Giovanna Acton '14 Italian Studies & International Relations-History
Coming into Wellesley, I had no intention of studying Italian. However, this changed very quickly. Initially, convinced that since I came from an Italian family I would have no need or desire to study the language and culture formally. My first semester at Wellesley was spent studying French, and while I enjoyed it, I found I was not passionate about it. As such, when it was time to enroll for my second semester courses, I decided to take an Italian cultural class the department offered. What I thought would be fairly easy for me proved to be challenging in the best ways, and three years later I would graduate with a double major in Italian and International Relations-History.
I took advantage of the Italian Department’s study abroad program, and was able to study for a semester in Bologna, Italy. This semester abroad was one of the highlights of my time at Wellesley. I greatly improved my fluency and made some long-lasting friendships. While at Wellesley, I worked at the Pforzheimer Learning and Teaching Center as the Italian Department’s Peer tutor, and was also involved in the videos for the Department’s MOOCs led by Professor Bartalesi-Graf. These two experiences were my first introduction to the mechanics of how languages were taught.
Because of these experiences, after graduation I started applying to jobs in education. I was offered a position as a teaching assistant at an elementary school in my hometown. This school has a large Spanish speaking population, and thanks to my background in Italian, I was able to pick up the language quickly. One of the main responsibilities of my job was teaching English basics to the students, and helping them build a foundation to develop their English skills. After some time, I realized teaching English as a second or foreign language was something I was interested in pursuing, and am currently living and teaching English back in Bologna. Needless to say, studying Italian and the opportunities I was granted because of it has greatly affected my journey after graduating from Wellesley.