Buondì.
As we’re busy with the 2023 Summer Sale right now, here’s an article from our archive.
I’ve been both an online teacher and a language learner, so can see things from both perspectives. Here, then, are a few tips for students who choose to include one-to-one online lessons in their language study programs.
The Dos and Don’ts of Taking One-to-One Language Lessons Online
- Don’t put off starting. OK, this could seem self-serving, given our current promotion, 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.
- 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 our teaching management team, and ask for help/advice. Likely they’ll know what to do!
- 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 their 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.
- 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 the teaching management team – ask them!
- 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. 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, and in time you’ll 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.)
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 is ubiquitous and usable on both the latest Apple monstrosity as well as on the humblest Chinese smartphone.
But these days, there’s also Zoom, which unfortunately many of us became all too familiar with during 2020… If you’d prefer Zoom to Skype, just ask!
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. Save 20% in the 2023 Summer Sale!
The 2023 Summer Sale ends on Sunday July 9th, which means there are just four days left to save 20% on ebooks and online lessons. But why wait?
Everything in our 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:
2023-Summer-Sale-20%-Off
Take advantage of the Summer Sale to save 20%: it’s like getting, for example, 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:
2023-Summer-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(s) and apply coupon code 2023-Summer-Sale-20%-Off to reduce the cart total by 20%.
Remember, the coupon code is good until midnight on Sunday July 9th.
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!
Georgina mcmanners says
Dear Daniel
I’ve just finished reading “My Italian Adventures” by Lucy de Burgh. The book is in honour of the Italian Resistance during 1943 – 1947. I was most interested in The Monte San Martino Trust, named after a small village in the Marche region of Italy, as a tribute to the villagers who were amongst the first to help the founder of the organisation.. Every summer the Trust brings twenty young Italians to England for a month to learn English in Oxford and London.
The students come from the regions of Italy where escaping prisoners found refuge, and many of them come from families who themselves sheltered prisoners.
http://www.msmtrust.org.uk
The reason I was delighted to discover this is its an example of all the good stuff that’s going on constantly in our world. Also another reason not to rely solely on our own national news. A very sure way to get depresses and stay depressed.
I’m a total convert to your philosophy of language learning, I’m trying to pick up the pace a bit now that I’ve had my hip operation. And I’ve promised myself a trip to Bologne as soon as its feasible.
Looking forward to meeting you and congratulations again on your approach to language learning. It definitely works.
Yours sincerely
Daniel says
Good to hear about your progress, Lucy. I hope you feel better soon, after your operation.
N.b. I live in Bologna, in Italy, though I know that Boulogne (with a ‘u’, it’s near Calais, in France) has nice seafood, and there’s a tiny village called Bologne, in north-east France.
Don’t get us mixed up. For fans of English literature, Bologna was one of the targets for US bombing raids as described in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. If you look carefully, you can still see directions to the air raid shelters, painted under the portici of the medieval town center.
Looking forward to meeting you, too, though I mostly work from home these days…