There is a particular kind of stuck that almost every Italian learner reaches. You can read a menu. You know the grammar, more or less. You have a streak on an app going back months. And then an actual Italian says something at actual speed and every word of it leaves your head at once.
That gap is not a knowledge problem, so more vocabulary will not close it. It closes by speaking, often, to someone who will let you make a mess of it and then show you the tidy version.
What a conversation session is
An hour, one to one, online, spoken almost entirely in Italian from whatever level you are at. We agree the ground in advance — the news, your work, a film, your holiday, the argument you had with a hotel in Palermo — so you arrive with something to say rather than groping for a topic.
I correct in two passes. In the moment I fix only what stops you being understood, because being interrupted every six words teaches you to stop talking. Afterwards you get the rest written down: the tense you keep avoiding, the preposition that is not quite right, the phrase you translated out of English that no Italian would ever say.
Who it suits
- Anyone from roughly A2 upwards — you can build a simple sentence, you just cannot do it at speed.
- People who studied Italian years ago and want it back rather than started again.
- People who read and write far better than they speak, which is most people who learned alone.
- People preparing for an oral exam, or for a trip where they intend to actually use it.
If you are at the very beginning, conversation practice is not the right starting point — the ten-week beginners’ course is, running Wednesdays 5.00–6.30pm from 16 September for £150. Come back to this when you have some sentences to break.
A native ear, and a Sicilian one
I grew up in Catania and have taught Italian for over twenty years, with a PGCE, QTS and CELTA behind me. Practising with a native speaker matters most for the things textbooks cannot give you: rhythm, the words people actually reach for, and what changes when you cross from Milan to Sicily. You will also hear how much Italians vary, which is oddly reassuring the first time you are understood.
What it costs
Conversation sessions are £30 an hour, online, anywhere in the UK. Many people take one a week; some take one a fortnight alongside regular tutoring. Between sessions there are free exercises to keep things ticking over.
Tell me roughly where you are and what you would like to be able to say, and we will start there. Get in touch for a chat first, at no cost.