Maria Cristina

I am Italian and I have a CELTA qualification. Being fluent in English and Italian it makes it easier to teach the languages and help the learners. I am a Mentor and a Coach and I have been organising courses and events for non-native English speakers for many years . I teach English to speakers of other languages and Italian for those who need to learn the language for study, business or pleasure.

I have over 20 year experience in working in Higher Education covering roles in Management and Business Development, Human Resources, Training and Coaching. I currently work at a prestigious London based university so I teach because I have a passion for it and I enjoy teaching and learning.

Tutoring Experience

Italian Language: I currently teach Italian to adults in One-to-one Conversations; and at Elementary to Advance level (resources used: Nuovo Contatto & Contatti series, Affresco Italiano, Own resources). I also have experience in teaching to pairs and to groups of a max of 4/6. Lessons are organised around students' needs and their commitments. A set of lessons can be organised for learners who are planning to travel to Italy for pleasure, study or business. I am also very keen to teach Italian culture if you are planning to move to Italy or visit the country I can help you organise your trip and your stay - I have a house there. As an example for a beginners level the topics covered could be:

Italian Level 1 - For complete beginners to survive at a basic everyday level.
Main topics/themes covered:
• Introducing yourself and others. Greetings. The alphabet. Meeting Italian people formally and informally.
• Nationalities. Talking about your country/nationality and other people’s country/nationalities.
• Job and professions.
• The family. Talking about yourself and your family.
• Likes/Dislikes.
• Numbers 1-100. Days of week, month, year. Asking for the time.
• Organizing a holiday: booking a hotel, asking for information, making travel arrangements.
• Buying and ordering food and drinks at a bar, restaurant, hotel. Money.
• Hobbies and free time.
• Basic rules of the pronunciation of spoken Italian
Grammar
• Gender and number of Italian nouns/some adjectives.
• Personal pronouns.
• Negative and interrogative structures.
• Definite and indefinite articles.
• Possessive adjectives.
• Present tense of regular verbs.
• Present tense of some irregular verbs (essere, avere, dare, fare, andare, bere, venire, etc).
• Prepositions.
• Adverbs.
• Indirect pronouns with like/dislike (mi / a me…).
• Present tense of modal verbs (potere, volere, dovere).

English as a Foreign Language: I teach at Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate and Upper Intermediate level; as well as one-to-one conversations. Resources used: Face2Face, New Cutting Edge, Sounds English – a pronunciation practice book, onestopenglish and Internet resources. Each lesson is prepared according to the needs. Handouts are provided.

Tutoring Approach

Lessons are organised around students' needs and their commitments.
A set of lessons can be organised for learners planning to travel to Italy for pleasure, study or business.
I am an experienced coach so I support and encourage students to develop their potential using different and innovative approaches according to students' preferred style of learning.
A number of resources can be used and adapted according to student learning style and interest. Own material are also used around the target language.
I usually teach at my own home but i am willing to travel a short distance. Larger groups (but not more than 6 people) are taught in hired teaching spaces.