About Myself
Danilo Buffa
Teacher of Italian as a foreign language
My CV
Welcome aboard!
My name is Danilo and I’m a teacher of Italian as a foreign language.
I live in Palermo, a beautiful city and one of the largest in the Mediterranean area, a cradle of art and culture. I was born, brought up and educated here. I graduated from the Università degli Studi di Palermo with a degree in modern languages and cultures before going on to specialize in Russian and Spanish for my master’s degree in modern Western and Eastern literature. During my undergraduate days, I started traveling to improve my knowledge of foreign languages and had my first work experiences at this time. I visited Russia and Spain several times. I attended a brief Russian language course at MGU in Moscow, and the year after, I studied Spanish in Murcia through the Erasmus Programme. Shortly after, I had my first job as an Italian instructor in Spain. I worked for the Ministry of Education in Badajoz, where I was an Italian lecturer at the Official School of Languages. This experience was remarkable as I had the chance to teach Italian to students from a wide range of levels (from beginner to upper-intermediate) and to carry out extra-curricular activities, such as a theatre lab in which we staged an original Italian comedy.
The whole experience greatly enriched me, both professionally and personally, and allowed me to gain a firm grasp on the methodology of teaching Italian as a foreign language.
It was then that I realized that teaching Italian was not only a great passion of mine but that it could also become my career.
When I returned to Italy after my time in Spain, I decided to spend a semester in Russia to gather materials and ideas for my master’s thesis. While there, I taught Italian in Moscow, initially to individuals and small groups on a freelance basis.
When I returned to Italy once again, I felt that my time in Russia was not yet complete.
Indeed, after earning my master’s, I packed my luggage and went back for a longer and more intense experience. Thanks to a ministerial scholarship, I was accepted to a university again, RGSU this time, where I spent a year studying Russian language and literature. That year, I started a fruitful partnership with the Centro Italiano di Cultura. It was a school in the heart of Moscow where I taught Italian to adults and teens for three years, their levels ranging from beginner to advanced. This has been the most important experience for me in the field from an educational point of view as I was trained to use the communicative methodology taught at the Dilit IH School in Rome (one of the leading approaches in Italy). At this time, I was exposed to the most commonly used course books and materials in Italian language teaching. In Moscow, I got an advanced methodology certificate called the Dils PG II from the University of Perugia, the leading center in foreign language teaching in Italy. After that, I started teaching exam preparation courses for the CELI (Certificazione di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana) and worked as an interlocutor for these tests. The Centro Italiano di Cultura in Moscow proved to be a stimulating environment and was a stepping stone in my career.
My time in Russia positively affected my human relation skills with students and colleagues, some of whom are still significant pillars of support in my life.
When I again returned to Palermo, I started a collaboration with the International House Language Centre, where I continued to develop as a teacher, working with high-caliber professionals in the field.
I had the chance to teach multilingual classes, develop new skills, improve already acquired techniques, and share my experience with other teachers there, all of which contributed to my professional development.
In the meantime, my greatest dream started to take shape. Parloitaliano.online was birthed from a strong desire to feed my passion for teaching through a different means: the internet. The internet provides the chance to network with people from around the world in the context of online Italian instruction.
Since returning to Italy, I’ve also been teaching Spanish.
With my undergraduate degree, I am qualified to teach Spanish in public schools and as a freelancer to individuals and groups. I’ve worked with firms associated with Spanish and South American countries.
All in all, I feel fortunate as I believe that teaching is a job that allows one to create solid relationships and to share experience with those who see life as a never-ending journey of learning.
My greatest passions include traveling, food (especially Sicilian, which I am quite familiar with) and, above all, trying recipes from places I have visited. I also love art movies, with a special fetish for the work of Almodovar, Lynch and Ozpeteck.