Italy Tutor

Overview

Teach English in Italy and live like a local for 2 weeks to 3 months when you tutor English to a family in Italy. Don’t worry if you’ve never done this before! Your new host family is more interested in learning conversational English than they are grammar. You will have so much fun living in Italy by simply speaking English the way you normally do at home. You might change the name of the program from Teach English in Italy to Speak English in Italy! In addition, you also have a unique opportunity to learn or improve your Italian! In a matter of hours you are walking around your new community like a true Italian. It won’t take long for the locals to start recognizing you and for you to consider your host community your new home. It’s real and authentic. Get to know the locals. Wake up each day and feel a connection. Most of all, make a difference in your host community and host family.

With the GeoVisions mobile app, you’ll be able to grab worksheets, games and ideas for your lessons. You can also chat with other GeoVisions participants and during your free time meet up, if that’s something you’d like to do.

Fee

$1,029

Duration

The minimum duration to tutor English in Italy is 1 Month. You can stay as long as 3 months.

Visa

You will enter Italy on a tourist visa. There will be no charge for any visa.

Start Dates

Flexible. Actual arrival date is coordinated between you and your host family. Positions available year round. We do not have set departure dates for this program.

Eligibility

At a minimum, be 18 years of age. We also place a lot of mature travelers looking for a different way to travel and connect with new people and explore different cultures. If you're over 35, however, you need to give us extra time to find a placement. Plan on 90-120 days minimum for a successful placement if you're over 35.
Be a native English speaker.
Hold a passport from the USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand or Australia.
Speak conversational English up to 15 hours each week the way you normally would. Schedule a few times each week for a few classes with your host family.

Video

The three videos that follow include two videos from tutors in Italy that they filmed while they were there and a longer video GeoVisions commissioned to have done about the tutor in Italy program. Enjoy!

Costs

$1,029

The fee you pay to tutor in Italy goes to our 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity, The GeoVisions Foundation. The program donation for this experience covers our costs of placing you on the program in a safe host family and neighborhood. The fee helps our non-profit to provide your accommodation, meals, insurance, pre-departure & in-country support. We provide 24/7 emergency service, manned by real people. We update our tutor materials and tutoring aids constantly and provide a real ESL Teacher who is here via email to give you personalized assistance if you feel you need ideas. You are supported from the moment you contact us to the time you return … and beyond, through our active Alumni Community.

Be sure to speak to your tax preparer to see if any of these fees can be deducted as a charitable donation.

Volunteer Program

This is a volunteer program, and as such, you will need to factor in not only the program fee above, but your airfare and if you live outside the US, your insurance.

It is hard to calculate your spending money requirements, so think about any additional meals and travel during your time in Italy.

What's Included

Personalized placement with a screened host family. In other words, a place to call home in Italy. Our unique matching system ensures a great fit.
A comfortable private bedroom for the duration of the program.
Home-cooked meals each day except when you’re traveling.
Local office support in Italy.
Pre-departure materials.
Comprehensive medical insurance if you’re from the US.
Our own mobile app for pre-departure information, teaching ideas, teaching worksheets and the ability to chat with other GeoVisions participants.
Private Language Tutor experience to enhance your resume.
Full immersion Italian language through your host family.

What's Not Included

Your flight to Italy.
Meals when you travel or go out on your own.
Spending money for personal expenses, when you travel or optional activities.

How does GeoVisions choose families in Italy?

Host families contact us because they want to provide room and board to a native English speaker who will help them with their conversational English. When there are children in the family, mostly they need help with their English homework, but many times the adults want to join in as well.

Families are screened. They have to show a need and a desire to host an English tutor. And they have to pass a background check, an interview by staff in Italy and agree to a home inspection and provide photos of the home (inside and out). Tutors are promised their own private room but there are times a bathroom might be shared. Families provide meals except when the tutor is traveling.

Does GeoVisions provide materials to help me be successful? How am I supported?

Not only do we provide our own book, A Tutor’s Guide–Teaching English to Families and Children (this is included in our mobile app), you receive FREE teaching materials through our mobile app. We employ a full time ESL Teacher, right here on staff. Betsy is here for you before you depart and while you’re abroad. Email Help Me Teach (or chat with Betsy with our mobile app). She will answer your questions and provide detailed and personalized ideas to help you be successful.

Can I choose my location?

For the most authentic experience living each day in Italy, you cannot choose your exact location. What you can do is tell us the area where you’d like to be and whether or not you’d like a large city, a small town or rural placement. And we’ll try our best. Remember … the host families choose us when they need a live-in tutor and so timing is everything. There are many locations that you may not have considered prior to applying that are fantastic places in Italy. (We can tell you about many tutors that have loved their locations!)

What if I don’t like my placement when I arrive or I have host family issues? Can I move?

Before you depart, we connect you via email, phone and Skype with your new host family. You’ll have all the details you want before you ever leave home. GeoVisions spends a great deal of time on match-making. There needs to be a “connection” between you and your host family.

After you arrive if you begin having issues with your host family, we have a way to start the process to fix things or, change your placement, if necessary. This is extremely rare, but we’ve done this long enough to know things can come up on all sides.

Can I be placed with someone? I’d like to travel with a friend.

Unfortunately, host families needing a tutor generally have the room for one extra person in the home. So we are unable to provide a homestay for anyone except the tutor. If you want to apply with someone else, they would be placed with another family. We would try hard to find a host family so you would be close to one another, but we could not guarantee that. If you’re set on traveling with someone, take a look at our other program types, because we do have those kinds of placements. Give us a call and ask.

Gallery

Here are a handful of photos to give you a sense of this program.

You can also find more photos, stories, and video through our Facebook Page, Instagram and YouTube channels and our Blog.

As you view more photos and video, consider the program benefits. A second home with new friends, becoming more independent and confident, improving your Italian since you're now living as a local and helping your host family realize their goals of speaking English. Add an international reference to your resume which helps with future job applications because of your experience tutoring English to a family in Italy and you're ahead of the game.