Buondì.

(As we’re busy with the 2026 Spring Sale right now, here’s an article from our archive. For details of the promotion, scroll down.)

With apologies to the seven thousand or so club members who are also on the NativeSpeakerTeachers.com mailing list, below is a copy/paste of an article published on that website. Obviously it’s about taking one-to-one lessons, online, with a native speaker teacher.

This is something that we’ve been promoting for a number of years now. I tried it myself, too, when I began learning Swedish, and subsequently have done hundreds, probably thousands of online lessons in that language, plus also Turkish, French and Spanish (right now just Swedish, though, because of Bug…)

Chatting one-to-one with a native speaker, or actually studying/doing a proper lesson if that’s the way you prefer to learn, can seem intimidating at first, just as attending a class can, or going for a job interview.

I know I put it off myself for ages, despite being an actual online (and real life) teacher, and knowing I needed the practice, and that it would be good for me. I wasted far too much time on Duolingo, and doing self-study, when I could have been – should have been – actually interacting in the languages I was learning.

There’s no substitute for it. It gives you the sort of confidence that books, apps, Youtube videos and so on just can’t.

The closest thing – in terms of preparing for using the language to communicate with – is live, authentic listening i.e. radio or similar, but while that also boosts your confidence (in time), it lacks the actual opening your mouth and wagging your tongue part, and is anyway less accessible for lower-level students.

Authentic listening is hard in a way that a chat with a sympathetic native speaker doesn’t have to be. Doing it regularly in Italian, or whatever language you’re learning, is valuable for students at any level, take it from me.

And as for the practical details? See the pasted article below.

Don’t forget that NativeSpeakerTeachers.com has their Spring Sale running this week, meaning you could get your practice sessions with a native speaker teacher 20% cheaper. Scroll down past the FAQ article and you’ll find all the details on how to do that.

A domani.

+++

Online Italian/French/Spanish/German Lessons: Got Questions?

Want to know more about how taking online one-to-one Italian/French/Spanish/German lessons with a native speaker teacher works?

The NativeSpeakerTeachers.com Frequently Asked Questions page covers all these topics:

• How does buying online lessons work?
• Who will my online teacher be?
• Organisation of online lessons
• I live in the USA/Australia/New Zealand. What days/times can I take lessons?
• What software/hardware do I need?
• When do online lesson credits expire?
• Why take lessons with NativeSpeakerTeachers.com rather than a cheaper alternative?
• Why are lessons just 30 minutes long?
• Who decides the lesson content?
• Do I have to study at a regular day/time?
• Does the online teacher speak English?
• Changes of online teacher
• Payment options
• Is it safe to input my credit card details in your shop?
• Do you charge VAT/sales tax?
• Refunds

Find the answers on the FAQ page!

And if your question is not covered? Just reply to this email.

Read genuine, unedited customer reviews here.

2026 Spring Sale: Save 20% on One-to-One Language Lessons

Don’t forget the NativeSpeakerTeachers.com 2026 Spring Sale, which ends on Sunday April 12th.

Students of Italian, Spanish, French and German can save 20% on one-to-one language lessons online with a native speaker teacher of the language they’re learning.

With coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off everything at our online store, NativeSpeakerTeachers.com, can be had a fifth cheaper than the advertised prices!

You could, for example, buy ten one-to-one language lessons, and so practice speaking or get help with grammar, while paying for only eight!

Browse lesson options and prices, not forgetting to mentally reduce the prices you see there by 20%, then to actually use coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off to save £££ on your order!

How to do that, exactly?

First make your selection from the one-to-one online lesson options and add them to your shopping cart with the ‘Add to cart’ button.

Then go to the actual shopping cart and copy/paste coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off into the box, where it says ‘Coupon code’, to reduce the cart total by 20%.

Press the ‘Apply coupon’ button, then SCROLL DOWN to verify that the CART TOTAL has been reduced by 20% (BEFORE proceeding with your payment…)

The coupon code is good until midnight on Sunday April 12th 2026. You can use it as often as you wish, with no minimum or maximum spend, but it can’t be used together with any other coupon code you may already have.

Questions? Why not take a look at our FAQ?

Then stock up on online lesson credits – at an unbeatable price!

One-to-one language lessons online

Don’t forget coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off

Use it here: NativeSpeakerTeachers.com

The next sale won’t be until July, so a long way off!

Buondì.

(As we’re busy with the 2026 Spring Sale right now, here’s an article from our archive. For details of the promotion, scroll down.)

A while back I got an abusive email from a club member who was irate because I’d said that language teachers can, at times, be stupid.

Disagree if you like, but I’ve worked with hundreds of them, and as a long-term ‘Director of Studies’ in an actual language school one of my roles was to observe lessons and give feedback, with a view to continuous improvement, etc.

Some of those were just awfully bad. And, of course, I daresay I’ve also done some pretty stupid things myself over the years.

In my professional capacity I don’t go around calling colleagues incompetent, if only because it’s not very motivating, so doesn’t help.

Most people get better at their jobs, given enough time and feedback, assuming they can be bothered, of course.

Ideally we’ll hire people who already know how to keep their students happy and learning. With less-experienced staff, we’ll give them guidelines, training, feedback and so on, then keep our fingers crossed!

