Tag Archives: Mariangela Bonasera

Mariangela Bonasera and Maria Barbanente are admired, veteran Italian language instructors who, as co-presidents of the Midwest Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Italian, help facilitate fellowship among their peers. It’s especially important for Italian teachers to have a community like AATI to turn to because there may be only one Italian teacher in a school and even an entire district, according to Barbanente. Barbanente, who is in her 12th year at Highland Park High School, is teaching every Italian class at her school as well as one Spanish class this school year. Bonasera, who is teaching around …

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 …