Buondì.

Here’s an article from our archive, and a reminder about the 2022 Autumn/Fall Sale, which ends on Sunday night!

The dos and don’ts of taking online Italian lessons

Written from personal experience, as I use this method to learn languages (I’m also an online teacher, so see things from both perspectives…)

1. Don’t put off starting. OK, this could seem self-serving, given our Autumn/Fall Sale, but veramente, I put off lessons, cioè actually interacting with a real person, for maybe a year after starting to learn Swedish. First I thought I’d teach myself, then I got addicted to Duolingo, so it wasn’t until months later that I realised I still couldn’t speak a word of the language… Once I’d done a lesson or two, I was kicking myself for all the time I’d wasted.
2. Don’t panic. Mild anxiety is acceptable. Remember though, it’s in the teacher’s interest too that things go well. She wants you to be comfortable and happy – it’s how she earns a living. In the event that you do NOT feel comfortable and happy after taking a lesson or two, get right on to Lucia, our teaching manager, and ask her for help/advice. Likely she’ll know what to do.
3. Do listen to the teacher. Some people, it must be said, have really dumb ideas about how they should be learning. Over the decades, I must have heard it all. For example, “I’d like you (the teacher) to help me translate this (massively-long, difficult, boring) text, which I have to read for (whatever unconnected objective).” In a thirty-minute lesson, we might get through a sentence or two, and only then by doing the whole thing in English. Most people would instead benefit from spending the time practising SPEAKING and getting feedback from the teacher regarding problems with pronunciation, grammar, etc. A pro teacher should point that out. And it’s doubly true for students who would otherwise never speak at all… The moral? Listen to the teacher. Maybe she knows best. At least in this case.
4. Do insist. All that said, teachers are not infallible. “We don’t need no education”, indeed, and certainly not another pointless explanation of the congiuntivo, which we could read online instead of wasting valuable speaking time on. The teacher may not know what’s best for you – if you don’t either, then you’ll have to take your chances. But if you DO have a clear idea what would most benefit you (speaking!! feedback on mistakes!! help with pronunciation!!), then insist. Do. For any issues you can’t resolve with the teacher, there’s Lucia and the teaching management team.
5. Do make lessons part of your routine. Thursday a.m. Swedish, Friday a.m. Turkish – I don’t always feel like taking the lessons beforehand, but afterwards I’m invariably glad I did (n.b. in 2020 I added French and Spanish…) And as months pass, the effect on my ability to communicate in the languages I’m learning is ‘impressionante’, as Italians would say. So try to make taking a weekly online language lesson part of your language-learning routine, in the same way as you might attend an evening class or do homework. Create the habit, reap the reward!

That’s more or less it.

Our default video calling system is Skype, which is free to download and isn’t hard to use. Though like anything new, it might take some fiddling around. If you’re unsure, ask a child or a teenager to help you.

(If you ARE a child or teenager, just press buttons randomly until something interesting happens.)

Since the pandemic, we also offer Zoom, which most people are familiar with. But no, we don’t do lessons via FaceTime instead of Skype. Why not? Because not everyone can afford overpriced Apple products, and certainly not everyone in our team of teachers.

Skype and Zoom are ubiquitous and usable on both the latest Apple monstrosity as well as on the humblest Chinese smartphone.

Beh, that’s about it for today. If you are on the verge of buying some online Italian lessons, but have doubts, or need more information, leave a comment on this article with your question (that way, everyone can read it, not just me.)

P.S. Last couple of days of the 2022 Autumn/Fall Sale

Don’t forget the 2022 Autumn/Fall Sale ends on Sunday October 2nd 2022, which means there are just five days left to save 20% on ebooks and online lessons.

Everything in our (now two) online stores, EasyReaders.org for ebooks and NativeSpeakerTeachers.com for online lessons, is a fifth cheaper until then, assuming you remember to use this coupon code –

2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off

Act promptly and you could be getting ten one-to-one lessons for the price of eight – so two extra lessons of speaking practice, on us!

Or you could add 5 ebooks to your shopping cart (reading and listening practice is SO useful) while only having to pay for four of them.

This is the coupon code you need to save £££ on your order:

2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off

Make your selection from the one-to-one online lesson options and/or from our range of ebooks, which have been especially written to keep you interested and so making progress.

Next go to your shopping cart and apply coupon code 2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off to reduce the cart total by 20%.

Remember, the coupon code is good until midnight on Sunday October 2nd 2022.

Use it as often as you wish until then, with no minimum or maximum spend.

EasyReaders.org (ebooks) | NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (one-to-one lessons)

A venerdì!

