A wide range of Italian classes for both children and adults will be available across the Chicago area this fall.

The Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia offers classes for children between the ages of 5 and 13 at locations across the Chicago area. Adult Italian classes ranging from beginning to advanced are taught at the Casa. Private lessons for children and adults also are available. (708-345-5933, www.casaitaliachicago.org)

ItalCultura offers a range of language and cultural courses at the Italian Cultural Institute in downtown Chicago. In addition to group classes ranging from beginner to advanced levels, courses and workshops cover topics such as Italian art, cinema, literature and travel. Weekday, weeknight and Saturday classes are offered year-round. (LearnItalianChicago.com)

Scuola Italiana Enrico Fermi offers weekly playgroups in Italian on Wednesday and Saturday mornings for children up to 2.5 years old and their caregivers, as well as Italian language enrichment classes for children ages 3 to 10. Classes begin Sept. 16 and run for the entire academic year. (siefchicago.org)

German Bautista is a recent 2018 graduate of Wheeling High School. During his years at Wheeling High, German completed all levels (1-AP) of the Italian program. I was one of German’s teachers, along with Angela Hawkins and Cody Mueller.

German, who participated in the AATI Italian National Contest Exam every year, was awarded a national placement annually from among the countless awards he received from placing in this contest. By far the best and most rewarding was a free two-week stay in Italy. German chose to stay in sunny Sorrento, a city not far from Naples. In Sorrento, German enjoyed a home stay in a bustling city of culture and beauty during his two-week study abroad.

German’s commitment to learning the Italian language was realized in receiving and taking this trip to Italy. As German’s Italian teacher, I am forever and eternally grateful to the AATI, which not only awarded this treasure but also gifted a young man who could not be more deserving.

German had never traveled out of his hometown of Wheeling, where he lives with his mother and brother. He is a student who has faced many an obstacle at his young age. This trip opened his mind to the amazing opportunities and incredible offerings his future holds.

As a District 214 educator, I am constantly reminded of the importance and relevance of creating these real-world opportunities for students. I’d like to thank the administration of Wheeling High School for its unrelenting support not only of our Italian programs but also for constantly encouraging us as educators to create career-ready students.

— Mariangela Bonasera

Guerin Prep held its 34th annual World Language Induction ceremony for its Italian, French and Spanish Language Honor Societies on May 14. La Società Onoraria Italica (Italian Honor Society), Socie’te’ Honoraire de Francais (French Honor Society) and Sociedad Honoraria Hispa’nica (Spanish Honor Society) are national organizations, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Italian, French and Spanish, the purpose of which is to recognize outstanding and highly motivated students of each language and culture. Its mission is to help honorary members deepen their knowledge of each language and culture.

Mrs. Carmelina Maione, Guerin Prep’s Italian teacher and society moderator, welcomed six new members to Società Onoraria Italica: Gabriel Calistro, Gabriella Lappo, Frankie Lombardo, Cade Mack, Jessica Suchecki and Victoria Urso.

Mrs. Suzanne Giacotto, French teacher and society moderator welcomed eight new members to Guerin Prep’s Societe Honoraire de Francais: Jacelyn Gama, Rodrigo Gonzalez, Karen Guitierrez, Brianna Freel, Yahneesa Jiminez, Stephanie Pacheco, Angela Piazza and Sabrina Soto.

Ms. Frances Arroyo, Spanish teacher and Guerin Prep’s society moderator welcomed 17 new members to Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica: Natalie Adorno, Simon Armoush, Adriana Azo, Jean Balacy, Lexye Barcenas, Bianca Brown, Sarah A. Cardia, Denis Dule, Cristal Gonzalez, Melissa Gonzalez, Anna Grundt, Anthony Joyce, Juliana McBride, Mikaela Pargas, Evie Perez, Andre Rowgalo and Elysa Torres.

These 31 students join 44 previously inducted students to make the combined societies one of Guerin Prep’s largest student membership-based groups. Following tradition, the students partook in a “Candle and Rose” ceremony. The candle serves as a symbol of knowledge. As the seniors complete their World Language career at Guerin, they pass their light of knowledge onto our new members. The rose is a symbol for life and the friendships made at Guerin.

A tradition for the past several years that continued this year is the music played during the ceremony. This year our talented students Connie McNulty and Christine Li preformed. They were brilliant and made the evening more memorable for both parents and students. Attendees remained for refreshments.

In March, the Italian Club sponsored the 3rd annual Saint Joseph’s Day Table. Under the leadership of Mrs. Maione, officers, members, and parents raised money to offer three Italian scholarships. The Academic Scholars of Dante Alighieri Scholarship is named after the father of the Italian language who had a true love and passion for Italian culture. Congratulazioni e auguri to Gabe Calistro (junior) Frankie Lombardo (sophomore) and Ava O’Neill (freshman) on your continued study of Italian.

