When I ask students about their least loved grammar-related topic in the language they have decided to learn, most of the times – besides grammar in general – two specific topics pop up, If-Clauses and Prepositions . While I love the first one very much (I am not sure why), I agree that prepositions can…
Listening skills: What a disaster! Some students struggle with the listening part more than with their speaking. In class, everything seems to be going well, then we turn on that TV and we get completely lost, sucked – together with our ephemeral self-confidence – into a vortex of indecipherable words. Most of the times, we…
Why is speaking so challenging? “When I say a sentence in my mind it sounds amazing. But when I try to say it out loud, my mouth feels like it is full of glue…” This, among others, is one of the phrases that I most often hear from students. I share their feeling. We’ve learnt…
How many of us have the words “detail oriented” in our resume? Well, today’s post is all about details. One of the first things that I like to say when I meet new students is, Don’t be shy, and play around! Make your words sound Italian, for example, and you’ll be surprised to see that…
When I started my journey as a language student, it took me a while, years, before I realized that three elements were crucial for the success of my long-term project: motivation, commitment, and, what I like to call, a “ladder” approach. Motivation. When frustration hits, we need to remind ourselves why we decided to learn…