World Languages and Cultures

My primary academic "home" is in the Spanish program but I am always delighted to teach in the Italian program when the opportunity arises. Italian is the language of my home and the first language of my spouse, child and in-laws. If you take a summer class with me, chances are I will be teaching it from the sunny coast of Sicily where I spend many summers with my husband's family. My favorite thing about teaching either language is getting to know students. As a "people-person" I am generally curious about people's lives, stories, interests, motivations, frustrations, etc. I love meeting new students each term as well as having the chance to build longer-term relationships with students that take multiple classes that I teach. As an instructor, I am interested in learning what students like and don't like about learning languages and how I can help them find ways to make the experience more meaningful for them. I like all the classes I teach but I especially like teaching Ecampus because I meet students from all over the U.S. and the world with differing motives for taking the class. Ecampus students bring such a rich variety of perspectives and experiences to the learning community. Let's connect and talk about your journey with multilingualism!

Salve! Mi chiamo Nobuko e insegno italiano e francese all’Università Statale dell’Oregon, OSU. Piacere! I was born and raised in the coastal city of Murakami, Japan. In my youth, I fell in love with Italian Opera and eventually decided to major in music performance for voice at the university. As an aside, my first name sounds very similar to the famous Italian opera Nabucco, of which the choral song “Va, pensiero,” also known as the “Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves,” is still sung by many Italians almost as a second national anthem. Later, fate brought me to the U.S., and I became more interested in learning Romance languages, particularly Italian and French (I also love French opera and art songs). Therefore, I began to study Italian (and French) as a university student, learning English as well through the process of studying Italian and French, and I continue to learn new things in those languages every day. Learning languages is a life-long journey and I enjoy sharing my own experiences and learning from the students I meet in every course I teach. The students who take our online courses come from all over the United States and from many countries around the world, and I really enjoy that we can all learn from each other while studying Italian and the intricate and beautiful culture of Italy. I hope that you will join us in taking this great journey to discover not only Italian but also something about ourselves and others at OSU!