“When I teach, I get really creative. My class is like a show. I want to inspire.”
If passion and dedication are the ingredients for success, ItaLingua’s director, Francesca Gaspari, certainly knows the recipe. As the current lead of perhaps the most beloved Italian language and culture school in the San Francisco Bay Area, managing the lot is no easy feat.
Originally from Bergamo, a city 40 km northeast of Milan in the region of Lombardy, it was the love of jazz music that brought her to America in 1986. A talented conservatory musician, she quickly fell in love with the music, people and culture of San Francisco.
Gaspari’s beginnings in language education are modest, starting essentially as an instructor for a series of home-based lessons focusing on Italian and the culinary arts (she was the “Francesca” of Francesca’s Tomato Sauce, sold in Real Foods in the 90s). Quickly hired as a teacher for what is now the Istituto Italiano Scuola, another popular Italian school in San Francisco, she was appointed director status in 1996.
Over time, ItaLingua split from the Istituto and set up shop in downtown San Francisco’s iconic Flood Building, a few steps away from the Powell Street Cable Car turnstile. Her method involves more than a typical language syllabus, as she focuses heavily on integrating culture and active learning into the classroom environment. Each of the instructors are personally handpicked by Gaspari, with careful examination to both their credentials and personalities. “ItaLingua became my family,” she says, “I love my teachers.” Creating an environment that is both instructive and fun is her stated goal, so that students take away more than just the language, but also an appreciation of the Italian culture. Indeed, as ItaLingua also runs an Italian social network and hosts a series of meetings called Il Circolo with discussions on Italian culture and society.
“My passion comes out when I teach. We give a piece of ourselves to the students.”
When she’s not busy with the school, Gaspari finds solace in the outdoors, favoring in particular the trails of the North Sierra and the Stanislaus National Forest. As far as local Italian restaurants, she highly recommends Poesia in the Castro, Ristorante Bacco in Noe Valley, Ristorante Ideale in North Beach and Pazzia downtown. This extracurricular discussion, however, returns back to how it all started: Her love of music, from Mina to Jovanotti, that never ceases to inspire her. “Perhaps in my next life I’ll be a musician,” she concludes.
ItaLingua is a non-profit Italian language and culture school with classes in downtown San Francisco and Berkeley. The winter semester begins next week, so check out the ItaLingua schedule of classes now if you’re interested in signing up.
Comments