Contatti: Student's Book v. 1: A First Course in Italian

• Italian Verb Drills (BGR12)
• Collins Easy Learning Italian Dictionary (Easy Learning Dictionary)
• The Oxford Paperback Italian Dictionary: Italian-English, English-Italian
• Easy Italian Reader: A Three-Part Text for Beginning Students (Easy Reader Series)
• Italian Grammar Drills (Drills Series)

• Rosetta Stone Italian Level 1&2 (PC/Mac)
• Rosetta Stone Level 1 Italian (PC/Mac)
• Rosetta Stone Level 2 Italian (PC/Mac)
• Learn Italian Now! 9.0

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's looking to learn Italian on their own as the vast majority of exercises are based on roleplay with a partner and some of the grammar needs to be explained in more detail by someone who's more fluent in Italian.

The only thing missing from this set would be some video material for the teacher to show the class in order to familiarise them more with Italy.

Very confusing - don't get this CD, 2008-02-02
I bought the CD as part of the Contatti Italian to teach a class. I speak Italian fluently, and even then found the layout confusing. The CD is not divided into the various sub-sections so one cannot FF or RW except between chapters and one therefore wastes much time waiting for the right sub-section to be played. I would therefore NOT recommend it to anyone unless the CD is remastered to allow stop/start in between each sub-section.

To accompany a course only, 2004-02-16
On its own this book is of no use if you want to teach yourself Italian, since it consists just of questions/excercises but without the answers or the relevant audio clips.
With the associated tapes and answers book it is a very good way of practising your Italian, but there is still little in the way of teaching material. It is a good support to a structured classroom course or other learning material.

Excellent illustrated guide ... must have!, 2004-10-29
I bought this textbook when learning Italian whilst at university. It was such a useful guide all the way through the year, and it helped when writing essays and creating dialogue. Great basic guide, I even took it holiday with me to Venice, and got a quite a few smiles from the locals ... good for pronunciation.

Doesn't do quite what it says on the tin, 2002-05-14
On the back of the book it says it contains most of the GCSE syllabus and that its good for both individuals and group learners.
Its not very useful to contain only some of the GCSE syllabus is it?! You're always going to need more books if you're using it to work on a GCSE. (I did a GCSE at an adult evening class).
Also it would be pretty hopeless if you were using it alone because there are loads of role plays where "Student B"'s part is at the back of the book. It does have useful bits like the revision at the end of every chapter and the pictures and interactive stuff but its not much cop as an exam companion.
The tapes are quite good though - quite a few of the conversations sound like they are real situations.