Alessandro

What are my credentials? I am a C2 English user, certified through the prestigious CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English), the top-tier certification offered by Cambridge University, which I passed at grade A. In addition, I have several years of teaching behind me, helping several students out with their English, especially with their speaking, whether it was for an English exam, for an application to an oversea university or for other reasons. I have also helped several professionals and applicants to make it in their profession or to land a job. Moreover, I am a law student at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in the process of graduation with a thesis, in English, about comparative criminal law. My graduation score is 111/110. What is my specialty? My specialization is speaking, namely aiding the enhancement of conversational skills. I am particularly good at increasing one’s proficiency and performance in an academic or professional context; in addition, I can prepare you for the speaking test of the IELTS, TOEFL or any Cambridge examination, enabling you to get through the most feared part of said exams. What are the language skills we are going to work on? Language skills can be broken down into the following elements: A) VOCABULARY: we will enrich your vocabulary with many useful words, having particular regard to those of relevance to an academic or professional context; as a law scholar, I can also lecture you on the fundamentals of the English Legal System, which will give us the opportunity to see some legal English; I will share with you my personal list of thousands of idioms and phrasal verbs I equipped myself with successfully to pass the CPE. B) IDEA PROCESSING (or, as I prefer saying, WITS): we will explore several techniques you can tap into never to be at loss for words anymore; mastering these techniques, you will always come up with the right answer to any question, as difficult or unpredicted as the question may be. C) STRUCTURE: we will refine your ability to articulate your thoughts in a logical way, to weave them into a fabric of coherent propositions, where conclusions follow from premises in a clear manner; we will focus on the several ways to express causation, contrast and analogy, likelihood and other modes of relation D) FLUENCY: we will study several linking devices (e.g.: moreover, furthermore, in addition etc.), words joining different sentences together so that to make your speech cohesive and enable you to transition from one point to another smoothly and seamlessly; we will reduce the amount and rate at which you use fillers such as “ I mean…” “like…” “you know…”; through me, you will acquire the precious ability to take time while collecting your thoughts, making use of a variety periphrases; in general, we will practice your speaking time and again, so that speaking English well become an effortless activity and you will sound more natural and confident E) ACCURACY: we will also work on your grammar, for a good grammar lays down the foundations of the building of your language skills and without sturdy foundations no building can be put up! F) PRONUNCIATION: I can lend you a hand with reducing your accent; I may not be a native speaker, but this is far from being a disadvantage, meaning that I am in a better position to understand what non native speakers struggle with when it comes to British English pronunciation; in addition, I can expound on the differences between American Standard English and British Standard English. G) STYLE: we will explore different registers, formal and informal; we will study many sophisticated structures, such as inversions or continuous forms, which will give you the means to make an immediate impression to your peers, professors, examiners or prospective employers. What do my lessons look like? Together, we will engage in many activities: A) CONVERSATION: speaking will be, it goes without saying, the staple of our learning process. But our conversations will fall far short of being mere chitchat. Of course, we can have that too if you want, but we can have much more as well! We can hold discussions on current affairs, politics, history, philosophy, law, psychology, subject-matters where I am either proficient or sufficiently knowledgeable as to handle a discussion. We can have a civil debate over any issue whatsoever and I am prepared to cover the role you prefer. We can simulate a job interview, a university oral examination, a conversation between colleagues and far more. As a general rule, I always dedicate 15 minutes to conversation. B) TRADITIONAL LECTURES: there will be room for a more traditional approach too. According to your preferences and needs, we will address some specific subjects concerning grammar or vocabulary. The following lessons have turned out to be in handy to my students: “how to speak your mind” (a lesson about several ways to say: I think that); “likelihood” (how to express different degrees of probability); “I beg to differ” (the polite, and less polite, ways to express disagreement). C) HOME ASSIGNMENTS: should you be fine with that, at the end of every lesson, I will take the liberty of assigning you one task to be carried out at home and to be checked together the next time. The tasks are never too demanding. They range from reading an article or listening to a podcast and discussing it together the next time, to preparing a discourse making use of some idioms, phrasal verbs or vocabulary we will have just studied the lesson before. D) SIMULATIONS: as anticipated, we will engage in role playing and simulations, including IELTS or Cambridge Exam simulations. What are my material and tools? In the course of our lessons, I will tap into a vast array of resources: visual and audio resources such as YouTube videos and podcasts; newspaper articles (mostly the BBC and The Guardian); a physical magnetic blackboard; several written sources, some of them digital whilst others physical, including grammar textbooks, Cambridge student’s books and workbooks and several Word files. Who is my ideal student? In general, I would say: whoever is willing to learn, committed, dedicated and ambitious; more realistically, my target students comprise intermediate or advanced English speakers (ideally B2/C1 ) eager to bring their conversational skills to the next level and raise their game at their job, in university or in their career in general; in addition, I can be of tremendous help to those who want to improve their odds at the IELTS, TOEFL or Cambridge, especially as far as the speaking part is concerned. That being said, I won’t turn down beginners who are learning the language from scratch if they are Italian or if they speak Italian. What platforms do I use for online lessons? Classgap offers everything we need for our online classes. Do I offer a free trial lesson? I offer a 20-minute trial lesson but online only.