Teach English in Italy is a detailed, comprehensive guide on how to find employment teaching in Italy.
We are grateful to Frank Adamo and Lulu publishers for the opportunity to publish excerpts from the book.
Teach English in Italy Frank Adamo Lulu publishers From £12.60
If you would like to live and work overseas, there is no better opportunity than teaching English in Italy.
You can enjoy many of the general advantages of teaching, such as personal satisfaction and long vacations, as well as the particular advantages of living in Italy: spectacular natural beauty, art and history, great food, local people who love foreigners, and a warm sunny climate.
It's easy if you know how. I had to learn the hard way - through trial and error. But I've collected my years of valuable experience in the following pages for you to take advantage of. You can do it the easy way. Specific teacher training isn't usually necessary to teach English in Italy, but some practice will probably be needed before you become very good at it. This guide provides you with all the basic information so you will be well prepared.
It's important to understand why English teachers are wanted and needed in Italy. English is already the international language of science, medicine, information technology and business, and English is fast becoming the international language in other fields as well.
The reason is primarily economic. There are only about 60 million people who speak Italian, so the market for Italian language publications, for example, is very limited. Italian publishers cannot compete with English language publishers serving a global market with more than 600 million customers (one billion according to some estimates)!
Most major employers in Italy see the writing on the wall, so when they advertise for new employees they specify: "Good knowledge of English required." In Italy there is even a fascination with the English language beyond simple utility because it's the language of Hollywood, popular music, and international politics. Many Italians want to learn English just for fun.
In addition, there is another important reason why Italians want to learn English even though they may not admit it openly. Italians have long suffered from a kind of inferiority complex. In the distant past Italy used to be one of the most important countries in the world, but in the last few centuries Italy has become a backwater of Europe.
Especially since the end of World War II, Italians have been looking beyond their borders, drooling, at the "more fortunate" countries to the north and west. Today Italians admire almost everything foreign. Unlike the proud French, many Italians believe it's no historical accident that English is so popular. They believe English is a great language and deserves to be studied. In general, the only Italian students who still choose to study French as a second language rather than English do so because they think French is easier for Italians to learn - an important consideration for individuals with an inferiority complex.
Are you qualified? Regardless of whether or not you are a college graduate you probably agree that higher education isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and many university degrees aren't worth the paper they are written on. Italians believe that more strongly than anyone because university education in Italy is even worse than in most other industrial countries.
Many faculty positions are gained by personal or political recommendations, and in some cases are virtually inherited, so the quality of university faculty isn’t very high. If you were born and raised in any English-speaking country (especially the U.S.A., Canada, Great Britain, or Australia), you will be considered better qualified to teach English than any Italian-born teacher - regardless of degrees.
Diplomas and degrees are given weight when native English speakers are competing against each other for the same position, but otherwise no amount of language study or teacher education is considered equivalent to a lifetime of experience using English as your primary language in an English speaking country. Note that I'm not saying I believe it - I don't think you can pass judgment on a question like that - I'm just telling you what to expect from the Italian psyche.
Certificates offered by language-teaching schools such as the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and the Cambridge Certificate aren't necessary in many cases, and in fact many Italians have never even heard of them. You don't even need to be able to speak Italian in many cases, such as teaching advanced students who know enough English to communicate, but if you can speak Italian you broaden your possibilities since you can also teach beginning students and especially children.
In any case your knowledge of Italian will improve by leaps and bounds once you are living in Italy, depending on your motivation, so don't worry about your Italian or delay your departure and invest a lot of money to learn Italian before coming to Italy.
You may want to get your feet wet by taking a summer Italian course in Florence or other popular tourist destination, but that’s expensive and unnecessary. The most important thing is your knowledge of, and experience with, the English language.
About the author
Frank Adamo was born in New Jersey and graduated from the University of Wisconsin. He has been teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) since 1990. He has taught in both public and private elementary and high schools, taught private lessons, all in three countries, including ten years in Italy, where he is still teaching ESL.
