What inspired you to join the team at ISTITUTO EUROPEO?
The cultural, professional, familiar, and cheerful atmosphere. We are a great team also with the students.
Why do you do what you do?
I love meeting new people, speaking about differences in cultures, and making connections between different worlds. Beyond those things, I love my language. I like it so much that I want share it with others.
Describe a typical day/week as the Program Coordinator.
I teach Italian class in the morning, and in the afternoon I perform as Program Coordinator. In this position I answer student requests and help them in their needs. Also, I help my colleagues when necessary. We are like a big family with all of the teachers and students.
You are also an Italian Language teacher. What challenges do you face in this role and how do you overcome them?
I love this job because the main challenge is to free the student from the fear of speaking in another language. I manage it with fun and cheerful lessons to help open up the students and make them more comfortable. I share my experience as a student so they know that I understand how difficult it is to learn a new language. I also share how much fun it can be because you also learn a new culture, open yourself up to new people, and even yourself too. In the classroom we create a whole world in which we speak with each other and we have fun together. It is amazing.
What is your favorite part of your job?
The contact with the students and hearing new stories. I like to see how they improve their skills and the dedication they put in to achieve this. It is like traveling in my head, without physically traveling. It is the kind of job where your professional skills are not the only important qualification, but your ability to be empathic is also very important. When students leave saying “thank you” it means that something good has been done. Many of my students keep in touch with me.
You speak several languages. Do you have any advice for individuals learning a new language?
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. It is not a problem, just try to find a way to understand and be understandable. It is fun and it makes you more confident in yourself. Understand that each language is a new world—it is more than just learning new words. You need to be patient and you have to practice so you don’t forget what you’ve learned. Also, don’t forget that you need to speak to people and not to a computer. This is why your classmates and your teacher play an important role.
What makes Florence an ideal location to learn Italian?
First of all because it is a beautiful city, full of art—and not just the Renaissance, like many people think. It is a meeting point of the new and old world. The Italian accent is not difficult, the people are fun, and you can find many kinds of people.
How do you use your experience as a performing arts journalist in your role with ISTITUTO EUROPEO?
Performing Arts and Cinema are always interesting topics. Starting from a play or from a film can lead you wherever. I share what I know and I ask what people know, so I use it mainly in the teaching activities or to suggest an event for the students to do in their free time.
The students also help me in journalism activities with their ideas and knowledge. Italy is also cinema, theater, and performing arts, not just history of art, so it is a way to let my students get to know my country better. Besides, some theatrical technique is useful in learning a language, and sometimes I use it as well.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Connecting with other people, cultures, and discovering a new self. New colors, new faces, new smells. It means learning to respect the other and myself. Learning that my freedom ends when the other’s freedom begins. Each person should to learn that.
Why is it important to travel and experience new cultures?
Because you have the chance to learn new things, to learn much more about the world and even about your own culture and yourself. It is an experience to grew up and understand how different and equal we are all in the same time.
What hopes do you have for the future of language learning with ISTITUTO EUROPEO?
I am confident that it will continue to be a meeting point for the Italian language, Italian culture, and world culture. To continue to be a human meeting point as the institute has been doing.
