Dottoressa Marina Lenza is the new director of the Education Office of the Italian Consulate of Chicago. Lenza was born near l’Aquila in the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e dei Monti della Laga, the largest mountainous area of Abruzzo. She graduated from La Sapienza, the University of Rome, and has held roles in the Ministry of Education as a teacher and didactic director. She has also worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the administration and coordination of Italian educational and cultural institutes, as well as with Italian training systems, particularly language and culture courses abroad. Lenza’s goals …

Dottoressa Daniela Cavallero has been named the first executive director of Italidea Midwest. A 501(c)3 charitable organization, Italidea-Midwest fosters the study of the Italian language and the promotion of Italian culture. The organization works in conjunction with the Chicago Italian Consulate and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 10 Midwest states. Cavallero is an adjunct professor of Italian in the Modern Languages Department at DePaul University and the president of Sentieri Italiani in Chicago. She has taught on the high school level in Italy as well as at other universities in the metropolitan area. A native of Torino, Piemonte, Italia, …

Italidea-Midwest offre fondi per le scuole medie di Chicago città, provincia di Chicago e St. Louis grazie ai contributi del Ministero dell’Istruzione e la raccolta fondi per mantenere e eventualmente creare nuovi programmi di lingua italiana per la scuola media. Domenica 23 febbraio 2020, Italidea-Midwest ha ospitato la sua prima festa di Carnevale per studenti, genitori, insegnanti e la comunità italiana per presentare ogni scuola, i lavori dei loro studenti e per celebrare il Carnevale nello stile di Italidea-Midwest. L’evento, tenuto a Casa Italia, ha dato spazio a molte attività. Ogni scuola membro di Italidea-Midwest ha presentato i lavori dei …

Five-time Oscar winner Federico Fellini once said, “A different language is a different vision of life.” As a world-renowned film director, Fellini captured many aspects of life through his lens, immersing us in various cultures. Fellini believed that exposure to different languages forces us to see the world from the perspective of the people who speak those languages and the cultures in which they live. I am proud to have been named the ente gestore (president) of Italidea-Midwest as of January 2020. Italidea-Midwest is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated to teaching students the Italian language as well as the traditions …

The American Association of Teachers of Italian-Midwest hosted a symposium based on the current “Made in Italy” trend sweeping World Languages. With enrollments diminishing, programs closing, and the lack of teachers to replace retiring teachers and long-term leaves, we need to come together! It is important to begin to look towards the future and to move our classes into a more hands on, career pathway type of methodology, or at least a unit lesson to expose our students to the reality of “life in Italian beyond high school and not just for credit”. That isn’t enough anymore. In this way, …