Buono cultivates a love of Italian in her students

While studying abroad in Italy, Jennifer Buono fell in love with the country’s language and culture. That experience eventually led to a career teaching Italian.

Today, Buono is entering her 11th year teaching Italian at York Community High School in Elmhurst, but Italian wasn’t the language that first captured her interest.

Growing up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Buono was drawn to languages from a young age. With only Spanish and French offered at her middle school and Glenbard South High School, she chose the latter.

“I have always loved languages, and as a young child I was very interested in French,” Buono says.

She went on to New York University, where she majored in history, along with a minor in psychology and a concentration in Italian. When the opportunity arose to study abroad, Italy seemed like the natural fit.

“It was there that I fell in love with the Italian language and culture, and I decided to go back as an English teacher after I graduated,” Buono says.

And she did.

After college, Buono returned to Italy to teach English, initially seeing the job as a way to become more fluent in Italian. But by surprise, she discovered another passion.

“I originally started teaching English as a way to live in Italy and improve my Italian,” Buono says. “However, I fell in love with watching students learn, grow and become passionate about learning a new language.”

She continued her education, earning a master’s degree in teaching from the University of Southern California and a second master’s degree in Italian from the Università degli Studi di Milano.

After returning to the Chicago area, Buono taught at a few schools before eventually landing at York, including teaching Italian for a year at Notre Dame College Prep and also teaching younger students for three years at a Montessori school in Naperville.

Since arriving at York, Buono has taught Italian in every grade, from freshmen through seniors, and she co-sponsors the school’s Italian Club. Her philosophy in the classroom is rooted in the idea that the impact of learning another language may not reveal itself right away.

“I think of learning Italian as planting a seed for the future,” she says. “You don’t always see the results immediately, especially in an age of endless technology. You have to find the motivation to learn and communicate within yourself.”

For Buono, that means giving students a strong foundation while also making their experiences with Italian enjoyable and encouraging. She balances culture, vocabulary and grammar while working to build students’ confidence in their ability to communicate.

“Many times, that motivation doesn’t always come during high school, but by exposing students to the language and culture, and having them associate it with fun and positive memories, a lot of times these students will thrive when the moment comes for them,” Buono says.

One opportunity to put that philosophy into practice has been an exchange program with Liceo Berto in Mogliano Veneto, Italy. Developed over the past four years, the program allows York students to travel to Italy and immerse themselves in the language while still in high school.

“This program has given me the opportunity to see these students use their Italian in Italy and become immersed in it,” Buono says.

Italy has also become an important part of Buono’s own life outside the classroom. Her husband is from Sicily, and they are raising their two children bilingually. The entire family holds dual Italian citizenship.

And just recently, she learned of an Italian connection in her own family history.

The daughter of Jeff Crosby and Cindy Strafford, Buono grew up thinking she was of English, Irish, Dutch and German descent. As it turns out, though, her paternal great-great-grandfather came from Italy and was sent to the Midwest on an “orphan train” to work on a farm. His named was change at Ellis Island and little information was available about him, but AncestryDNA results revealed central Italian roots.

For Buono, some of the greatest rewards of teaching come years after students leave her classroom, when the seeds she planted begin to bear fruit.

“I have so many students who come back to tell me they have traveled to, studied in, or worked in Italy and continued to grow and become passionate about the language, and this is really the greatest gift,” she says.