Wayne Smith

Hi - I'm Wayne!

I'm a native-speaker from South Africa, currently living in Piacenza. I am TEFL certified and have spent over 5 years teaching in formal and informal settings: as a full-time writing and performance lecturer at an Acting college in Cape Town, a teaching assistant at university, a substitute teacher at a musical theatre school, and an online English tutor during Covid. My academic background includes three university degrees in Languages, Drama, and a postgraduate honours degree in Film Studies. My professional career has been built entirely on communication - as a journalist, writer, and performer.
This experience shapes how I teach.

My lessons are structured around your level and goals.
- For beginners, I prioritise real-life context over grammar - it's easier to understand the structure of a language when it means something to you;
- For intermediate students, where most get stuck, I focus on building the confidence to actually use English rather than just understand it; and
- For advanced learners, the work shifts to register, nuance, and professional fluency.

I use authentic materials throughout: music, film, podcasts, and real-world texts. I ask questions that lead somewhere. And I create a safe space for mistakes - because mistakes are where learning actually happens.

I'm currently learning Italian myself, which keeps me grounded in what it genuinely feels like to be a language student: the frustration, the breakthroughs, and the specific moment when something finally clicks. I carry that understanding into every lesson.

My goal is simple - that students leave each session having used English, not just studied it.