Donatella Danzi
“THEATRE AS A TOOL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION IN LEARNING AND TEACHING LANGUAGE AND CULTURE” (English)
May 24, 2023 – 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Dr. Donatella Danzi (ITALY) is Director of the International Congress of Theatrical Glottodidactics in Spain and Professor of Italian Applied to Singing at the Escuela Superior de Canto in Madrid (ESCM). She performs an intense activity in the field of glottodidactics as a founder of Parla Italiano (Speak Italian), which promotes Italian culture in the world and, since 2015, as President of the Madrid Committee of the Dante Alighieri Society. She holds a degree in Italian Philology from the Complutense University of Madrid (Extraordinary Awards for Bachelor’s Degree and Diploma Course), where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Teacher Training and a Doctorate in Literary Studies with the doctoral thesis in “La glotodidáctica teatral y la glotodidáctica teatral-musical” (“The Theatrical Glottodidactics and The Musical-Theatre). She studied theatre in Milan and, in Madrid, at the William Layton Theatre Laboratory. As an actress, she has participated in several international theatre festivals and she has worked in cinema, theatre and television. Since 2010, she is the manager in Madrid for the official Italian language certification exams PLIDA, which are officially recognized by the Italian State and are issued with the scientific approval of one of the oldest and most prestigious Italian Universities “La Sapienza” in Rome. In 2005, she created the laboratory Parla Italiano Facendo Teatro which utilizes theatre for the learning of Italian as a foreign language by launching numerous shows. In 2016, she founded the International Festival of Foreign Language Theatre in Madrid. She has taken care of the Italian diction of several operas, in productions of the ESCM as well as of the International Opera Studio of Gijón. She has published articles and research monographs and the books Glotodidáctica Teatral (Ñaque Ed.), Glotodidáctica Teatral II (Ñaque Ed.) and La glottodidattica teatrale e la glottodidattica teatrale musicale (Aracne Ed.).
Marti Barrera
“SINGING IN A SPANISH CLASS AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM. THE ART OF SINGING TO IMPROVE PRONUNCIATION” (English)
May 25, 2023 – 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Marti was born in Bogota, Colombia. She has an undergraduate degree in Respiratory Therapy and a Master’s Degree in Marketing. She worked for many years in the pharmaceutical industry as part of the marketing staff. In 2003, she married and moved to the United States, the country where her husband was born. She has over fifteen years of experience in teaching, creating, designing, and developing curriculum for educational programs in Spanish and English. Currently, Marti is teaching Spanish as an Adjunct Professor for Hood College, Middle School Spanish Teacher for Crestwood Middle School (CMS) in Frederick, MD and teaching an online Marketing course as an Adjunct Professor for post graduate students in Oklahoma Christian University (OC) in Edmond, OK. She taught Spanish Linguistic as an Adjunct Professor, Spanish as a Foreign Language in High School for level II, Level III Honors and Level IV Honors, AP Spanish Language and Culture and she worked for five years as a Spanish Instructor teaching Spanish for Health Care Professionals in Los Angeles County. Marti has used singing as a tool to teach Spanish as a Foreign Language in all her classes, past and present. She strongly believes it helps pronunciation. Wishing to improve her skills to create and develop curriculum and teach Spanish, she enrolled at Valencia International University (VIU) in Valencia (Spain) for a Master’s Degree in “Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language” (Online Program); graduation is scheduled for April 2024. Marti currently lives in New Market, MD. with her husband, two children, a dog and two budgerigar parakeets. In her free time, she loves spending time with her family, enjoying a cup of tea and knitting.