What began as a volunteer experiment, little more than a school assignment for a teenager, has grown into a world of its own. Year after year, Giulio has built a self-sustaining project centered on students and the power of English. Younger students learn through online lessons, earn their first certifications and eventually become teachers themselves — first as volunteers, and later as professionals.

That is the idea behind Giulio Sergnese’s New wor(l)ds project, a play on words that captures his motto: “New words, new worlds.” It may sound like a dream, but it is very real.

The first step came in the summer of 2023, when Giulio was just 14. He was in Sicily, alongside Alessandra, then 8. She had never left Italy; he had grown up between Pescara, Milan, London and Switzerland. They became friends and made a pact: He would teach her English over video calls.

“I call them booster lessons,” he explains. “Pronunciation, grammar and study skills, based on the principle of learning by doing.”

They kept it up for six straight months, never missing an appointment. When it was time for her first certification exam, they traveled together to Cambridge.

“I paid for the tickets with my allowance,” Giulio says.

One student became a method.

Young students now join the program through partner organizations and schools. They are selected on merit and taught remotely by teenage tutors for 90 minutes every two weeks, following a program aligned with Cambridge standards and supervised by a pedagogical coordinator.

All expenses are covered by the Rosa Riganti Foundation, which Sergnese also created, naming it after his grandmother. A single mother and entrepreneur, she started out in a small shop and eventually carved out a prominent place for herself in the fashion and clothing industry.

Far from being just a school project, the New wor(l)ds project now involves about 100 people and aims to award another 100 scholarships by 2027.

It is a growing network that reaches across countries and connects lives separated by thousands of miles — and not just geographically. As Giulio tells the story, he is eager to “thank everyone.”

There is Mike, a Lithuanian living in Zurich, who continued taking part in the lessons even while in Kenya working on a volunteer project. Just so he could attend, he connected from the roof of a shack.

There is Cecilia, who began tutoring little Emily from Switzerland. At first, Emily did not even have a computer. Now she has been selected to travel to New York and represent her school at the United Nations. She will take the B2 certification exam, so that she can eventually teach others herself.

And then there are the stories of the younger students, such as Layan and Aline.

“They are two girls from Lebanon. Their tutor, Jasper, is in Brighton. Despite the bombs, they kept taking their lessons, illuminated only by a flashlight.”

“And then there’s Agnes, who lives in Tanga and, like many young people there, is living with HIV. She celebrated the arrival of our project in her country, Tanzania, with the teen teachers as if it were a real party — complete with music, Coca-Cola and potato chips.”

To understand the value of the project, you do not have to look beyond Italy.

The 2026 Invalsi report shows that among students in their final year of high school, 63% reach the expected level in English reading, but only 48% do so in listening.

In other words, more than one in two students graduate from high school without understanding spoken English at the level expected under European standards.

The gap between northern and southern Italy is also stark. According to 2025 data, among eighth-graders, 80.5% of students in the Northeast reach the expected level in listening, compared with 50.5% in Sicily, Sardinia, Calabria and Basilicata.

By the final year of high school, the figure in those southern regions falls to 27.3%, compared with more than 60% in the Northeast.

“This experience has become a journey and a wonderful adventure. It shows how, even in places where life is so difficult, education can provide continuity, connection and opportunity,” says Giulio, who is completing his high school diploma in the United Kingdom.

Next, he plans to pursue the subjects that fascinate him most: economics and history.

But he already has another dream in mind.

“I’d like to meet the managers of major companies and ask them to fund English courses for their employees’ children.”

Language, he believes, can be the key that opens doors to the world.

And helps change it for the better.

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