Italian Culture Evangelist

Introduction: As an Italian professional teacher in USA, I realized the Americans` love for my Country and its traditions, but also the existence of two generations of Italians, very different from each other. I decided to use my deep knowledge of Italy and my long experience as teacher and language professional, to organize classes on a variety of subjects which range from cinema, to folklore, food, travels, politics and opera to present Italy as a “whole” rather than single aspects. My programs aim at spreading the real contemporary Italian culture: I will explain you how to cook real Italian family food (that is what we really eat), real Italian habits (that is how we really behave and think), real Italian traditions (that is what we believe in and celebrate). I will also show you what has changed and what has stayed the same over decades. If you have some Italian relatives or friends, and you want to behavior like them (we say when you are in Rome, do like romans do) ; if you are planning to go to Italy, and want to be able to fit in the local community; if you have Italian ancestors and want to know what has changed since then; or if you are just curious about my country, the Italian Culture Evangelist is what you need! Teaching is an important part not only of my professional life, but also of my vision of living: I am passionate about the unexpected mutual relation instructors create with their learners; teaching is the only profession which allows you to totally and completely share your interests, your enthusiasm and your experiences, with your customers. I approach teaching as a whole educational activity; I really believe that learning is an overall growth process: it is not only about gathering new information about a specific subject, but about opening one`s own mind and mindset. Starting from my European background, I want my students to widen their interests, to compare their own way of life with others`, to point out differences and to evaluate diverse solutions. A professor`s duty is to help them find motivations and enthusiasm to approach their professional life in a more fruitful way. During my lessons, I concentrate on increasing my students` critical thinking. I do not totally rely on memory, but I push them to search for the reasoning beyond the results and to use deduction to move forward in their knowledge. I constantly encourage participants to ask questions both to the teacher and to themselves: I foster a very relaxed and friendly environment in order to promote collegiality and decrease competitiveness and insecurity. Students feel comfortable in asking questions and often take the initiative of answering their peers. My explanations stem from students` cues: I tend to focus on the topics they seem to be struggling with. I heavily rely on brainstorming, constantly asking students open-ended questions like: “what?” or “why?” I also tend to check their interests and to accept their suggestions about new educational activities: the use of technology, of games, movies, songs and social events, like potlucks, are always welcome and help creating positive student-teacher relations.