Talk In Italy language course changes locations from Governor’s House to LetsXcape as it expands course offers
A passionate language tutor is having to expand to a new location to keep up with demand from learners.
Kate Wright, who is keen to promote the importance of learning languages, started teaching Italian in November 2024, at the Governor’s House, Newark.
However, due to the course’s success, she has moved to LetsXcape’s cantina — a space that also means she can cater for students with sight and hearing requirements.
The new course that Kate is introducing is dedicated to a wider audience — Italian for Holidays — for those wanting to know the basics from restaurant basics such as ordering coffee and asking for the bill to basic directions and other useful tips on how to converse with locals when in the country.
The 10-week course will run from April 23 until July 2 every Wednesday from 9.30am until 11am.
“I am delighted. I taught English to Italians in Rome and never imagined coming back to where I grew up to teach Italian -but it’s a lovely way of sharing my life and learning experiences,” said Kate.
The Improvers course was the first one to be launched and was dedicated to those with basic knowledge who lacked practice, confidence or comprehension.
The next Improvers 10-week course will run every Wednesday from 11.15am until 12.24pm starting from April 23 until July 2.
As students practiced and got better at the language, the lessons developed into Parliamo — a more challenging course based around Italian detective programmes, where students watch an episode a week and are given characters or themes to comment on.
The current course is watching Lolita Lobosco, but the next eight-week course will watch Ice Cold Murders: Rocco Schiavone, which airs on Channel 4 in the UK.
It is set to take place every Friday from 11am until 12noon, from April 25.
Kate added: “My aim has always been to make it local and in places that I like. I believe sometimes you have to make things fit.
“I wanted to work around my son’s school day and also bring people into Newark centre.
“I have people that come from Southwell, Fiskerton, Dry Doddington, Farnsfield — and so both Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire — and just hope that future learners will make it fit with their schedules too.”
In the future, Kate is looking at organising Italian language lunches, with the aim to learning in with sampling delicacies.
Nottinghamshire terminology in Italian
There’s clearly an appetite for learning Italian among Newark residents but how do people say key Nottinghamshire phrases in the language?
We asked Kate to teach us all a few:
*Ay up me duck would be literally translated to — Come va oca mia?. However, the common way to say it would be ciao bella
*If someone is mardy, they would be lunatica/o (depending whether they are female or male)
*If you’re warm on your Italian holiday and ‘sweating cobs’, you’d be sudato fradicio
*Or, if you feel the cold and are ‘nesh’ you’d be freddoloso
*Clean your tabs out, meanwhile, would be sei sorda (literally asking if someone is deaf)
