Recent Graduates in Italian Become Teaching Assistants of English in Italian High Schools

The SITE program (Study Intercultural Training Experience) is an internship opportunity for recent graduates of U.S. universities who have majored or minored in Italian and want to understand Italian language and culture more deeply. Selected students work as teaching assistants of English in high schools in Lombardy, Italy for eight months, and live near Milan.

This assistantship helps local teachers of English, while interns receive professional training in teaching methods. The University of Arkansas can nominate up to three students every year.

This past year, Adoette Vaughan (2023) interned at IISS Ettore Majorana high school in Bergamo. She taught English and U.S. culture to students aged 14-19, planned creative oral lessons and classes on technical subjects, and collaborated with teachers on lesson plans for classes with a wide range of linguistic ability levels. She also led two Cambridge exam preparation courses for the intermediate level. Adoette engaged with the local community in Bergamo and the Italian school system, and also had the opportunity to travel to different places in Italy and abroad.

This coming fall, Leah Foster (2024) will be leaving to start her internship at Pascal-Mazzolari high school in the northern town of Manerbio in the Province of Brescia. Leah looks forward to learning about day-to-day life in Italy, especially since she will be located in a lesser-known town and will be living with a host family. “I have many things that excite me about this upcoming adventure, but one that I look forward to is being immersed in Italian culture and being able to practice my Italian skills. Though I have studied it for several years, I know I will grow a great deal in this area, so I feel ready to start that,” she said.

For more information about the SITE program, visit siteprogram.wixsite.com/site or email D’Eugenio at deugeni@uark.edu. 

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.