This course is designed for staff with little or no prior knowledge of the Maltese language. It provides an introduction to Maltese through a communicative approach, focusing on practical language skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The course includes essential cultural and grammatical topics, enabling participants to use Maltese in everyday situations, such as introducing themselves, greeting others, providing basic information about locations, time, and weather, and completing forms like applications, CVs, and simple questionnaires. The participants will learn about the history of the Maltese language, aspects of etymology, and the basic grammatical structure.

The topics covered in this course include:

• Greeting someone and introducing oneself;
• Giving basic information about address, nationality, location and weather;
• Days of the week, months of the year, the seasons and the date;
• The cardinal numbers in Maltese (0-100);
• Family and pets;
• Describing a person;
• Grammar: personal pronouns; verbs, nouns and adjectives related to the topics; the demonstrative pronouns; the possessive pronouns;
• Culture & intercultural skills: comparing alphabets & phonemes; the phenomenon of borrowing; social practices relating to greetings.

By the end of the course, participants will:

• understand slow speech about everyday topics;
• read and understand simple sentences about everyday life;
• answer questions orally and in writing about everyday topics;
• fill in a form with basic information.

This course builds on Maltese as a Foreign Language (Level 1) and adopts a communicative approach to language learning. It focuses on developing essential communication skills - listening, speaking, reading, and writing - while integrating cultural and grammatical aspects of the Maltese language.

Participants will practise using the language in everyday contexts, such as taking part in phatic communion, expressing needs, understanding descriptions and explanations about people, activities, thoughts and views, and writing a brief letter or email. Additionally, the course introduces elements of Maltese etymology, verb conjugation, and other key grammatical topics.

The topics covered in this course include:

• Telling the time
• Describing daily routines
• Describing food and drinks
• Dining at a restaurant
• Buying clothes
• Describing a property
• Grammar: verbs, nouns, adverbs, and adjectives related to the topics dealt with: prepositions, imperfective verb forms, L-Għadd Imtenni, Plural Sħiħ u Miksur.
• Cultural and intercultural skills: social practices related to daily routine and the typical Maltese houses.

By the end of the course, participants will

• express opinions briefly;
• exchange basic information;
• understand and talk about the time;
• order food and drinks at a restaurant;
• ask for the price, pay and buy.