Our Instructors

The teachers at the Vancouver Italian Language School are native speakers with university qualifications and experienced in teaching Italian as a second language. To view each teacher’s bio, please click on their name;

There are many ways to teach and learn; I prefer to do it while having fun with my students. And I do it every day, because teaching the language and culture of my country is a marvelous experience, which enriches not only my students – to whom I try to transfer the love and passion for my language and my country – but also me, thanks to the continuous exchanges with students and colleagues.

I was born and raised in Italy, where I studied Information and Communication Sciences. Passionate about politics, I worked for several years in the public administration, before deciding to move to France to continue my studies. Once there, I started teaching the most beautiful language in the world, Italian, at the Maison des Langues of the Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne. I haven’t stopped since.

I hold a Master’s degree in Political Science, but to be able to teach at my best, I also obtained the First Class Certification in Didactics of the Italian language to foreigners CEDILS at the Università Ca’ Foscari – Venezia. I also hold the title of examiner CELI (Italian Language Certification) of the Università per Stranieri di Perugia. The world evolves and the languages with it, for this reason, in order to always give the best to my students, I continue to update and follow trainings.
For some years now, I have moved to Canada where, after some teaching experiences in college and university, I now teach Italian language and culture at the Italian Cultural Institute in Montreal and in several other private schools. I’m passionate, patient and very willing to help students improve their Italian skills.

Anna is an international business consultant with extensive economic training. She graduated in 2001 cum laude in International Economics in Pavia and in Management International in Strasbourg (EM), she obtained a master’s degree in Strategic Marketing in London (2007) and an MBA in Buenos Aires ( 2016).  Beside working 20 years as marketing executive  and consultant in leading companies and in the promotion of Made in Italy in Europe, Asia and South America, Anna always cultivated her passion for italian culture, language and cuisine and is a certified language trainer (CEDILS -Ca’ Foscari) with more than 850 hours of university -level teaching experience. Her teaching mixes different  approaches, integrating  CLIL and TPR.

 I was born in Canada to Italian parents. Grew up in a vibrant Italian-Canadian community in Metro Vancouver while spending the summers at my family home in the Veneto region. I studied French and Italian Studies at the University of British Columbia and received my Masters degree from the University of Toronto. Along with guiding cycle tours in Puglia, I also studied at the Università di Lecce, the Università per Stranieri di Siena and the Università per Stranieri di Perugia where I took classes for Italian language teachers. I teach French Immersion and Spanish with the Vancouver School Board and I am always excited to share my love of Italian language and culture through storytelling with students attending courses at the Chamber of Commerce.

Born and raised in the countryside close to Milan, Erica studied Chemistry, Science Communication and Sustainable Business, and worked in Canada, Italy and Germany. Living abroad has been important to understand how critical it is to learn a foreign language to communicate with people of other countries. Erica’s passion for interacting with people and sharing ideas between different cultural backgrounds brought her to learn new languages, and, since 2007, to teach Italian, her native language, to adults and children.

I grew up in Italy where I reached the rank of captain of the Air Force and as a lawyer obtained a doctorate in Commercial and Business Law at the Universitá degli Studi La Sapienza di Roma. I recently moved to Vancouver with my family. I am a lover of Italian cuisine, especially Sicilian, and a fan of “calcio”, but also of other sports. I spent my childhood and adolescence in my wonderful Sicily, specifically in Catania. Teaching is part of my DNA. Currently I am a University Professor and Associate Researcher of Law. I was an Italian instructor several universities and Italian associations, for instance at the Dante Alighieri Society, chapter Cali Colombia where I lived for several years. I’m a certified examinator for language exams. Teaching Italian is above all a way to promote Italian culture and “l’Italianitá.”

Sara was born and raised in the south of Italy, in the Campania region and studied in Naples at Federico II University. She holds a Master Degree in Social and Territorial Policies.

Sara started to teach Italian at the University of Tennessee as volunteer for adults and young students. After three years, with her husband, they decided to move to the beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia where she teaches Italian in different schools.

I am very happy to continue to teach and help students who are interested and love the Italian language and culture.

I was born in the small region of Molise and then moved to the north of Italy (Emilia-Romagna) at the age of 19. There I obtained my Master’s degree in International Cooperation and Protection of Human Rights. I discovered the passion for teaching while working as Assistant Grant Writer in an NGO in Greece. There I started to teach Italian to young refugees and to hold seminars about human rights in high schools and other non-formal educational settings. Once back in Italy, I continued to teach Italian to migrants and I started to study at Università per Stranieri di Siena.

Furthermore, as a Grant Writer, I had the chance to promote inclusion and diversity in the education system, thanks to proposals I made in the areas of Youth and Children, Disabled people, Education and Social Services. I proposed strategies for parents, teachers and community workers to confront educational poverty in disadvantaged backgrounds, introducing intercultural teaching practices with the help of cultural-linguistic mediators.

To me teaching holds so many invaluable meanings: it is turning into success the potential that every student has; it is understanding our communities to build better ones; it is a life-learning process thanks to the engagement with students from different backgrounds; it is falling in love every time with the Italian culture.

Born and raised in a small town in the North-East of Italy, Stefano studied Cultural and Linguistic Mediation at the University of Udine and obtained a master’s degree in project management and European Studies as part of the Erasmus Mundus Program. He worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Ottawa and as an Italian teacher for foreigners, immigrants, asylum seekers and Erasmus+ volunteers in Italy for more than 2 years. His passion for travelling and exploring the world, made him interested in learning new languages and discovering new cultures, as well as sharing and conveying his mother tongue and culture to other people. Thanks to his experience in the Erasmus+ Program for non-profit associations in more than 25 projects as project coordinator, content manager, youth trainer and group facilitator for intercultural groups, he masters good expertise on content creating, teaching, team building, group dynamics, soft skills, communication and intercultural dialogue.