Buondì.

Today we have the start of the 2022 Autumn/Fall Sale, which means that everything at EasyReaders.org (ebooks) and NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (online lessons)  can be had a fifth cheaper than usual.

All you have to do to discount the price of anything by 20% is to copy and paste this coupon code into the box in your shopping cart (the code is the same on both websites):

2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off

N.b. Copy and paste it CAREFULLY – if you miss a letter, or add a space, it won’t work.

Once you’ve pasted the coupon code, press the ‘Apply coupon’ button and then, this is important, SCROLL DOWN.

You’ll notice that the cart TOTAL is reduced, not the prices of each individual item, which amounts to the same thing, of course, but can make you think that the coupon code isn’t working.

Have a go, just to see how it works:

1. Select, for example, a pack of online Italian lessons with one of our teachers. Press the ‘Add to cart’ button below the product image to, well, add it to your cart. Or click on the image to read more, then look for the orange ‘Add to cart’ button on the product page.
2. View the contents of your cart at any point by clicking on ‘Cart‘ (the lessons store) or ‘Cart‘ (the ebooks store), or on the shopping basket icon at the top of the page of either site.
3. See your selection, ready to be bought? But at the full price… So, where’s that pesky coupon code? Ah! Here it is: 2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off 
4. Control + C to copy it, Control + V to paste it into the box where it says ‘Apply coupon’ (on a Mac, use Command + C, Command + V, on a smartphone or tablet – I have no idea – ask a child…)
5. Press the ‘Apply coupon’ button and scroll down to check the total has been discounted
6. Magic! It worked. Now, were this a real purchase, rather than a practice run, you’d then press the ‘Proceed to checkout’ button and do the usual online shopping stuff.
7. But as we’re just playing, have a go at removing your test purchase from the cart. There’s a little red X to the left of the product image (in the cart). Click it and whatever you no longer desire will be removed.

Beh, yes, I admit – it all sounds rather a palaver.

Actually, though, it’s much easier and faster to DO than to describe in writing, I promise.

So, for real now – the coupon code ( 2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off ) will work on anything/everything you see on the Catalog page (now just ebooks) or the home page of the online lessons store.

Go browse. Pick out an ebook or two, a pack of online lessons, whatever will give your language study program a boost!

Offer Details

• This promotion ends on October 2nd 2022, after which the coupon code will no longer be valid
• The next offer won’t be until New Year, so stock up now…
• You can use the coupon code as often as you wish until the night of Sunday October 2nd 2022
• The coupon code ( 2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off ) won’t work with other coupon codes – choose one!
• But it IS good on multipacks of ebooks or lessons, which are already discounted, and so offer even better value than usual

What, then, should you consider buying?

The ten-pack of online Italian lessons, now £180 for ten thirty-minute sessions, is a steal once discounted by 20%.

Use the coupon code on that one and you’ll be paying just £14.40 a lesson, that’s £28.80 an hour. Go ask at a ‘proper’ language school how much an hour’s lesson would cost you (but beware, because at many places you pay for an hour but actually get just 45 minutes…)

Our regular online students wait for the offers and stock up with enough lesson credits to get them through until the next promotion, several months later.

That way they can take one or more lessons each week while never paying the full price.

Furbo, huh?

Over on the Catalog page of the ebooks store, the easy reader multipacks, which are already discounted for ‘bulk’, offer amazing value!

And the Self-Study Grammar Workbooks are always worth a look, especially when there’s an offer on.

But perhaps the best approach (for ebooks) would be to start at the top of the Catalog page and scroll down, clicking on the free sample chapter links looking for material at your level that interests you. Ebooks are arranged by type, then in level order.

Suppose, though, you know already you’re an A2?

If you’re looking for materials to study, or ebooks to work on your reading/listening skills, look at the levels above and below what you assume to be your current level before your finalise your selection.

You might find, for example, that (assuming you’re in an A2 class), your reading skills are better (say A2/B1, or B1) but that your listening skills are worse (perhaps only A1/2, or even just A1…)

So browsing the sample chapters will help you make better use of your time and money by choosing materials that best address your weak points.

Another tip – if you haven’t focused on reading/listening (or grammar for that matter) before, then it can be reassuring to ease yourself in gently.

So again, if you’re pretty sure your level is A2, but haven’t done much skills practice (reading/listening), then give yourself a break and start a level, or a half-level, lower.

Step up to your ‘real’ level later, when you feel ready.

Beh, that’s enough tips for today.

Here’s that coupon code again:

2022-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off

Have fun making your selections!

Ebooks | Online lessons

A mercoledì.