When you follow the course with me, both during the classes and between classes, you will be able to understand spoken and written Italian and you will learn to speak Italian at a basic beginner level in the conversation areas that we cover. You will be able to meet people, handle Italian numbers and money, order food and drinks at a coffee bar, buy a train ticket, check into a hotel or pensione, use important survival expressions, order a meal in a restaurant, buy some food in a few food shops, and go shopping (for shoes, bags, souvenirs, photography goods, etc.).

In addition to handling these basic travel topics, you will also be able to talk about more personal everyday topics: ourselves, work, family, things we like and our daily lives. You will also gain a basic understanding of how Italian works when we have a look at some basic grammar topics which will help you to use Italian more easily and efficiently.

The rate of your progress depends on the amount of time you have to spend on learning between classes. When you are learning a language, it is important to spend some time on learning the new material that we covered in the previous class and to keep revising, because it helps you to remember more between classes. You will be able to use Italian more easily if you listen to the CDs frequently and read through and practise the latest material in your Coursebook a few times between classes. The ideal is 20 minutes a day, because regular learning will help your brain to remember more. However, some days you will be too busy to do that, so even just listening to the CDs while you are cooking or cleaning will help you to absorb the common expressions, sounds and intonation patterns of everyday Italian. (Just think how easily we recall songs, television jingles and commercials because we just hear them playing in the background.)

While the courses are based upon the Fra Amici books and CDs and these are used as the basis of the classes, there is no obligation to purchase them, but you will find it helpful if you can.

For Beginners to Intermediate Modules 1-4: we use "Fra Amici: A First Course in Italian for Students and Travellers".

For Intermediate to Advanced Modules 5-12: we use "Fra Amici 2: A Second Course in Italian for Students and Travellers".

Each comprises a Coursebook, 3 CDs and other learning materials: CD Guides, Pocket Phrase Booklet, Survival Cards and Travel Cards.

The FRA AMICI CD and Coursebook Kit comprises a Coursebook, 3 CDs, a CD Guide and the Survival Italian for Travellers Travel Pack with a Pocket Phrase Booklet, Survival Cards and a free fourth CD download.

FRA AMICI 2 is a new course that will be released initially in the form of downloadable PDF and MP3 modules and later as a CD and Coursebook Kit comprising two Coursebooks, 4 CDs and a CD Guide.

You can hire a Coursebook for $25 (with a refundable deposit of $35) so that you can study from it between classes, or you can have the free use of a Coursebook during the classes, from which you can make your own notes.

Depending on how much Italian you already know, please contact us and we can work out which Module is likely to be a good starting off point for you. If you enrol in a Module and it's the wrong course for you, it’s easy for you to switch to a different Module until you find a level at which you feel comfortable. For a complete description of the intermediate and advanced Modules, please click here.

Beginners courses are organised with Language Only classes in Weeks 1-5 and 7-11. Weeks 6 and 12 are Language plus Food classes, that combine learning Italian with a cooking demonstration and an enjoyable two-course Italian lunch or dinner. In addition to this, we run gourmet hands-on Saturday evening cookery sessions called the "Cucina Club" for people who have done some of the language classes. Please click here for further details.

Intermediate and Advanced courses are available as six Language Only classes. However, if the class votes to have a Language plus Food week in place of one of the Language Only weeks, it can be arranged for an extra $50 per person.

The classes are held at Juliana's home in City Beach, Perth, WA. We all sit around one big table in our family room and it's a friendly, supportive, relaxed atmosphere. We find that people learn more and remember more when they are having fun.

We have both daytime and evening classes. The daytime classes are on Friday mornings, starting at 10:00 a.m. The evening classes are normally on Monday to Thursday evenings, starting at 6:30 p.m., but at 6:00 p.m. on Language plus Food nights. There are also FRA AMICI Conversation Club sessions on occasional Saturday afternoons (2:30 – 5:00 pm.) and “Cucina Club” Saturday Gourmet Italian Cookery Classes and Complete Italian Dinners from 5 p.m. on occasional Saturdays.

The language-only classes run for about 3 hours with a coffee break in the middle; the language and food classes go for between 3 and a half hours and 4 hours; and the Cucina Club goes for up to 5 hours.

• Morning LANGUAGE ONLY classes start at 10:00 am and finish at 12.50-1:00 pm.
• Morning LANGUAGE AND FOOD classes start at 10:00 am and normally finish at 1:30-2:00 pm.
• Evening LANGUAGE ONLY classes start at 6:30 pm and finish at 9:20-9:30 pm.
• Evening LANGUAGE AND FOOD classes start earlier, at 6:00 pm, and normally finish at 9:30-10:00 pm.
• Cucina Club goes from 5pm until about 10pm.

