Polyglottist

Dear future German students,

We plan on offering German classes for all levels, starting in November. We will be offering beginner, low intermediate, intermediate, and advanced German classes for students who travel for pleasure or for work to German speaking countries, who have family members who speak German, and for everyone who wants to be proficient in the German language.

We have three exceptional German instructors. Two of them hold PhD in German ( the third one is finishing her PhD in German). All three have years of experience teaching German in different countries. We will introduce you to our German instructors in our next post.

Dear current and prospective Polyglottist students,

We hope you are all doing well! Registration will open soon for our November and January sessions.

We will be offering group and individual classes for English, Italian, German, French, Russian, and Spanish languages on Zoom.

PLA News

Over the summer we hired several new, highly qualified instructors for various languages. Please read their bios below.

Spanish and Italian Instructor: Arianna Contreras, a second generation Mexican-American, was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Since childhood, Arianna has spent part of her summers every year in Sonora, Mexico with family. Arianna holds an M.A. in Italian Studies from Florida State University where she taught and studied Italian in the Department of Modern Languages & Linguistics and is currently working on her second Masters in Italian Literature at Middlebury College. She has also taught as an Instructor of Italian at Saint Louis University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a published translator of the work of contemporary Italian poet, Guido Caserza (Rivista di Studi Italiani, 2021). It was through learning about the Italian language and culture where her desire to learn more about her own Mexican heritage grew, living in Mexico for part of a summer to reconnect with her own heritage.

German Instructor: Anja, a German native from Münster, started her teaching career in Germany after completing her BA. and M.A. degrees in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. In 2005, she moved to North Carolina and completed her Ph.D. in German Literature. Since then, she has stayed in the academic world and taught German language, literature and culture classes. Anja believes in a communicative, student-centered approach to teaching, in which students not only feel comfortable using the target language but also engage with the language creatively. Anja enjoys designing personalized lesson plans in which humoristic elements always find their way. In her free time, Anja enjoys traveling and learning about different cultures, especially trying and replicating specific cuisines. Since she loves mountains and lakes, Austria is frequently on her travel list. One of her favorite holidays was a hiking tour through the Wachau area, which she topped off with a visit to Vienna. On her travel bucket list is her newfound passion for Montenegro. She hopes to visit the old town of Kotor and Budva and indulge in the original produce at the weekly farmer’s markets.

Warm wishes,
-Olga Sylvia, PhD
PLA Program Director

Meet our Italian instructor Rossana.

Rossana is a native Italian speaker, born and raised in Napoli, Campania. Rossana holds a Bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the State University of New York and a Master’s degree in Italian literature from New York University. Rossana has taught Italian language and civilization at various universities in the United States and at the United Nations in New York City. She is very passionate about teaching Italian language and loves to see her students succeed. In her free time, Rossana loves to travel with her family and discover new places. She is also an avid student and teacher of Yoga.