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Claudio Guarnuccio: Director
Claudio has been involved in the teaching of Italian for over 25
years and has extensive experience in a variety of schools in both
Australia and Italy. He is co-author of the 'Complete Italian Verb
Book' and the 'Ci Siamo' course which has been widely used
throughout Australia and in Italy. Claudio has also served as
president of VATI (Victorian Association of Teachers of Italian)
and been a VCE Examiner.
As Director of CIS, Claudio is dedicated to creating a genuine
Italian atmosphere for students and giving them a taste of Italy,
its language and culture. He loves travelling with his family and
returns to Italy whenever possible. He is also a keen collector of
ancient Roman coins and artifacts.
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Rita Muzic: Director
Born in Cres (Cherso), a charming Croatian island in the
Adriatic Sea, Rita moved to Australia when she was 6. Frequent
travels as a child have fuelled a life-long passion for other
people and places, and her love for languages. She graduated from
La Trobe University with a BA in English, Italian and Spanish, and
has taught in a number of schools. Rita has also served on the
Accreditation Panel for Teachers of Italian and was Treasurer of
VATI for several years.
Whilst studying at "La Sapienza" University in Rome, Rita met
Claudio, her husband, and they now have two lovely daughters. They
travelled extensively throughout Italy and Europe before settling
down in Melbourne and taking on the task of directing CIS which has
been like their third child, requiring just as much TLC.
Rita is an avid reader, loves going to the theatre and to
concerts and has an eclectic tastes in music, but travelling with
her family is her favourite pastime.
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Nancy Cozzo: Manager/ Teacher
Nancy has taught Italian for many years and is one of CIS's most
experienced and dedicated teachers. She has taught at a variety of
language centres and has also lived and taught in Florence and
Milan. Nancy juggles working with taking care of her beautiful
daughter, Serena.
Although Nancy has a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education,
she would much rather share her knowledge in a fun and meaningful
manner with children and adults at CIS! Currently, Nancy
teaches adults during the week and children of all ages on Saturday
mornings as well as working in administration. She has a great
passion for teaching and loves working here at CIS.
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Carola Scatizzi: Manager/ Teacher
Carola originally comes from Milan, one of Italy's biggest and
busiest cities. Since she was young, Carola has had a passion
for travelling and adventure so when she was 18, she decided to
come to Australia, the furthest country she could think of.
Well, she loved this country so much that in 2006 she decided to
move here permanently.
In 2008 she graduated in Languages and Applied Linguistics at
Griffith University and while studying she started her teaching
career at the Dante Alighieri Society in Brisbane. In late
2009, she moved to Melbourne together with her partner, seeking
more opportunities and new excitement.
Carola is interested in languages, travel, photography and she
loves cooking. She loves to meet people from all over the
world and, most importantly, she is very passionate about teaching
her own language, both to adults and kids.
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Antonietta Anello: Teacher
Antonietta has worked and travelled extensively in Italy
including with Alitalia in Milano - the perfect opportunity to
indulge her love of travel! Her family originates from Abruzzo and
Calabria, and she was born and raised in Melbourne.She has
completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Italian and English
Literature, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Editing and
Communications. She worked for an Italian language newspaper for
five years, taught Italian to adults during this time and currently
works in the publishing industry. Antonietta is passionate about
passing on her enthusiasm and love for the Italian language to her
students. In her spare time she enjoys running, social soccer,
reading ... and walking her sister's dog, Phoebe:-)
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Simone Bettoni: Teacher
Simone comes from a beautiful town at the foot of the North
Eastern Mountains of Italy, Bassano del Grappa. He is a
happy-go-lucky person who loves to travel and experience different
cultures.
After graduating in Translating and Interpreting at the
University of Udine in 2007, he was looking for an opportunity to
come and discover Australia, a country that had always fascinated
him. He received a scholarship from his University to work as a
Language Assistant in Melbourne. He jumped at the chance and
arrived in April 2008. He worked for a year at Mont Albert Primary
School and then decided to extend his stay by pursuing his passion
for teaching languages.
In his free time Simone likes going to the beach and looking for
niche movies otherwise unknown to the public.
He also tries to keep fit by swimming as much as possible and
always enjoys a delicious homemade Italian meal!
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Mariangela Caligiuri: Teacher
Born in Calabria in Southern Italy, Mariangela grew up in
Piemonte before migrating to Australia where she has been an
Italian teacher for over 20 years. A high school teacher by day,
Mariangela has been an important member of CIS's teaching staff for
the past five years. She returns to Italy regularly and her great
passion for all things Italian make her popular with her students.
