Welcome to my blog
A bit of my life, a bit of languages... subscribe to my WhatsApp channel to get the updates!
Language Learning = Cooking?
Have you ever noticed that nobody says: "I've been taking cooking classes for years and I still can't cook"?
Two cents about Conversation Tables
A few days ago, a friend told me they stopped attending conversation tables because they weren't making progress anymore and the level wasn't challenging enough.
Language toolkits
I wanted to give some updates, mainly about something that took me several full days of work...
Read moreOdoo Experience 2024
Some days ago I went to the annual conference of one of the most important tech companies in Belgium.
Read moreLearning and swimming
Like we say in Italian "He who walks with the lame learns to limp" :-)
Read moreWhy Learning the Local Language
Last night, we literally had a waterfall in the apartment due to a broken pipe in the flat above.
Read moreOvercoming Imposter Syndrome
Are you a non-native language teacher struggling with self-doubt?
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A Legal French Glossary?
A few months ago, for reasons I can't quite recall, I attended an event at the Académie de Belgique (Belgian Academy).
Read moreAI for Language Learning
Learning a new language as a busy freelancer can feel daunting, but with the right strategies and tools, it doesn’t have to be.
Watch nowOn Money and Meaningful Jobs
Some days ago I had my usual Dutch class and we spoke about meaningful jobs. Since my teacher knows my story, she asked me to speak to introduce the topic.
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50 Shades of "Imperfect"
I got the idea for this article from overhearing my Finnish flatmate's somewhat hopeless plea to her Italian colleague for...
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Three "glorious moments"
Some days ago, a conversation with a great fan-student made me think about what I call the “glorious moments” of my life
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How fast can life change?
This episode includes a chat - once again about my story - but what I find more interesting is the host.
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Listen to me on La Fabrique à Polyglottes!
Some weeks ago I had the chance to be invited by Coralie from La Fabrique à Polyglottes to be her guest on her podcast and talk about the opportunities of using ChatGPT to learn languages - still too underrated.
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Languages make me feel at home
I'm back in Brussels after spending a month in Italy to visit my parents and as soon as I was on the plane...
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I thought I had “event-anxiety”
As an Italian, I have a huge issue: hating groups. Growing up in such a group-based culture, it means to be doomed to loneliness.
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I'm on YT with Bahador Alast!
Some days ago I had the honour to join Bahador Alast’s channel and have a chat with some other non-native Persian speakers.
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How long does it take to speak a language?
Instagram message request, 9.50 am: "Do you give private classes? I know very little Italian, I have now realised that I should have started earlier, but now I feel I'm lagging.
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Feeling part of a community
On November 11, I went to Oostende for the podcast festival of the Flemish newspaper De Standaard.
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Language, respect, and integration
Since I arrived in Brussels, I’ve rarely had one single day where some foreigner or non-Brussels Belgian didn’t spit on the city.
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Uzbekistan:
A Tajik phrasebook
This article was originally published on Medium on April 27, 2020.
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My "Great Resignation"
I don’t clearly remember how I felt when all the flights got canceled. It’s like a blank space—trauma does that. Talking with others, I’ve realized I’m not alone.
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Language teaching and psychotherapy
That's a metaphor that I dared tell someone when almost two years ago I received an email where a potential student said he was "assessing" different teachers and comparing the conditions etc
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Anxiety and my work journey
I've always suffered from anxiety, since my childhood. One could say
that fighting against anxiety is the background "noise" behind anything
I've done in my life.
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Here we go, Brussels
When I came back from Moscow, slipping into my old routine felt almost impossible. What I missed most was my freedom.
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My experience with the "employee life"
I genuinely enjoyed my internship, especially the first six months. But already by the end of 2018, I was flirting with the idea of starting my own business.
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How Covid (positively) changed my life
Before the pandemic, life looked good on paper: I had a stable job, a decent salary, great colleagues, and I was living in Brussels. But I wasn’t thriving.
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