Business Italian Course For Executives (Course Code UK-BIt)

Course overview – Available online or in-person

All our courses are designed with corporate employees needing Italian for professional purposes in mind.

Working with HR and L&D Managers, as well as training, line managers and other corporate training organisers, our courses not only help to improve employees’ Italian skills, but also help relieve the administrative and logistical work involved in setting up, running and monitoring the training.

Our account managers handle it all.

The training is delivered by professional, experienced, Italian language trainers who have experience teaching in a corporate environment.

Where and when does the tuition take place?

Courses take place in-person at your offices. A large amount of our work takes place in and around London and the South East of England, however we are also active in a considerable number of locations throughout the UK. And worldwide via online training.

Times, days and frequency of lessons are very flexible. We’ll aim to fit lessons in on your terms. Though the majority of our clients opt for lessons during the working day, it is always possible to schedule the training in outside of working hours at no extra cost. During the evening, or even at the weekend.

Training is in high demand in most areas with a developed business community and lots of international companies. Some of these areas include:

• London
• Manchester
• Birmingham
• Glasgow
• Bristol
• Edinburgh
• Leeds
• Liverpool
• Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• Sheffield
• Online classes also available

Course options available

• Individual Business Italian training
• Group Business Italian training

Both of these options allow the for customisation and personalisation of the learning. We will work together with you to plan a course around the needs of the employee or employees being trained.

Language levels catered for

The individual and group training can be offered at any level. For groups, we will need to ensure that all the learners have roughly the same level of Italian to begin with so they can be taught together.

One of our account managers will take you through the process for initial level testing, so we can ensure the lessons are pitched at the right level.

Generally, courses will be pitched at one of the following levels:

• A1 – Beginner or high-beginner (sometimes called false beginner)
• A2 – Elementary
• B1 – Intermediate
• B2 – Upper intermediate
• C1 – Advanced
• C2 – Proficiency

There will be some variance between learners in group classes, even at the same level. This is to be expected. Our trainers are experienced and used to adapting classes accordingly.

Individual (1:1) Business Italian Language Training – Online or In-Person (Course Code UK-BIt1)

Our flagship training, the 1:1 Italian lessons are designed to get key employees through the basics and onto confidence and fluency in Italian as quickly as possible. At all levels, the course content will be personalised and continually tweaked to the needs of the learner.

Regardless of level of Italian, the course will be conducted in Italian as much as possible. Referred to as the communicative approach, this modern approach to language learning allows for learners even at lower levels to interact and engage in Italian right from the beginning. This is industry standard and how most modern language learning is conducted.

Forget classrooms full of uninterested kids memorising ‘grammar’ — this is real life language learning!

How to get training set up

Start the process by sending us a message on our contact page or call 03333 66 00 13. We’ll go take you through the options with no obligation.

Conducting an initial diagnostic assessment of employees’ level of Italian and needs analysis

To ensure an effective start to the course, we will arrange a short 5-10 minute telephone call with the employee or employees undergoing training prior to their first lessons.

This will allow our team to correctly brief a trainer so they can prepare an appropriate course based on the needs of each learner. Learners can ‘hit the ground’ running right from the first lesson.

This is also an opportunity for the member of staff to give their availability for a first lesson so that our account manager can go out to our teaching network to find a trainer matching the learner’s availability, needs and location.

Course content and materials

Flexibility is the watchword for all our 1:1 courses. Teachers will use their own materials and adapt to the exact needs of each learner based on the initial needs analysis at first.

Throughout the course, learners are encouraged to continually suggest ideas / themes / language areas they would like to work on and study so the sessions are as relevant and engaging as possible.

Some specific courses that we’ve run in the past on a 1:1 basis have been:

• Boost your Italian speaking and confidence
• Technical vocabulary builder
• Italian for specific purposes e.g. Italian for bankers, Italian for lawyers
• Presentation and negotiation skills
• Business writing including email writing

Recommended number of weeks course length and frequency of tuition

Although there is no specific recommended length of course, we definitely suggest at least 6 months worth of training to begin with. It will take around 50 – 60 hours of private 1:1 Italian lessons to move between levels. This assumes the staff member will also be able to work a similar amount of time outside of the classroom.