Class finishing times vary according to the recipes and according to how many people need to be served, so sometimes the classes can finish later than these times. You can leave at any time.

Class sizes are usually 8 to 12 people, but occasionally they can range from 6 (for intermediate and advanced groups) to 14 (for beginners), if we need to accommodate a couple of people who cannot wait for the next course before their trip to Italy.

Please click here to download the price list.

Please click here to download the schedule.

At the Language and Food Classes we generally have a main course plus a dessert. We start the routine cooking preparation earlier (before the class starts), so that when we start the class at 6:00 p.m. (or 10:00 a.m.), we are up to an interesting stage for the authentic Italian cooking demonstration. For example, when we make Pollo al marsala con riso, we serve chicken in a wine sauce with rice and a salad or other vegetable dish. We may finish off with home-made Italian ice-cream or another dessert, such as the Dolce toscano alle mele (Tuscan apple dessert). While the food is cooking, we go on with the language lesson as we enjoy smelling the food cooking and the coffee brewing. We also have a couple of little breaks while we go into the kitchen to check on the food and add ingredients.

The dishes we make are all authentic national or regional dishes. When the food is ready, we have our two-course Italian lunch or dinner and we talk about Italy, Italian food, Italian culture or travel around Italy. We eat our dinner (or lunch) as soon as it’s ready. This can be towards the beginning or in the middle or at the end of the language class, depending on how long the dishes take to cook. Evening classes finish at approximately 9:30-10:00 pm. Morning classes finish with lunch at approximately 1:30-2:00 pm. Class finishing times vary according to the recipes and according to how many people need to be served. You can leave at any time.

The Language and Food part of each course is both enjoyable and useful. Each Language and Food Class helps you to read Italian restaurant menus and food labels. The cooking demonstrations and recipes are a practical culinary and cultural experience: we learn the names of the ingredients and some basic food language in Italian – and we eat the results!

You will learn how to make some beautiful, authentic Italian dishes, for example, Risotto al pollo alla veneziana (Venetian chicken risotto), Pesce al vino bianco al forno (Baked fish in white wine), Peperoni e pomodori ripieni (Stuffed capsicums and tomatoes), Fettuccine al pesto; Farfalle alle noci (Walnut pasta dish), Pizza ligure (from the Italian Riviera), Scaloppine di vitello (Veal), Pollo al marsala, (Chicken in wine sauce), Rollè di tacchino al balsamico (Turkey breast with wine and balsamic sauce), Panforte, Panettone, Dolce toscano alle mele (Tuscan apple dessert), etc.

Some of these dishes are quick ones that we can make at the Mid-Week Language and Food Classes and others take too long for the Mid-Week classes and so we can make them only at the Saturday evening CUCINA CLUB sessions, with an Italian gourmet cookery class and complete Italian dinner.

No, if you are coming to a Language and Food Class, there will be a “Mid-Week” dinner or lunch as part of the course. This normally includes a main course plus a dessert. For example, when we make Pollo al marsala con riso, we serve chicken in a wine sauce with rice and either a salad or other vegetable dish. This is followed by dessert. To allow time for the cooking and eating, we start the evening Language and Food Classes with a cooking demonstration at 6:00 pm and we finish the class sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 pm. When it’s a Language Only Class, we start the class at 6:30 pm to give you time to have dinner before coming.

Morning classes always start at 10:00 am and we stop for the cooking demonstration at a suitable time during the language class. We finish with lunch at about 1:30 – 2.00 pm.

Class finishing times vary according to the recipes and according to how many people need to be served, so sometimes the classes can finish later than these times. You can leave at any time.

At all classes, there will be Italian biscuits or Italian bread and cheese available at the class. You can order your Italian coffee or special Italian hot chocolate, tea, fruit juice and Italian biscuits from the menu – in Italian, of course!

There is a wide range of ages, from young people of 18 through all ages to people in their 60s and 70s. The youngest people have been 12-17 years of age and the oldest person was a wonderful lady of 89, who did a few courses with us and she was so alert and interested that she even kindly did some proof-reading for us.

One feature that is common to all the Italian Language and Food Classes is that people get on really well and make friends in these informal classes because we all sit around one large table and we have lots of laughs. We find that people learn more and remember more when they are having fun.