Be yourself in Italian.

Can you imagine being fully aware of the city you’re walking?

Ciao!

I’m Giulia, a passionate traveller and an Italian teacher currently living in New Zealand. I love diving into the history and culture of the places I visit as well as interacting with local people. After all, I am a curious learner like you.

I also love learning different languages and I believe it should be meaningful and fun.

How to do that? Through REAL conversations and full immersion in different cultures.

These are actually the roots of Italian Time Zone, a project to help you find your own voice in Italian while exploring Italian history, culture, and traditions.

I truly believe that learning in context helps you connect with the language and make it yours. That’s why, after many years of experience both as a language teacher and student, I’ve created my own online courses for intermediate and advanced learners who are looking for a mind-blowing experience to be themselves Italian.

Are you one of them? If so, I am very much looking forward to meeting you. If you are still deciding whether I am your best partner to help you on this Italian journey, I am happy to tell you a bit more about me in the following lines. 

Where everything started

Ever since I left home at the age of twenty one, I knew my life would always be linked to travelling. It was in 2011 when I left Galliate, a small town in the north of Italy, to embark on an adventure that would shape me forever. It might sound like a cliché, but doing Erasmus in Belgium was by far one of the best things I’ve ever done. Not only thanks to the people I met, but also to all the travels and cultural exchanges I experienced during that academic year.

Living surrounded by people from all over the world made me realize how important it is to communicate fluently -not perfectly- and to learn about each other's cultural background in order to establish meaningful connections. 

As I was studying Arabic and English as part of my Linguistics and Cultural Mediation degree, I enjoyed helping my international friends with their exams, especially when it came to deepening in the history of the Middle East and practicing English.

“While travelling, I enjoyed the feeling of being aware of most of the cities I walked.

And here it’s when I thought that I would like my students to have the same experience in Italy.”

Giulia Borelli

After finishing my specialization in Milan University, I went to Brighton for a few months and got the official certificate to become a teacher of foreign languages. Then, I taught English and Italian in Italy for a couple of years and kept learning through language workshops and online teaching courses. Until I decided it was time to fulfill one of my greatest dreams: going on a journey across the Silk Route travelling only overland.

How travelling the Silk Road became the cradle of Italian Time Zone

Travelling overland takes time. Time enough to spend weeks reading about all the places I was looking forward to visiting. At that time one of these places was Uzbekistan. I read so much about its history, cultural facts and current political situation, that once I was actually there I experienced an amazing feeling of joy and fulfillment. I felt at ease walking in the streets: confident, relaxed, and excited to discover more.

 

I enjoyed the feeling of not only visiting, but also being aware of most of the places I explored. And here it’s when I thought that I would like my students to have the same experience in Italy.

So, as soon as I got back home, I focussed on offering online Italian lessons and started designing my own teaching method.

 

Breaking up with perfectionism

I’ve always been a perfectionist until I understood that it was pointless and a waste of time. Why am I saying that? Because I’ve been through a lot of stress and anxiety due to this personality trait, especially while I was learning English.

But that wasn’t it all. Particularly in Peru, I had a very frustrating experience practicing my Spanish, which became a good lesson for me in how to take things easier.

I used to be obsessed with avoiding mistakes and sounding like a native speaker until I fully accepted that what matters is being yourself in the language you’re learning.

And once the level increases, the real challenge is being able to speak to locals.

Besides that, everything is a bonus.  Realizing and accepting this evidence motivated me to create the podcast.

At that time I was living in Edinburgh and that’s why I decided to call it Italian Time Zone, my Italian window to the word.

And so Italian Time Zone was born

After the podcast came the newsletter, the 1 to 1 Italian courses and a broad range of resources that I’ve created putting myself in my students’ shoes. This actually came as a very natural process as I’m a student, too. Indeed, I’m currently studying French and Spanish, while living in New Zealand!

I am also learning interesting stories from my international students every day, which is one of the aspects I enjoy the most about my job. Seeing their progress, noticing how during my online courses they manage to speak about complex topics in Italian. This feeling… this feeling is amazing! And, no doubt, this is the reason why I am here. 

So feel very welcome to your Italian Time Zone! I am looking very forward to share new stories with you.

Giulia ⊹
 

Photo credits: @stillight.photo