No, I do not offer free lessons

My side job is doing a bit of freelance language tutoring online.

My site of choice is Italki (I have a brief review about it here) and I thoroughly enjoy it.

I sometimes get people asking me (either directly or indirectly) if I’d be willing to give any lessons for free, and the short answer is no.

I have a few reasons why:

Conversational practice

A common complaint amongst Italian self-taught learners is that their reading and writing skills are quite good, but their oral and listening skills are lagging way behind.

This is partly because Italians speak fast, and attempting to listen to the radio or TV shows from Italy can be disheartening, but also because attempting to have a conversation with someone in a different language can be incredibly daunting.

I am a huge believer in finding someone you can practice your language with (whichever it might be), for several reasons:

italki

Italki.com is a website that helps language learners connect with students and teachers from all over the world.

As a learner, you can choose to:

• Have a language partner (where you help each other learn your own language, pretty much like a language exchange programme). This is free;
• Connect with a teacher and be taught the language of your choice in a structured way, similar to a classroom setting;
• Connect with a community tutor. A tutor will help with conversation skills, but won’t have a pre-structured lesson plan.