We just finished the pilot edition of Italiano dal Vivo, a 91-page Italian textbook for the A1 and A2 levels, and we’re giving it away. Download the PDF here. No email gate, no signup, no catch. Use it with one of our tutors. Use it with a tutor from somewhere else. Use it at your kitchen table. The point is that it gets used.
This is the textbook we wished existed when we started teaching Italian in Los Angeles in 2006. Real conversations, real regional dialects, role-plays that get harder as the grammar deepens, and a finishing exam in the actual CILS A2 format. Built by the same Strommen team behind our private Italian lessons and group classes.
Why we built it
Italian textbooks fall into two piles. Pile one is the academic textbook: thorough, expensive, no warmth. Pile two is the app: quick, shiny, no scaffolding when you actually try to speak. Neither one teaches you how to argue about pizza over an aperitivo, how to read a Sicilian shopkeeper’s hand gestures, or what to say when the waiter asks “faccio io?” and you have ten seconds to answer.
So we wrote the in-between book. The grammar is rigorous. The conversations are real. Each chapter is set somewhere specific in Italy: a Roman caffè, a Neapolitan Sunday lunch, a Palermo street market, a Milanese tram on a foggy morning. The language shows up because the scene needs it. By the end of A2, a student can walk into a trattoria in Firenze and order, ask, complain, and thank in a way that reads as a person who speaks Italian, not a person who’s trying.
What’s in the book
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14 chapters across A1 and A2. Saluti and presentazioni, al bar, in famiglia, per la città, al mercato, una giornata tipica, al ristorante, alla pizzeria, raccontare un viaggio, al telefono (business Italian), dal medico, opinioni e preferenze, pianificare il futuro.
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A pronunciation primer. Vowels, the C and G rules, GLI and GN, doubled consonants. The traps that English speakers fall into, fixed in eight pages.
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Five regional dialects. Sicilian, Neapolitan, Romanesco, Milanese, and Tuscan, with sidebar comparisons in every chapter and a dedicated appendix at the back.
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Business Italian. A full chapter on the formal register: phone calls, business email, meeting language. The same material we use with corporate Italian students. See more at Business Italian tutors.
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A CILS A2 mock exam. Listening, reading, grammar, writing, and speaking sections in the official format, with a marking rubric for the tutor. Ready for anyone preparing for the real CILS A2.
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Verb tables, a 170-entry A1-A2 glossary, and a directory of every Strommen Italian specialty. Reference material that earns its keep on a tutor’s desk.
The role-plays, built for tutors
Every chapter ends with a role-play script the tutor and student run live. The scripts are tagged by tier so a tutor knows exactly how much improvisation to bring in.
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Tier 1, scripted. Read the lines together. Build confidence.
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Tier 2, branching. The script has decision points. The tutor picks the harder branch when the student is ready.
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Tier 3, improvised on a frame. The tutor follows scenario rules but invents the specifics. Adds noise.
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Tier 4, open. Debate, planning, negotiation. Grammar serves real intent.
The Tier 5 scenarios wait for the B1 book. That’s the philosophical conversation over wine, in the subjunctive.
For homeschool families
If you’re homeschooling and want a real Italian curriculum that doesn’t cost you a dollar, this is yours. The chapter structure maps cleanly onto a one-semester course at the high school level, with the role-plays serving as the speaking component. We also offer 4-credit accredited Italian courses for homeschool students who want a transcript-ready outcome. Reach out through our contact form and we’ll walk you through how that works.
For tutors
If you teach Italian and you want a free curriculum you can run with any student, take it. Print it. Mark it up. Strip the cover and write your own. The “Tutor’s corner” sidebars in every chapter are written for you: short notes on what tends to trip students up, what drills land best, and where to spend extra time. If you want to swap notes with our team or join a Strommen tutor pool, the contact form is open.
Volare on page 10
Tucked between the pronunciation primer and Chapter 1, you’ll find a Strommen sing-along Interludio built around Nel blu, dipinto di blu, better known as Volare. The full lyrics are laid out as a fill-in-the-blank exercise with a 14-word vocabulary bank and a link to the original Strommen Volare lesson and its YouTube companion. This is the fastest pronunciation drill we know of for an adult beginner. Sing it three times and your accent loosens.
What’s coming next
This is the pilot edition. We’ll refine it based on what tutors and students tell us, then build the B1 and B2 sequels. The first chapter of B1 opens with the subjunctive and a philosophical aperitivo conversation with a friend. After that, the same format for the other languages we teach. Want to know when those land? Drop us a note through contact.
Download
Italiano dal Vivo, A1 to A2 (PDF, 26MB, 91 pages)
Free to download. Free to share. Free to print. We only ask that you keep the Strommen credit on the cover and the back-matter directory intact, since those are how new students find their way to our tutors. Everything else is yours.
Frequently asked questions
Is the textbook actually free? Yes. No email gate, no upsell, no watermark. Download the PDF and use it however you want. We make our money on private and group lessons with the same tutors who wrote the book.
Can I print it for a class? Yes. Print as many copies as you need for your students, your homeschool co-op, or your tutoring practice. The pages are designed for letter-size printing with generous margins.
Do I need a tutor to use it? No, but it’s built with one in mind. The role-play sections in particular work best with a conversation partner. Many of our tutors offer a free 30-minute first lesson if you want to try the role-plays with a native speaker. Browse our Italian tutors here.
Will there be a B1 and B2 version? Yes, that’s the plan. The pilot edition closes with a preview of the B1 opening chapter (the subjunctive over wine), and the sequel is in production.
Why does the book cover regional dialects? Because Italy is regional. A learner who only studies standard Italian is fine in a textbook conversation and lost the moment a Palermitano or a Napoletano speaks at normal speed. We give you recognition of the major regional varieties so you understand what comes back at you. For deeper work in any one variety, we have native tutors in Sicilian, Neapolitan, Romanesco, Milanese, and Tuscan, plus a general Italian dialect coach roster.
Is there a course for homeschool credit? Yes. Strommen offers 4-credit accredited Italian courses for homeschool students who need a transcript-ready outcome. Use the textbook as the core material and pair it with weekly tutor sessions. Reach us via the contact form for the credit-course details.
Can I become a Strommen Italian tutor? If you’re a native or near-native Italian speaker with real teaching experience, we’d love to talk. We’re a curated network, not a marketplace, and we vet every tutor personally. Get in touch through contact.
Ready to start?
Download the textbook, or reach out to us to be matched with a Strommen Italian tutor who can run the role-plays with you live.
