Italian Camp Fantastico of WNY
Prior to launching the Italian Camp at Daemen College in 2009, Judith Mazziotti created and led Nazareth College‘s Italian camp in Rochester for 22 consecutive years. Buffalo native Mazziotti has been a NYS, Montessori, and City of Buffalo certified teacher since 1980. Winner of a one half million dollar federal grant for her model Italian program at Buffalo’s public Bennett Park Montessori school, she has been employed by the NYS Education Department as Italian testing consultant, and as an Italian instructor at both Buffalo State and Daemen Colleges.
Judith Mazziotti has won numerous honors including “Educator of the Year,” a “National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship,” “Italian- American Woman of the Year,” “Outstanding Foreign Language Teacher of Western New York,” and is in “Who’s Who in American Education.” Judith has published teacher’s manuals, articles, plays, newspapers and two bilingual DVDs sold nationally.
Judith was honored with a National Italian American Foundation grant to help families learn Italian, and is about to unveil an exciting new aid to boost Italian learning! Mazziotti has her own thriving "Studio Italiano" in Williamsville where she teaches many happy students year round (www.ItalianByHeart.com)! The Daemen Italian Camp is truly intergenerational, bringing together Language Assistants of diverse ages and career backgrounds from WNY, and Italy. It is the realization of Mazziotti’s long time dream to share the joy of Italian in a meaningful way right here in Buffalo!
Camp includes: Italian magic tricks daily, soccer and bocce, learn simple Italian songs with gestures, enjoy a real Ferrari visit, make pasta and dolci, toss your own pizza, act, make your own time line of Italian firsts, paint like Michelangelo, and more!
Kids do their own active vocabulary building with 6-time Nobel nominee Maria Montessori’s hands-on, brain-friendly method, creating a family heirloom – a personalized Italian notebook that returns to camp with them each summer to be shared with future generations. Favorite words “pop out” of their notebook onto “talking” sticky notes at home becoming part of their every-day lives!
Award-winning N.Y.S. and Montessori certified Italian teacher and camp director of 24 years, Judi Mazziotti also teaches Italian from September to June to adults and children, making sure they learn while having active fun.
Year-round classes: www.ItalianByHeart.com