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

This isn't a test or some deep analysis. This is 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. This is how we track your progress.

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. This is what gives English that distinct rhythm that's different to Italian's.

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

You'll also get an early introduction to the schwa (the short "uh" sound in words like "computer" and "above"), as it's the foundation for nailing correct stress and intonation in English.

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

You'll read and analyse a text with your coach, Emily, and learn the core rules for how English connects in real spoken English. This is often the biggest reason why you sound robotic, unnatural, and "textbook" in English, so we're going to transform that so you begin to sound fluent and impressive!

This lesson returns to the schwa sound that you covered in Lesson 1. This is because it's the most important sound in British English — and most likely a sound that your Italian teacher never taught you before!

Now you'll practise pronouncing it accurately yourself, especially in short words like "a", "the", "of" and "to" so you can continue to imitate perfect English stress and rhythm.

You'll also work on the long British vowel sound /ɜː/ as in "bird", and three centring 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 "wet" /e/ and "wait" /eɪ/.

Using pairs like these, you'll train your ear to hear the difference and your mouth to correctly pronounce them, so you can ensure you're understood the first time. 

Italian speakers often merge several different English vowel sounds into just one, which means words like "cat", "cut" and "cart" can all become mixed up 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 "bot"

2) the long "or" /ɔː/ sound in "bought"

3) and the "ow" /əʊ/ diphthong in "boat"

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

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.

So 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 sounds are made by the tongue touching the teeth, while in English the tongue should sit just behind the teeth (with no dental contact); it's a small shift that instantly makes your /t/ and /d/ sound more English.

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

In Italian you pronounce double consonants (like "sonno" vs "sono"), so it's easy to unintentionally double English consonants, turning "summer" into "summ-mmer".

Also, as Italian words rarely end in a consonant, speakers often add a small vowel sound at the end of English words, turning words like "dog" into "dog-uh". This can cause a lot of confusion, so this lesson will fix this habit.

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 "smart", "sweet", and "slow" to become voiced incorrectly.

You'll get rid of this Italian habit and ensure you say these words with the correct /s/ sound.

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

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 ("hi ham..." instead of "I am..."). This lesson will target this Italian habit so you correctly use the /h/ sound.

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. You'll learn to correct this to avoid your /p/, /t/ and /k/ sounds coming across as /b/, /d/ and /g/, which can lead to a lot of confusion.

Standard Italian uses a clear L sound in every position it's written; however, English has two L sounds:

1) The light L

2) The dark L

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

In your final lesson of the course, you'll learn to produce the dark L naturally, giving your pronunciation a final polish and ensuring a more British-like quality.

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

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 your own improvements. Then, Emily will give you her professional analysis to show you what you've improved and what you need to focus on next to keep progressing beyond the course.