Phone: (413) 585-3426
Email: vpoletto@smith.edu

Hatfield Hall 303
Smith College
Northampton, MA
01063, USA

 

 

Vittoria Offredi Poletto
Senior Lecturer of Italian Language and Literature
Department of Italian Language and Literature

It is my good fortune to enjoy the best, not just of two worlds, but of three: I was born in England to Italian parents and grew up in the two cultures, I am married to an Italian-born American, I have lived and worked in the United States for twenty years but every year I spend one or two months in Italy. I received an Honours degree in French and Italian at the University of Birmingham in England and for the following ten years I both taught languages and trained future language teachers in France, Spain, England, Italy and Iran. 

I pursued graduate studies at the University of London and received an advanced diploma in Education with a specialization in the teaching of languages. After directing my parents' language school in Kent fot two years, I came to live in the United States. For the past twenty years I have been involved in education as a teacher, as a board member of the Northampton Education Foundation and as an educational consultant at all levels throughout America and Canada. Since 1987 I have taught Italian language at Smith College. Teaching is my passion. I seek to make learning Italian as meaningful, as exciting, as accessible as possible to all my students. To this end I use every aspect of Italian culture: literature, art, opera, film, fables, storytelling, acting, modern songs, newpaper articles, television, humor, even aerobics - anything that will help them learn and love Italian.

Recently my colleague, Giovanna Bellesia, and I created a computer-based Italian language program for both beginner and intermediate learners thereby making available, in a coherent and usable form, the many rich resources that technology can offer the student of Italian. We also collaborated on the translation of a work by the well-known Italian writer, Dacia Maraini, which was published this spring. Translation and pedagogy are therefore my areas of expertise and I often act as advisor to students writing senior projects in these fields. 

Finally, I have twice directed the Smith College Junior Year Abroad program in Florence and I am convinced that this is one of the most challenging, rewarding and memorable years of my students' lives. It most certainly was for me.