 |
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.
|
|
 |
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.
|
|
 |
Maria Liuzzi-Scalpelli: Manager/Teacher
With extensive teaching experience in both Melbourne and Italy,
Maria joined CIS 8 years ago. She began as a teacher, progressed
into administration and has now been the manager of CIS for the
past 4 years; all this while continuing as one of CIS's most valued
teachers.
An expert in CIS's communicative and practical teaching method,
Maria is responsible for the training of new teachers as well as
the efficient running of the Centre and its courses. Maria's family
originates from Basilicata, in the south of Italy. Recently
married, Maria is looking forward to her trip to Italy later this
year.
With their boundless energy, enthusiasm and dedication, Maria
and Louisa are the heartbeat of CIS.
|
|
 |
Louisa Biviano: Assistant Manager/Teacher
Born here in Carlton, Louisa first went to Italy when she was 3
years old. Since then, she has had a love of Italy and has wanted
to live there, but Melbourne, with its Italian culture, will do for
now!
With a Degree in Psychology and an Honours Degree in Italian,
teaching Italian is something Louisa is very passionate about.
Whilst Louisa has taught in a number of institutions, she loves
working in the office and teaching at CIS because "We are like one
big happy family!" In her spare time Louisa loves to spend time
with her son, Salvi and her family. She also loves to read, spend
time near the water, cook and watch movies. She considers being a
mum her most loved, difficult and rewarding job, and her biggest
achievement so far.
|
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!
|
|
 |
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.
|
|
 |
Caity Conway: Teacher's Assistant
Caity was a student at CIS last year while doing her VCE Italian
studies. She so impressed those at CIS that she was offered a
position as a teacher's assistant.
Over the summer she travelled to Italy and had fun using her
Italian in real life situations! Her favourite city was Assisi,
although San Gimignano was gorgeous too. This year Caity is doing a
double degree in Biomedical Science and Science at Monash
University, and hopes her Italian will help keep her sane amidst
all that science!
|
|
 |
Nancy Cozzo-Barbaro: Teacher/Administrative Assistant
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 husband and
their 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 to 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.
|
|
 |
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 De La Salle College and has
been a VCE Oral Examiner. She loves grammar, reading and
politics...and hates sport!
|
|
 |
Ginevra De Benedetti: Teacher
Ginevra is from Genova, a gorgeous city in North-West of Italy;
the home of Christopher Columbus and the yummy original Pesto alla
Genovese! After graduating from the University of Genova, Ginevra
came to Australia and has been a teacher of adults and children at
CIS for 2 years now. Melbourne has cast a spell on her and she has
decided to stay here.
As well as teaching, Ginevra does freelance work at the National
Gallery of Victoria as an education officer in the European
painting section, and is about to complete her Diploma in Tourism
Management. She is also co-author of Explora! Senior, an Italian
teacher resource book for secondary school students, just recently
published. She lives in groovy Richmond with 3 multicultural
friends and is passionate ("mental") about international films, art
exhibitions, travel, live music, cakes and chocolate, kiwi rugby
players, swimming in the ocean and of course a good old Aussie BBQ
with her mates!
|
|
 |
Aurelio Denaro: Teacher
Aurelio comes from Pozzallo, a city in the southernmost part of
Italy, in Southern Sicily, where the sea is blue and the sun is
always shining. He loves to travel and learn about other
places and cultures. Aurelio has always been fascinated by
Australia and in 2008 arrived in this magical place and fell
completely in love. He travelled along the east coast down to
Melbourne. When he had to leave, he realised that he missed
Australia so much that he came back to have another beautiful
experience.
He has a Bachelor in Languages and International Communication
that he completed at Roma Tre University. After finishing his
degree, he taught in Italian schools and travelled around the world
in his holidays. Aurelio is a happy-go-lucky person and enjoys
spending time with his friends or cooking Italian recipes and as a
die hard "surfie" and lover of the beach, he thinks he has found
the right country!
|
 |
Ilaria Della Casa: Teacher
Ilaria comes from Genoa where she graduated from her 5-year
university degree in Translation studying English, Russian and
German. After having travelled around Europe and Russia,
Ilaria decided to pursue her dream to visit Australia, and
came last year on an Exchange Program. This country impressed
her so much that at the end of her teaching experience in
Wangaratta, she decided to come back again, this time to
Melbourne.
Sociable and positive, Ilaria loves travelling and always
visiting new places. She likes going to beach and
hanging out with friends, as well as enjoying a good movie, not
necessarily a blockbuster. The only thing she cannot adjust
to in Australia is bacon and eggs for breakfast! She
keeps on having her big slice of mud cake instead, horrifying her
Australian friends!
|
|
 |
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.
|
|
 |
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.
|
|
 |
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 is currently training for her second Oxfam
Trailwalker 100 kilometre challenge.
|
|
 |
Chiara Morabito: Teacher
A recent addition to the teaching staff at CIS, Chiara was born
to southern Italian parents and has always stayed close to her
Italian roots. She has been teaching Italian since 2005 and is
passionate about sharing her knowledge of Italian language and
culture with her students. Chiara has travelled to Italy on several
occasions and in 2008 lived in Florence, where she worked at 'The
Florentine' - Florence's local English newspaper.
|
|
 |
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?
|
|
 |
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.
|
|
 |
Chiara Registro: Teacher's Assistant
Chiara was a student at CIS while completing her VCE studies.
She made such an impression that she was then offered a position as
a language assistant in the children's classes. Chiara has held
that position for over a year now and she loves working with the
kids. She is in her 2nd year of Psychological Science at La Trobe
University and would like to become a Child Psychologist when she
finishes. In her spare time, she enjoys shopping, going out and
spending time with her friends.
|
|
 |
Carola Scatizzi: 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 mcuh 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.
|
|
 |
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.
|
|