Information About Maria Cristina - Bloomsbury teacher -

(12 reviews)

Personal Description:

I am Italian (bilingual Italian-English) and I have a teaching CELTA qualification. Being fluent in English and Italian makes it easier to teach the languages and help the learners. I have over 30 years' experience working in Higher Education. 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 to those who need to learn the language for study, business or pleasure.

I have worked in Higher Education roles covering Management and Business Development, Human Resources, Well-being, Inclusion, Training and Event Management, Learning and Development, Mentoring and Coaching. I currently work at a prestigious London based university organising courses for non-native English speakers. I teach because I have a passion for it and I enjoy the learning.

Teaching Experience:

I currently teach Italian to adults online or in One-to-one Conversations; at Elementary to Advance level (resources used: Nuovo Contatto & Contatti series, Nuovo Affresco Italiano series, Grammatica Pratica della Lingua Italiana, L'Italiano all'Universita', 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 leisure, 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.

Teaching Approach:

Lessons are organised around students' needs and their commitments. Most of my students are professionals/working people and it is my aim to teach around their working pattern and availability. 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 are used and adapted according to student learning style and interest. Own material is also used around the target language. Online lessons are taught on Teams. Each student is allocated a space in Teams where PowerPoint lessons, materials and handouts are stored. There is also a section to upload any homework. Homework is corrected - free of charge outside lessons' time - and discussed briefly at the beginning of each lesson. Most students benefits from the homework although - understandably - not every students has the time to complete it and therefore it is not compulsory.

Sets of lessons can be organised for learners planning to travel to Italy for leisure, study or business/work. Many of my students have an Italian partner or an Italian grandparent so I am very keen to include Italian culture in my lessons as well as some specific regional history, arts and products.

Since Covid I usually teach online though I would prefer to have my first free lesson in person when possible. I am hoping to go back teaching at my own home and occasionally travel a short distance to meet the learner at a public place. Larger groups (but not more than 6 people) are taught in hired teaching spaces.