Emanuele Achenza

Ciao! I'm Emanuele, an Italian and ESL teacher with a background in psychology. I tailor every lesson to your goals, whether that's business, exams, travel, or just conversation, using authentic materials and lots of real practice. As someone learning foreign languages myself, I know exactly how it feels to be a beginner again! When I'm not teaching, you'll find me baking sourdough or binge-watching trash TV.

In my classes, you can expect a warm, supportive atmosphere where mistakes are simply part of learning. I build every lesson around your goals, whether that's travel, work, exams, or personal interest, and I adapt my pace and materials to how you learn best. My approach combines structured grammar explanations with lots of real conversation practice, since I believe fluency comes from actually using the language. I like to bring in authentic materials, such as short articles, dialogues, songs, or videos, to show how Italian is really spoken. I'll also share resources, worksheets, and exercises directly in our virtual classroom so you always have something to review between lessons. Expect a mix of speaking practice, listening exercises, role-plays for real-life situations, and targeted grammar work, always tailored to keep things practical and enjoyable.

I've taught Italian to a wide range of students, from complete beginners to advanced learners, adapting my approach to each person's goals and pace. My students have included professionals needing Business Italian for work, learners preparing for CILS and Cambridge certification exams, travelers wanting practical conversation skills, and even opera singers looking to master pronunciation and diction for performance. I've also worked with students focused on academic writing, literature, and healthcare-related vocabulary, as well as younger learners just starting their language journey. Alongside teaching, my 5+ years as a professional translator have deepened my understanding of Italian's nuances, idioms, and cultural context, which I bring into every lesson. My background in psychology also shapes how I teach, helping me recognise that every student learns differently and adjust my methods accordingly to keep lessons practical, engaging, and genuinely useful.

Before and alongside teaching, I've worked as a professional translator for over five years, translating more than a million words for international clients across a wide range of industries. That experience taught me to catch the small nuances, idioms, and cultural details that textbooks often miss. I also studied psychology, which gives me real insight into how different people learn and process new information, so I can adjust my teaching style to fit you rather than the other way around. I'm also a language learner myself: I speak French and a bit of Welsh, and I'm currently tackling Japanese and Russian. That means I genuinely understand the frustrations and small victories that come with learning a new language, and I bring that empathy into every lesson. Outside of teaching, I bake sourdough bread (a hobby that requires just as much patience as language learning!) and unwind with trashy TV shows.