Building the Hub: A Teacher's Experiment in Code

If someone had told me five years ago that I would be writing server actions and debugging database queries alongside planning Italian lessons, I would have thought they were joking. But here I am — a language teacher who builds software, or maybe a developer who teaches languages. I'm still not sure which one came first.

The problem with off-the-shelf tools

When I started teaching Italian online, I relied on the usual stack: a shared Google Doc for notes, a messaging app for homework, a calendar link for bookings. It worked — until it didn't. Students would lose track of vocabulary lists. I'd forget who had completed what. Feedback lived in scattered threads. The tools were fine individually, but together they created friction that got in the way of actual learning.

I didn't set out to build a platform. I set out to solve a problem. I wanted one place where a student could see their lessons, review their vocabulary, practise between sessions, and pick up exactly where they left off. Nothing I found did all of that without compromises, so I started building.

A classroom shaped by code

The Hub — as I've come to call it — is the result of that experiment. It's a web application I've been developing alongside my teaching practice, and every feature in it was born from a real classroom need. When students told me they wanted a way to drill verb conjugations between lessons, I built a conjugation trainer. When I noticed that vocabulary was being forgotten within days, I added a spaced-repetition flashcard system based on a proven memory algorithm. When a student said she wished she could journal in Italian and get corrections, a writing journal appeared.

This is the part I find most rewarding: the feedback loop between teaching and building. A conversation in a lesson becomes a feature. A student's frustration becomes a design decision. The app grows the way a garden does — not from a grand blueprint, but from tending to what's actually growing.

Built for the way people actually learn

One thing I've learned from years of teaching is that language acquisition doesn't happen in a single format. Some days you need structured grammar drills. Other days you need to read a story and let the language wash over you. Sometimes you just want a quick five-minute challenge to keep the momentum going.

That's why the Hub isn't one thing — it's a collection of tools that meet students wherever they are on a given day. There's a Practice Lab with activities ranging from daily challenges to open-ended dialog practice. There's a self-study system where students work through story-driven lessons at their own pace. And everything connects back to a progress system that tracks growth across the CEFR framework, from A1 to C2.

What ties it all together is the relationship between teacher and student. This isn't a platform where you learn alone. Every exercise can be reviewed, every journal entry can receive feedback, every conversation is a real exchange. The technology supports the human connection — it doesn't replace it.

The technical side (briefly)

For those curious about what's under the hood: the Hub is built with Next.js and React, backed by MongoDB, with Auth0 handling authentication and Stripe managing subscriptions. Images go through Cloudinary, lessons are scheduled via Calendly, and the whole thing runs on Vercel. I chose each piece deliberately — not because it was trendy, but because it let me move fast and keep things reliable for my students.

I won't pretend the codebase is perfect. There are corners I'd refactor, patterns I'd change now that I know better. But it works, and more importantly, it's mine to shape. When a student needs something, I can build it — often within the same week. Try doing that with a third-party platform.

What's next

The Hub is still evolving. This week alone I've added new practice activities, refined how feedback is presented after exercises, and improved the flow of the conjugation trainer. There's always something to improve, something to add, something to rethink.

Looking ahead, I want to deepen the community aspect — creating spaces where students can interact with each other, not just with me. I want to expand the self-study library with more story-driven content at every level. And I want to keep doing what I've been doing: listening to students, noticing what's missing, and building it.

If you're learning Italian — or thinking about starting — I'd love to have you along for the ride. The Hub is where the classroom lives between lessons. And it's only getting started.