Ciao e benvenuto!

~4 min. Listen, take notes.

• Pin down ONE concrete goal in their words.
• Ask what feels hard: freezing? word order? tenses? vocabulary? understanding fast speech?
• Find out how they learned (immersion, app, class, self-study) — it predicts their uneven skills profile.
• Realistic hours per week now, so expectations are based on real time, not wishful time.
• Complete beginner? Keep this short and do it in English, and move to slide 4 (A0) quickly.

~3 min. Show, don't tell. Say you give indications on what to prepare, and that after the trial you'll make a course plan together. (If they ask how to build vocabulary, you can recommend an app like Drops.) Mention that you adapt pace to the student. Link back to what they said in the goals chat: "you told me X, so we'd focus on Y". Keep it short.

~8 min. Ladder up, stop when it gets hard. Start one level below where you think they are, move up only if they cope. Don't correct yet, just listen and note. Ask follow-ups ("Perché?", "E poi?", "Racconta di più") to push length.

• A0: single words, repeating after you, recognising cognates. Success = they respond with anything Italian.
• A1: short present-tense sentences, basic personal info, long pauses, English word order.
• A2: simple past (passato prossimo) attempts, routines, basic connectors (e, ma, perché), missing articles/prepositions.
• B1: narrating in the past (passato prossimo vs imperfetto), giving reasons and opinions, future and condizionale basics, self-repair.
• B2: hypotheticals, congiuntivo attempts, extended answers, comparing and justifying views.
• C1: fluent and flexible, idiom and register, abstract topics, accurate subjunctive, discourse markers (insomma, tuttavia, in realtà).
• Note for each answer: fluency · tense control · word order · vocab range · pronunciation · L1 transfer. Also note how much they understood of your Italian without the English.

~1 min. This is the "present" stage in miniature: new nouns, a few at a time. Pick the level pair from the oral check (A1/A2, B1/B2 or C1/C2). Say each word aloud, have them repeat, ask for any they already know. Timing for the whole taste lesson ≈ 6 min (words 1 · text 1.5 · practice 1.5 · produce 2). To fit the 25 minutes, keep "How I work" to ~1 min (this lesson shows it).

~1.5 min. Have them read it (or read it aloud yourself at lower levels). Ask the gist question first, then switch on the grammar focus and ask "What do you notice?" before telling them. Bold teal words are the new vocabulary from the last slide. Listen for how much they understood without translating.

~1.5 min. Controlled practice of exactly the pattern from the text. Do 3–4 items orally; note whether errors are forms (conjugation) or choices (which tense/marker). If everything is easy, jump straight to the production task or move up a level pair. If it's hard, stay here one more round instead of producing.

~2 min. The most important stage. Let them speak without interrupting, then give feedback in two parts: (1) what worked, (2) one or two things from the text and practice that they didn't use or got wrong. Note it for the summary sheet. Ask a follow-up question (Perché? E poi?) to push length. This is the moment to say: "This is how most of our lessons work: new words at home, a text, practice, then you speaking."

• A1/A2 success: 4+ sentences with at least 2 time expressions.
• B1/B2 success: the decision is told clearly and there is at least one se + congiuntivo + condizionale sentence (form accuracy will vary).
• C1/C2 success: stance + concession + conclusion, with congiuntivo where needed.

~3 min.

• Give an honest, kind level estimate (speaking vs understanding may differ, say so).
• Be realistic: speaking progress depends on regular practice, not just lessons. Agree on a small home routine they can keep.
• Explain format, price, booking and cancellation briefly, then ask "Does this sound right to you?"
• Follow up the same day with the summary sheet, then build the course plan together (with indications of what to prepare).