With that in mind, it would be recommended to book the training in blocks of 20 – 40 hours, with reviews at each 40 hour point and a decision made on continuing training or a course of self-study.

Depending on the needs and immediacy of the requirements for learning Italian lessons can be intensive (e.g. every day), or more spaced out (e.g. 1 x 1.5 hour session a week).

Weekly sessions, either once or twice a week are incredibly popular here and account for around 80% of our clients’ sessions.

Our team will be able to give some recommendations for number of lessons per week and timings etc. You can always add your own input as well.

One of the main benefits of private lessons is that they are flexible. If your staff member needs to move, re-arrange, or cancel a lesson entirely, they can do so without charge so long as 48 hours notice is communicated to the trainer to allow them to fill that slot with other work.

Lesson invoicing and payment

Once a block of training has been agreed and lessons have started we will arrange for an invoice to be raised for the block of training, to be paid on standard 30 day terms.

Group Business Italian Language Training – Online or In-Person (Course Code UK-BIt2)

Group Italian lessons, delivered at your company or online — are an excellent, value for money way, to train a number of employees who are either all beginners, or who have roughly the same level of Italian.

In order to ensure each learner gets adequate attention from the teacher and engagement in the lesson we suggest no more than 8 people in face to face classes (6 is the optimum although the smaller the class the better).

For online training we’d recommend no more than 6 people.

As with the individual lessons, the course can be adapted and tailored to the needs of the learners and the business. Elements of business vocabulary, grammar and topics can be introduced into the sessions, regardless of the level of the class.

How to get classes set up

Speak to our experts by calling 03333 66 00 13 or sending us a message on the contact us page. Whether it’s just at the ideas stage, or a fully-blown plan ready to go, we’ll work with you to get lessons set up as efficiently as possible.

Ascertaining each learner’s level of Italian

There are two ways to assess each learner’s level of Italian prior to starting the group sessions. For larger groups, towards the 8 people mark, we would ask that each learner self-assesses their Italian to get a general idea about levels.

For smaller groups, our team can reach out to them and conduct a diagnostic phone call with each student to get an idea about levels and needs.

Your account manager will be able to advise on the best course of action for your situation.

Course content and materials

For smaller groups, our trainers will use their own photocopied materials and adapt accordingly, to keep sessions as tailored as possible. For larger groups, towards the 8 person limit we sometimes recommend purchasing a textbook to go through.

Again, your account manager can make some recommendations on the best way forward for your specific situation.

Although clients often prefer a completely bespoke course, we have run business Italian courses in company on the following themes:

• Beginner/refresher Italian
• Email writing
• Industry specific courses (e.g. Italian for Lawyers or Doctors)
• Improving speaking and pronunciation
• Soft skills such as negotiation and presenting

Recommended number of weeks course length and frequency of classes

Progress is more paced with group lessons than with individual, 1:1 lessons. We’d suggest looking at around 50-60 hours of group training for each member to move between levels in Italian. This assumes each person can also spend a similar amount of time outside of lessons on self-study.

An initial course booking of 30 – 40 hours is recommended with a review at the end of the course and decisions made as to weather to continue with more training or a course of self-study.

To fit in with the needs of the business, most of our clients opt for a single 1.5 hour session every week at the same time. The more lessons per week the better but in our experience it can be tricky logistically to schedule in more than 1 lesson per group per week.

Speak to our team about this and we can make some recommendations. If more than 1 lesson per week is possible than this would certainly be of benefit to the learners.

As with all our courses, cancellation or re-arranging of lessons is possible as long as the cancellation / re-scheduling is communicated to the teacher at least 48 hours prior.

Invoicing and payment for lessons

Usually we would invoice for the block of training at the start of the course on 30 day terms. We also offer monthly invoicing for all our group training. Our account manager can take you through the process.