But ‘stupid’ comes mostly from my personal experiences as a learner, which – along with many, many positive experiences – has included various painful episodes, one of which I will tell you about now.

It was during the pandemic, when I had time to do weekly online lessons (mostly conversations, in fact, as I’m not a keen student of grammar) in Swedish, Turkish, and Spanish.

At a certain point it occurred to me that I’d studied French at school, and could read it, and understand some of what I heard, so why not have a go at speaking that language, too? I asked the Teaching Management team at what is now NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (see below for details of their Spring Sale) to set me up with a teacher.

The first lesson wasn’t so bad, no worse than I’d expected. The teacher was the same age as my eldest daughter, and clearly not experienced, but she’d prepared a lesson at least, basing it on what I’d emailed her about my perceived level and needs (i.e. I could read, understand speech, but wanted to practice speaking…)

Unfortunately, I was totally ‘blocked’, like I literally couldn’t utter a word of French. It was as if the other languages foremost in my brain had shut off the paths leading to the French which I totally knew, and wanted to use in conversation, yet couldn’t.

If my head was a sink (and some would say it is…) then tipping acid down the plughole might help, though unscrewing the S bend thingy and taking out the gunk with your fingers works better. Getting a plumber in would do it too, and is less messy.

Funnily enough, I’d never been ‘blocked’ before. It was quite unnerving, even though I’d seen the same condition in hundreds of students over the decades I’d been teaching, and knew it would pass quickly, with a little exposure and practice.

I was therefore keen to do the second lesson, with the same young teacher, and emailed to say that I thought basic conversation practice (personal information, family, likes & dislikes, job, etc.) would be helpful in getting my brain working again, as I was sure it could.

It was therefore VERY DISAPPOINTING when I went online to discover that the young teacher had decided that – as I couldn’t say a word – we would begin French again, from the very beginning, with the ‘Conjugaison du verbe être‘, so Je suis, Tu es, etc.

I went along with this, out of kindness mostly, but also knowing that repeating the basics actually can have an ‘unblocking’ effect. When I’m doing an online lesson in a language I haven’t used in a while (say Spanish, after months doing just Swedish) I might run through the numbers in my head, or some basic conversation exchanges, just to ‘warm up’.

So lesson two felt like a little progress, despite the wasted opportunities for actual conversation. Better than nothing, at least.

In anticipation of lesson three, I reminded the teacher via email, that what I would actually like to do was to run through basic conversation exchanges, so as to ‘unblock’ the French I (swear) I did really know when I read or heard it – I could, I reminded her, understand her when she was speaking only French, and rapidly at that. So enough with the A1 grammar lessons, maybe?

When the lesson actually started, it was clear that my thoughts on content had been ignored. More ‘Je suis’!

At which point, I lost my temper and informed my young colleague that I’d been teaching for longer than she’d been alive, that I was in fact her boss as well as her student, and that we should please proceed as I had indicated. The student is always right!

And she replied…

‘Non!’

It’s the teachers job to decide how to teach, she explained (in French), not the student’s. She’d prepared a lesson, and that was what we’d be doing, end of discussion.

Now tell me that’s not ‘stupid’.

I told Lucia to get rid of her, that we could not in good conscience have her teach anyone else, and to please assign me to someone with more sense.

Which she did, another young female my daughter’s age, who was locked down in a rented room and delighted to have someone to chat to, while getting paid.

As predicted, within a few friendly conversations I was more or less unblocked and able to chat in French at a level approaching my reading/listening ability.

No plumber required, just a friendly native speaker who’s willing to listen and interact, in a reasonable simulation of real life. Like having a friend to chat to, basically.

(See the NativeSpeakerTeachers.com offer below.)

I’m out of time. Bug needs to eat soon!

A domani.

+++

2026 Spring Sale: Save 20% on your lessons!

Here’s a reminder about the NativeSpeakerTeachers.com 2026 Spring Sale, which ends at midnight on Sunday April 12th.

With coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off students of Italian, Spanish, French and German can save 20% on one-to-one language lessons online with a native speaker teacher of the language they’re learning.

Everything at our online store, NativeSpeakerTeachers.com, can be had a fifth cheaper than the advertised prices, IF you remember to use coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off .

Get ten one-to-one Italian lessons (or Spanish, or French, or German), and so practice speaking, or get help with grammar, while paying for only eight!

Check out lesson options and prices, not forgetting to mentally reduce the prices you see there by 20% (then to actually use coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off to save £££ on your order!)

How to use the coupon code, exactly?

1.) Make your selection from the one-to-one online lesson options and add them to your shopping cart with the ‘Add to cart’ button.

2.) Go to the actual shopping cart and copy/paste coupon code 2026-Spring-Sale-20%-Off into the box, where it says ‘Coupon code’, to reduce the cart total by 20%.

3.) Press the ‘Apply coupon’ button, then SCROLL DOWN to verify that the CART TOTAL has been reduced by 20% (BEFORE proceeding with your payment…)

Don’t forget, the coupon code is ony good until midnight on Sunday April 12th. Use it as often as you wish until then, with no minimum or maximum spend. The coupon can’t be used together with any other coupon code you may already have.

Have questions? Why not take a look at the FAQ?

The next sale will be at the beginning of July, so still months away…

Get your online lesson credits today – at an unbeatable price: One-to-one language lessons online