Before your first live session, you'll record yourself reading a short passage aloud.

This isn't a test or some deep analysis; it's simply your own personal "before" snapshot of your accent before you begin the course so we can compare it against your second recording when the programme ends.

English doesn't give equal weight to every syllable the way Italian does — some words in a sentence are stressed and stand out more, while others are said quickly and with weaker sounds.

You'll learn to hear which words in a sentence should be stressed, and practise the rising tone native English speakers use on them.

You'll also get an early introduction to the schwa sound (the short "uh" sound in words like "computer" and "above").

Many Italian speakers pronounce every word with equal time, stress, and strong vowel sounds, which is one of the biggest reasons you sounds robotic.

In natural spoken English, words don't stay separate. They link together, change completely, and sometimes almost disappear into each other (just like in fast spoken Italian).

You'll read and analyse a text with your coach, Emily, and learn the core rules for how English sounds connect in real conversation. This is often the biggest difference between English that sounds robotic, unnatural, and "textbook" and English that sounds genuinely fluent and impressive!

This lesson returns to the schwa sound you covered in Lesson 1, but now you'll practise producing it accurately yourself, especially in short words like "a", "the", "of" and "to".

You'll also work on the long weak British vowel sound /ɜː/ as in "bird", and three centred vowel sounds (/ɪə/, /ʊə/, /eə/) found in words like "near", "tour", and "hair".

All these vowels don't exist in standard Italian, so they're commonly replaced with sounds that are close, but not quite correct.

This lesson tackles two of the most common vowel mix-ups for Italian speakers:

1. the difference between a short /ɪ/ sound (ship) and a long /iː/ sound (sheep)

2. and the difference between the vowels in "bet" /e/ and "bait"/eɪ/.

 Using pairs like these, you'll train your ear to hear the difference and your mouth to correctly pronounce them, so you stop accidentally saying one word when you mean another.

Italian speakers often merge several different English vowel sounds into just one, which means words like "met", "cut" and "cart" can all start to sound the same when said by an Italian speaker.

You'll work through pairs like mat/met and cat/cut/cart to build a clear, reliable distinction, so other people always hear the exact word you want to say.

This lesson focuses on three vowel sounds that are easy to confuse:

1. the short "o" /ɒ/ in "not"

2. the long "or" /ɔː/ sound in "nought"

3. and the "ow" /əʊ/ diphthong in "note"

It's a small distinction, but one that makes a noticeable difference to how easily you're understood.

Modern British English is a non-rhotic accent, which means the letter "r" is often not pronounced in words. You will learn exactly how to pronounce the /r/ and when it's silent, giving your accent more of a British-like sound.

You'll learn how native British English speakers actually use the "r" — including:

1. Linking r —where an "r" joins two words smoothly in phrases ("far away")

2. Intrusive r — where an "r" sound is added between words that don't even have the letter ("law and order").

Getting this right is one of the clearest signals of a natural British accent.

Italian doesn't have the two "th" sounds in English (the soft one in "think" and the voiced one in "this"), so these are usually completely new sounds for Italians which are often replaced with "t", "d", "s", "f" or "v" instead.

You'll learn to produce both TH sounds correctly to avoid making this typical mistake.

You'll also work on tongue placement for "t" and "d" — in Italian these touch the teeth, while in English they should sit just behind the teeth (with no dental contact); it's a small shift that instantly sharpens your consonants and makes them sound more typically British.

These two mistakes give you away INSTANTLY as being an Italian!

Firstly, because Italian consonant length changes meaning (like "sonno" vs "sono"), it's easy to unintentionally double English consonants, turning "city" into "citt-y" or "summer" into "summ-mer".

Secondly, because Italian words rarely end in a consonant, speakers often add a small extra vowel sound at the end of English words, so "dog" becomes "dog-uh".

This lesson is dedicated to removing both habits so your accent sounds noticably less Italian.

In Italian, an "s" before a voiced consonant naturally becomes a /z/ sound, which often carries over into English and causes clusters like "stop", "spring" and "sky" to be voiced incorrectly.

You'll get rid of this habit and ensure you say these words with a clear /s/ sound.

You'll also finally understand the plural and third-person "-s" endings. So you'll know when to use an "s" sound (cats), a "z" sound (dogs), and the /ɪz/ (churches).

In Italian, "h" is silent, which often leads to dropping the "h" sound at the start of English words ("otel" instead of "hotel"), or overcorrecting and adding one where it doesn't belong ("hisland" instead of "island").

You'll also work on the small puff of air English speakers add to "p", "t" and "k" at the start of words like "pin", "top" and "cat" — something that doesn't happen the same way in Italian.

The problem is that the Italian "p", "t" and "k" can sound like the English /b/, /d/ and /g/ sounds, which can lead to a lot of confusion.

Italian uses a clear L sound in every position, but English has two L sounds:

1. The light L

2. The dark L

The dark L in words like "milk" and "feel", and isn't present in Italian.

In your final lesson, you'll learn to produce the dark L naturally.

You'll also cover the three ways regular past tense "-ed" endings are pronounced, so you use them correctly without having to think about it.

At the end of the 12 weeks, you'll record yourself reading the exact same passage from the very start of the course.

Before your coach, Emily, gives you any feedback, you'll compare the two recordings yourself and identify what's changed. Then, Emily will give you her analysis and tell you what you've improved and what you need to focus on next to keep progressing beyond the course.