Representing Italy at this year’s festival was assistant principal Elena Ryan, daughter of local Joseph and Martha Monastero of Monastero’s Ristorante & Banquets fame.

Ryan wore a traditional Italian folk costume, provided by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, and sang “Santa Lucia.”

“With all of the conflict and challenges occurring around the world, it is important that we teach children to celebrate the differences of others,” Ryan says. “There was a wonderful connection among students and faculty as we walked the halls in costumes representing our heritage. I was especially excited to share a moment with our new transfer student from Sicily as we enjoyed the event together.”

This year, IC Catholic Prep held its first ever induction ceremony for its Italian Honors Society. La Società Onoraria Italica (Italian Honor Society) is a national organization, sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Italian, whose purpose is to recognize outstanding and highly motivated students of Italian language and culture. Its mission is to help honorary members deepen their knowledge of Italian language and culture. Six upperclassmen were inducted into IC Catholic chapter this year including Seniors Vincenzo Cerasuolo, Joshua De La Cruz, Anna Gendusa, Casey Kristie, and Juniors Demitri Davlantes, and Payton James. The inductees lit their candles of promise, cited the honorary pledge, and signed their names in the book honorarium. After some cordial words by the keynote speaker Vincenzo Cerasuolo and the moderator Raffaella Lostumbo, the inductees accepted their pledge and blew out their candles marking their names forever as the first chapter of the Italian Honors Society at IC Catholic Prep. When asked, “What does it mean to you be part of the Italian Honors Society?”, Casey Kristie said,” After four long years of studying the Italian language in class, it is so nice to finally be inducted into the Italian National Honors Society. I feel so honored to be part of this organization, and I know my family and friends are too!” Soon enough, the newly established society will look to plan its first community outreach through some kind of volunteer service and will help the Italian Club in its annual Saint Joseph’s Table on Monday, March 19th. With this continued enthusiasm and excitement, ICCP hopes to grow its chapter as more Italian students are sure to be eager to apply for membership into the society in the coming years.

— Joshua De La Cruz

The day began with a Keynote address by recently awarded National and Illinois Superintendent of the year, Dr. David Schuler, Superintendent of High School District 214, the second largest school district in Illinois and leader in the “redefining ready” movement across the Nation. Guest speakers included Dr. Enza Antenos from Montclair State University whose presentation focused on “Thinking globally, act locally: Illinois and Made in Italy” and Dr. Ryan Calabretta-Sajder of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville who also spoke about “Made in Italy: Teaching the Five As Both Local and Abroad”. The presentations provided much information about including the idea of “Made in Italy” into the classroom.

The afternoon provided workshop time for Middle School, High School, and Higher Education educators to work together on an initiative created by Lyn Scolaro of Prospect High School as a result of her International Internship with the Frantoi Redoro of Grezzana (Verona), Italia in her AP Italian Class. The goal is to provide students hands on opportunities with Italian businesses so that students are made aware of the opportunities to use their language, not just in college. Scolaro created two initiatives (Adopt an Italian Program for High Schools and Middle Schools) and provided educators time to collaborate and create projects.

Once the projects receive administrative approval from each school, Scolaro has coordinated with business in the Chicago Area to collaborate with schools. Italian companies in Chicago and Suburbs working with the high school students are Barilla, Custom Marble and Granite, Fra Noi, Rana, Spanesi Body Shop and Technology, Transceramica, and the Milan Sister Cities team. Working with the Middle Schools are Elio’s Cafe, Elio’s Pizza on Fire, and Tony’s Fresh Markets.

AATI Midwest would like to thank the National AATI, Italidea-Midwest, and the Frantoi Redoro for their financial support of the event and to Township High School District 214 for hosting the event in Arlington Heights, IL. It was a great success and we look forward to hosting more innovative symposium in the future around the country.

“Unforgettable”, “exciting”, “informative” and “fun” are several adjectives Maine East Italian 1-4 students used to describe their field trip to Barilla (the number one pasta company in America) at their North American Headquarters in Northbrook. As an Italian teacher, I wanted to provide students with an opportunity that would highlight how knowing and using Italian can help them in the professional world. So, I contacted Mrs. Wilkens, one of our Career Pathways coordinators, to help me plan this trip and she helped establish the relationship and organize the field trip with our class goals in mind.

