“Crescendo! A Thematic Approach to Intermediate Italian Language and Culture”. By Francesca Italiano University of Southern California AND Irene Marchegiani Jones California State University at Long Beach

Overview Crescendo! is a comprehensive intermediate Italian program designed to help you build proficiency in all four language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing) and to expand your cultural knowledge of contemporary Italy. The main goal of the textbook and the accompanying work book/laboratory manual is to encourage you to use your language skills actively and creatively in meaningful communication. The text reviews and expands on all important grammar structures, but unlike other Italian grammar review books, it focuses on language usage rather than abstract concepts. To achieve these goals, chapters are thematically arranged, and the vocabulary and grammar structures emphasized in each chapter are those that you need to express your thoughts on the topics featured.

Text Organization and Study Hints

Crescendo! consists of fourteen chapters; each is organized around one or more themes and certain key grammatical structures. The vocabulary, sit uations, activities, readings, and grammar exercises in each chapter are all correlated to reinforce the themes and structures featured and to provide you with the necessary tools to discuss these topics.

Each chapter comprises three parts. Parallel in structure, the first two parts progressively present the chapter vocabulary and themes in cultural or literary contexts. The third section (Strutture) reviews, expands on, and practices essential grammar concepts.

• Chapter Opener: Every chapter opens with a photograph that visually anticipates the themes that will be presented and a list of the chapter objectives, that is, the topics and grammatical structures that will be studied.