She has two sons who keep her very busy and she enjoys making
jewellery in her spare time.
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Carmel D'Andrea: Teacher
One of our longest-serving and most respected teachers, Carmel
has been teaching with CIS on and off since 1983! She has lived in
inner city Melbourne all her life and has an Arts Degree from
Melbourne University, majoring in Italian and Linguistics. She also
teaches English, Italian and French at a high school and
has been a VCE Oral Examiner. She loves grammar, reading and
politics...and hates sport!
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Giovanni Di Fabrizio: Teacher
Giovanni was born in Penne, a beautiful village overlooking the
Adriatic coast. He moved to Melbourne 2 years ago to be with his
lovely wife Sandra whom he met in Florence where he completed his
studies and worked on and off for many years. In fact, Sandra went
to Florence on a CIS study holiday! He still thinks it was a
strategy to recruit Italian teachers.
He has travelled extensively and has always been interested in
different languages and cultures. He is also an accredited tour
leader and used to lead bus tours around Italy. He loves cooking,
eating, travelling, playing guitar or piano and listening to music.
He remembers visiting CIS after only a few days in Melbourne and
today he is honoured to be one of its teachers. He says that this
school is a little window to his past which takes him home like a
time machine.
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Emily-Rose Guarnuccio: Teacher's Assistant/Administrative
Assistant
Emily has literally grown up at CIS, beginning as a student in
the children's classes for 3 year olds and working her way through
to her current position. She has always had a passion for the
Italian language and anything Italian, so she considers herself
extremely fortunate to have grown up surrounded by Italian teachers
in an amazing environment like CIS.
She has travelled to Italy several times and her favourite
destination is Scoglitti, a small seaside town near Vittoria in the
extreme south of Sicily, which is where her family originates.
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Maria Liuzzi-Scalpelli: Teacher/ Administrative Assistant
With extensive teaching
experience in both Melbourne and Italy, Maria joined CIS 8 years
ago and is one of CIS's most valued teachers.
Maria's family originates
from Basilicata, in the south of Italy. Maria is currently taking a
break from teaching to look after her new baby, Stefano.
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Maria Masini: Teacher
Maria has been teaching Italian and English for over 20 years.
She has taught all levels from kindergarten to adult education and
in a variety of settings from the United States to rural Zimbabwe.
Maria has been at CIS since 2000. She thoroughly enjoys her classes
here, and doesn't see it so much as work, as an opportunity to have
a break from managing her children's needs, wants and demands. But
when Maria visited Italy in 2007, she rekindled her great love for
Italy, its language and culture, and this comes through in her
teaching.
When she's not teaching, Maria enjoys spending time with family
and friends, travelling and going to the theatre and cinema. She is
also an avid walker and has recently completed her second
Oxfam Trailwalker 100 kilometre challenge.
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Sara Miconi: Teacher
Sara comes from Civitanova Marche, a small town in the centre of
Italy.
From the moment she met her teachers in primary school, she wanted
to become one herself, and for this reason she studied at the
Faculty of Education and graduated in Primary School
Education at University of Macerata. In 2010 she finished a
specialisation course in Special Needs teaching in the primary
school branch at the Faculty of Education.She travelled a lot
around Europe, she visited Spain, France, Austria, Belgium,Holland,
Greece, Croatia but most of all she loves Lisbon in
Portugal. In 2010 she and her boyfriend come to Australia to
find "a new life". They love Melbourne and Australia and they want
to remain here for a long time!During her free time, Sara likes
reading, especially Agatha Christie's books. She loves cooking and
since she is in Australia she loves surf!!
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Eleonora Morelli: Teacher
Eleonora was born in Ferrara, a beautiful medieval town in
North-East Italy. She decided to pursue her dream of travelling the
world by studying foreign languages. Her degree "cum laude" from
Ca' Foscari University in Venice repaid her for months of winter
hibernation spent at Moscow University doing research and
translation of a controversial Russian contemporary writer. She
came to Australia as a Language Assistant in 2005, and then the
following year Eleonora was awarded two scholarships by Monash
University, thanks to which she is still in Australia, currently
completing her PhD in Russian Literature.
In May 2006 she embraced CIS, where today she still engages in
the daily challenge of taking her students on a journey through
Italian contemporary literature, cinema, music and society.