Immediately upon arriving on campus, we felt the warmth of being part of an Italian “famiglia” as we were welcomed by Ms. Laura Birk, Vice President of Human Resources, and given a tour. Students walked down Heritage Hallway which was a visual depiction of the company’s history. We then visited the Barilla kitchen where the chefs work on trial recipes. We went to the “listening room” where Barilla monitors social media and what’s trending in order to be responsive to clients. Students learned about their “virtual store” which is related to sales and marketing and how Barilla prepares for potential clients. We also learned that Barilla sponsored Mikaela Shiffrin in the 2018 Winter Olympics and we were able to see the company’s on-site fitness center. (Our guide shared that Shiffrin donated equipment to the fitness center for the employees!) Our guide also talked with us about their flexible work day and how the culture of their workplace – everyone is family and treated as such – is how founder, Pietro Barilla, wanted it when the company was established in Parma, Italy in 1871.   Students also had a panel discussion with the CFO, Marcello Camoletto, the Vice President of Human Resources, Laura Birk, the Vice President of Supply Chain, Fabio Pettenati, Head of General Counsel, Talita Ericson and a high-school student intern. Our Maine East students asked thought-provoking questions, demonstrating that they had researched for this field trip and listened to our tour guides. One idea that was made clear by our panelists was the importance of learning a language (if not two!), as it allows you to understand other cultures and create connections with other people. At the end of our visit, students were given goodie bags with samples of Barilla pasta, sauce and crackers, to name a few items.

Overall, it was an amazing, unforgettable field trip which gave students the opportunity to see how learning Italian is relevant in the real world!

“I was stunned, because I was up against some very good people, and everyone was so deserving,” recalls Vitiritti-Lynch, who became Addison Trail High School’s first Italian language teacher in the early 1990s and pioneered the program.

In her first year, she instructed 150 kids, teaching five Italian 1 courses a day. By the second year, student interest had grown to the point that the school had to hire an additional Italian teacher, and it now employs three.

The Italian consulate created the award to honor teachers who have shown leadership and influenced students to continue studying Italian. Vitiritti-Lynch has racked up some significant numbers in that regard, as 10 of her former students went on to major in Italian in college, and six have now become Italian teachers themselves. That likely impressed the judges.

Those award-winning results had a humble beginning. The Vitiritti family immigrated to Chicago from Altomonte, a small town in Calabria, in 1968, when Judie was 2 years old. They went back and forth a few times, so that Judie started school in Italy, but then wound up in a first-grade classroom in Chicago when she was 6 and they settled here for good.

The whole family spoke the Calabrian dialect, but Judie’s mother, who had once harbored dreams of becoming a teacher, determined that the kids would not forget their Italian language. She ordered books from Italy, and a cousin sent elementary-level Italian-language texts. Every Saturday morning, Judie’s mother and all three kids hauled out the books and struggled to mesh the dialect they knew with the mainstream Italian they found on the pages.

Since her elementary and high schools didn’t offer Italian, that was the only formal Italian instruction she got until college, when she majored in Italian at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

She started working on a part-time basis for an Evanston translation service, and that led to a full-time translation job at Banca Commerciale Italiano in downtown Chicago, which has since closed.

Talking to her mom on the phone one day, Judie told her she liked the job, but craved something a little more challenging.

“Just go back to school and get a teaching degree,” her mother advised. After a phone call to Loyola University, Judie enrolled and earned a Master’s in Education in Curriculum and Instruction. Some time later, she earned a second M.Ed. in Supervision and Principalship.

She has applied all that education in her work at Addison Trail.

“Over the years, I’ve taught Italian 3 honors, Italian 4 honrs and AP Italian—I’ve been the only AP teacher,” she says.

Vitiritti-Lynch has traveled to Italy many times, both with her parents and also her husband and daughters Gabriella, 17, and Sofia, 14. But she enjoyed seeing the country through her students’ eyes when she took a class there a few years ago.

“One student saw the Colosseum for the first time, and said, ‘Miss V, it’s exactly how you said it would be,’” Vitiritti-Lynch recalls.

She got a feeling of reward from that, and also from listening to her advanced Italian students tackle in-class conversation in Italian on challenging subjects, such as sexual identity related to transgender issues, or the danger of getting concussions while playing sports.

“It’s not easy to discuss these issues in English, let alone a foreign language,” Vitiritti-Lynch says. “I told them, ‘You have no idea how moved I am by listening to your discussion. You’ve come full circle. Everything’s coming to fruition.”

Parents can choose from exploratory classes for 5- to 7-year-olds and beginning, intermediate and advanced classes for children ages 8 to 13. Adult classes range from beginning and intermediate to advanced and advanced conversational.

Private lessons for children and adults also are available. (708-345-5933)

http://casaitaliachicago.net

This year marked another great feast in honor of Saint Joseph at Dominican University. Under the supervision of Prof. Tonia Triggiano, students and volunteers fed more than 200 people, raising a record-breaking $1,195, which was gifted to Catholic Charities. Such foods as gelato, fine cheeses, pastas and Italian sweets were donated by local kitchens and eating establishments. None of it would be possible without the collaborative help of the students, faculty, staff and alumni who call themselves “Gli Amici di San Giuseppe.”

The Dominican University community played a big role in putting together the table. Michael Meranda, a Dominican graduate and former president of the Italian Club, Ciao, continues to help organize the table. He said, “It shows a form of pride and pleasure for us to put this together, and give back to the community.” The table is a great example of the strong bond that is present in the Italian program at the university. Everyone is already looking forward to next year’s celebration.

— Natascia Cesario, Jacob Faltin, Nancy Ramirez