To tell the truth, I believe that studying Italian in Italy can be really more motivating and effective than studying online.
If you learn Italian in Naples, for example, you'll be of course exposed to the Italian language all the time in different contexts: at the restaurant, at school, in the shops and during the social interactions with other students or with locals.
This is particularly true in Naples which belongs to that type of cities where most of the citizens don't speak English at all. Here tourists, locals and immigrants live together creating an interesting melting pot! So it's obvious that the more you listen and use the language, the more you will learn.
Then, are online italian lessons a waste of time and money?
The answer is: absolutely not if the lessons are well prepared! Much depends on the teacher and his/her capacity to realize courses, much depends on the student too, on his/her motivation and linguistic level above all.
If your level is pre-intermidiate, intermidiate or upper-intermidiate then online lessons are very useful and represent a good way to improve and practice your Italian. Remember! The important is in any case these Italian courses are individual or with a very limited number of students, I would say no more than 3 students.
Things change a lot if your linguistic level is very low or just beginner. In my opinion you can't trust Italian language courses on ZOOM for beginners because in the first steps of the learning process you can't make a decent conversation and you need of course a teacher only for you. For example, if your mother tongue is so different from Italian can be very hard take advantage of online lessons.
Sometimes students come to our school and say that they know a bit of Italian because they have studied using online apps. In this case we almost always have to come back to square one because no one can substitute a good teacher even if he/she is on the other side of the screen!
Definitely, creating an online italian course requires a great effort, skills and competences from the teacher and can be a valid alternative to presential lessons only in particular conditions.
