts together everything you ever need to know about reading and speaking italian. It contains dialogues at very realistic and helpful places, such as il mercato, l'aeroporto, e l'universita, and takes you through all tenses and voices of grammar -- even passato romoto, the historical past used in writing. A must for anyone going to the best country in the world or anyone else interested in learning the language.