Italian and ESL Teacher

Enrico C.

I am a native Italian speaker with a several year experience in teaching Italian and English. I am a very easy-going, open-minded, professional person. I like to teach because it gives me the opportunity to meet new students, share my knowledge as well as my culture and experience.

I started tutoring back when I was attending the university in Verona, Italy. I was tutoring English, Math and some other subjects. Later on, I continued teaching English while I was working in other fields. In 2009 I moved to Los Angeles. For a couple of years, I taught ESL in a college, and in the meantime I tutored Italian to private students. Since 2009 I have been tutoring students in English and Italian subjects.

I have a M.A. in Foreign Languages and Literature and a T.E.F.L. Certificate for teaching English as a foreign language. I am fluent in Italian, English and French.

I really believe that in teaching a language a primary focus should be on life skills. Not being an English native-speaker, I learned how important it is to be able to express basic needs and to perform primary activities. However, it is important to consider other points like grammar, reading, writing. I also think that no matter what a teacher should always take into account the needs of the students and subsequently I plan my classes reflecting on the student's demands.

As to the different approaches and materials that I use, I suppose that it is important to change them frequently in order to keep the classes more interesting. Of course, there are some exceptions. For instance, in the past I taught for a while TOEFL and for that type of classes I used more traditionalist and academic methods and materials.