The presentation of the Italian alphabet and entire sound system at this early stage enables students to spell, as well as pronounce any and all words in Italian. Numbers are introduced in three different phases. They further learn to identify themselves in terms of civil status and family. The formation of plurals is introduced along with the definite articles and a basic expression of possession. In conjunction with the vocabulary of the city, students learn to use both simple and articulated prepositions.
Students come to understand idiomatic expression first with the verb avere, then with fare.
Students learn to further identify themselves in terms of physical characteristics, as well as personality traits, thus learning the agreement of adjectives and adjective position. By the end of the first semester students are introduced to the present perfect tense or passato prossimo and begin to distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs. Students begin the second semester with study of the informal imperative and demonstrative pronouns, thereby reviewing the present indicative, as well as both adjective and definite article forms. The modal verbs, dovere, potere, and volere, are introduced along with possessive adjectives. The study of direct object pronouns provides the opportunity to review the contrast between transitive and intransitive verbs and adjectival agreement of the past participle forms.