PARLIAMO ITALIANO! - PROGRAM SAMPLER

Museums for the integration of visual art into the curriculum. From 2002-2011, she was director of the 8-week Harvard Summer Abroad Program in Abruzzo. In addition to classroom instruction, the program featured structured interaction with local youth, public lectures by teaching staff, and public performances by the students as a way of giving back to the host community. She continues to spend her summers in Italy. Di Fabio’s research areas comprise second language acquisition, translation studies, and the history and literature of Italian migration. Her publications include Republican Ideals in the Selected works of Italian-American Joseph Rocchietti, 1835/1845 (Edwin Mellen Press) and translations from Italian to English including Pope John XXIII: The Official Biography (Pauline Publishers) and Secrets of the Soul: Padre Pio’s Letters to His Spiritual Directors (Pauline Books and Media). She served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association, and on the College Board’s Advanced Placement review and development committees. She most enjoys offering professional development workshops for K-12+ teachers of Italian in the greater New England area. x ABOUT THE AUTHORS During the preparation of the Fifth Edition, I was inspired and motivated by the final users of this text, the students. Over the many years, I have had the privilege and good fortune to get to know many wonderful people who were my students in Italian language courses in California, in Massachusetts, in Florence and in Genoa. It is to them that I dedicate this edition: the people who I learned the most from. Of course my memories are studded with faces – if no longer the names! – of the people who spurred me on to be a better teacher, who challenged me to find a better way of explaining or presenting something, who put a smile on my face at the end of the day. Some, like Kristi and Gina, went on to become Italian professors themselves, others may no longer remember a word. One thing is certain, though: we all experienced the laughter of Ridendo, s’impara! And to the student from whom I have learned the most, and from whom I continue to learn, my son Max, who is now the age of my students (how did that happen?), to whom this book is dedicated. Suzanne Branciforte In terms of the professional development that I have undergone since the fourth edi- tion, I wish to thank the College Board for allowing me the remarkable opportunity to serve on the Italian AP Development Committee (2010-2013). It was an excellent learning experience and most of all, I am grateful for the awareness it brought to my teaching, teacher training and scholarship. As for my inspiration, I give thanks, as always, to my parents, ever more present in my memory as the years go by, and whose love of language and tradition remains alive in me (oh, if they could see me now!); to my husband, who taught me to love all things Italian worth loving; to my children who are fostering that love in my grandchildren – siete e sarete sempre nell’anima. Elvira G. Di Fabio