Buondì.

(As we’re busy with the 2025 Autumn 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 Autumn/Fall 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.

+++

2025 Autumn Sale: Save 20% on your lessons!

Here’s a reminder about the NativeSpeakerTeachers.com 2025 Autumn Sale, which ends at midnight on Sunday October 5th 2025.

With coupon code 2025-Autumn-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 2025-Autumn-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 2025-Autumn-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 2025-Autumn-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 October 5th 2025. 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 New Year, so still months away…

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

Buondì.

Students of Italian (but also French, Spanish and German) might like to know that the NativeSpeakerTeachers.com 2025 Autumn Sale starts today!

Use coupon code

2025-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off

to save 20% on Italian, French, German and Spanish lessons, so conversation, grammar, help with pronunciation, whatever you need to progress with the language you’re learning!

All you have to do to discount the price of lesson credits by 20% is to copy and paste

2025-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off

into the box in your shopping cart. Once pasted, press the ‘Apply coupon’ button and – this is important – SCROLL DOWN to check the cart TOTAL is reduced.

The prices of individual items don’t change, which can make you think that the coupon code hasn’t had any effect…

Have a go, just to see how it works:

1. Select, for example, a pack of online lessons with a native speaker teacher. 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 black ‘Add to cart’ button on the product page.
2. View the contents of your cart at any point by clicking on ‘Cart‘, or on the shopping basket icon at the top right-hand side.
3. See your selection, ready to be bought? But at the full price… So, where’s that pesky coupon code? Ah! Here it is: 2025-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 ( 2025-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off ) will work on anything/everything you see on the home page of the online lessons store.

Offer Details

• This promotion ends at midnight on Sunday October 5th 2025, 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 coupon code 2025-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off as often as you wish until the night of Sunday October 5th 2025
• The coupon code ( 2025-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off ) won’t work with other coupon codes – choose one!

What, then, should you consider buying?

The ten-pack of online Italian lessons, now £200 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 £16.00 a lesson, that’s £32.00 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 (around Easter, during the first week of July, at the end of September, and at New Year) to 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?

Here’s that coupon code again:

2025-Autumn-Sale-20%-Off

Have fun making your selections: Online Italian/French/Spanish/German lessons

A lunedì.