Our Founding Story and Commitment to Careful Teaching

Parola Viva began after our founder sat through three different Italian evening classes in as many years, each one starting from the beginning again with a new teacher and a photocopied handout. The frustration was not the language, it was the lack of any real plan behind the teaching.

We set out to work differently, matching every learner with one tutor for the whole course, agreeing a written syllabus before the first lesson, and reviewing progress on a set schedule rather than leaving it to chance. Every tutor who joins us is observed teaching a full trial lesson first, so we know how they actually teach, not just what their CV says.

Pricing is agreed upfront and invoiced clearly, payable by bank transfer or cash on completion of an agreed lesson block, with no hidden charges added later. If a session has to move, it is rebooked within thirty days at no extra cost, because a course plan should bend around real life rather than the other way round.

We choose a tutor the way we would choose a teacher for our own family, by sitting in on a real trial lesson first, not by reading a CV.

Eleanor WhitfieldHead of Curriculum and Tutor Standards