Eleonora is currently teaching adults and children of different
ages. Her interests outside work? Her weakness is a glass of buon
vino, accompanied by stimulating conversations with friends. And
why not spice up the night with a bit of Salsa dancing?
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Elena Pegoraro: Teacher
Elena P is from Padova, North-East of Italy. This pretty and
elegant city is famous for its old University where Galileo Galilei
used to teach, and for the gorgeous Giotto's
paintings. Elena came to Australia in 2009 and her plan was to
travel and work for only one year.
However, she was astonished by how different Australia is from
home, so she decided to stay longer and get to know more about this
country. Elena loves teaching because it combines her passion
for languages, her culture and understanding people. She is
currently studying Bachelor of Psychological Sciences at La Trobe
University, she co-ordinates La Trobe Community Garden, she is the
captain of an Ultimate Frisbee team (yes! frisbee is a team sport!)
and volunteers in other activities related to community development
and mental health.Elena enjoys cooking and rinking a few coffees a
day like a real Italian, but also drinking a beer over a barbie
like a real Aussie... better if all accompanied by some live
music!
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Cristoforo Perino: Teacher
for his students and friends just Cris, comes from one of the
most beautiful island of the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily. He is a
smiley person who loves travelling and meeting people from other
countries.
After graduating in Translation and Interpreting from Università
degli Studi "G. D'Annunzio" of Pescara, he decided to go to
Barcelona, Spain, where he lived for 4 years and worked as a
translator and an Italian teacher. Through this, he found his
passion for teaching Italian, as well as other languages like
French and Spanish. Consequently, in 2010, he completed a course in
teaching Spanish as a second language at International House in
Barcelona. He says that he can remember the day in which he told
his mother that one day he will come to Australia. It was 22 years
ago and now his dream has come true.
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Salvatore Rapisarda: Teacher
Born in Sicily, Salvatore, aka Sam, moved to Australia with his
family when he was only 10. He has been back to Italy quite a few
times, mainly to visit, but also to complete a refresher course for
teachers at 'La Sapienza' University in Rome. He has 25 years
teaching experience, and has been teaching here at CIS for 11. He
loves to teach adults here because it is a break from teaching
teenagers which is what Salvatore does as his day job. In his free
time, Salvatore likes to garden and renovate.
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Paolo Testaguzza: Teacher
Paolo was born and grew up in Umbria, a magic unspoiled region
in the heart of Italy. He moved to New Zealand ten years ago where
he taught Italian language at the University of Auckland, and has
now relocated to Melbourne with his wife to enjoy the incredible
multicultural feel this city has to offer. Well travelled and
curious, Paolo loves to share his extensive experience and genuine
passion for languages, and is now completing a MA in applied
language studies.
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Sabrina Torretti: Teacher
Sabrina was born 30 years ago in Civitanova, in the nice and
peaceful region that borrows its landscapes to our book "CiSiamo":
the Marche region. She took a degree in Foreign Languages and
Literatures in 2005 at the University of Perugia. Then she attended
the course at the International House of Rome to be a "Teacher of
Italian as foreign language". After that she attended another
courseto teach Italian as foreign language at the department ITALS
of the University of Venice. After her studies Sabrina
started to travel: she lived and worked in London but she had to
leave England to go to Spain for a training ship at the Italian
Institute of Culture of Barcelona. In 2008 she came back to Italy
and worked for three years as a teacher and as administration
employed in a languages school in Civitanovathat gave her a
temporary leave for enjoying Melbourne and CIS! She plays saxophone
but unfortunately it is too heavy to be brought in Australia,
therefore she can't spend her free time in Melbourne playing it but
just listening to the music and discovering new places.
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Barbara Vincenzi: Teacher/Administrative Assistant
Originally from beautiful Venice, Barbara (aka Barbie Girl) has
been teaching at CIS for 4 years. She graduated in Foreign
Languages and Literature at Ca' Foscari University and then was
able to spend one year in France studying French Literature.
Barbara won a scholarship to Australia in 2005, and worked for one
year as a Language Assistant. During this experience she discovered
her passion for teaching and so, while teaching at CIS she did her
Graduate Diploma in Education at ACU. As of January 2008
Barbara is the very proud owner of a cute apartment in the city
which she shares with her hamster Jake. When she's not teaching
Barbara likes to read books, take ballet classes, drink no less
that 4 cappuccini a day, listen to rock music and wear pink gloves
in her Boxing Classes.
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