Rolf Schärer

The ICC board would like to pay tribute to Rolf Schaerer, who, for personal reasons, has chosen to stand down as President of the institution. Rolf's contribution to the ICC over the past year has been immense. He has worked tirelessly behind the scenes, continually probing and defining our role in the wider community of teachers, trainers and other experts in the field of language education. His keen sense of organisation and vast experience in business management have greatly helped us, but most important was his passion and commitment to the organisation. All of us who have worked with him owe him a debt of gratitude, for it is through his efforts that the ICC has a firm platform on which to build. We wish him well and look forward to keeping in touch with him in the future.

Photo: Claudia Nir / Painter unkown

Featured Member Organisation August/ September 2008

Interview with Dr. Alberto Materassi and Dr. Gabriella Accorti Materassi, Directors of 16^th ICC Annual Conference, 27-28 March 2009 in Florence, Italy.

Photo: Christel Schneider

Christel Schneider, ICC:

First of all let me thank you for inviting us to your school and giving us such a warm welcome. We are delighted that your school, based in the very heart of the historic centre of Florence, will be hosting our next Annual Conference 27-28 March 2009.  I think it will be interesting for our member organisations and other colleagues who wish to attend the conference to find out more about the hosting organisation. Maybe you could give us an outline about your school and its activities?

Dr. Alberto Materassi,CLIDA:

Centro Linguistico Italiano Dante Alighieri (CLIDA) is actually a family enterprise. It was founded by me and my wife, Gabriella, in 1965 and it was Italian’s first private language school, specializing in teaching the Italian language and culture to foreigners, students and professionals. Our ‘family team’, also including our son, Stefano, ensures high academic standards. Our staff is highly qualified and speak at least three languages to accommodate a wide variety of students from over 150 nationalities attending our courses.

Gabriella Accorti Materassi/ Photo: Christel Schneider

Dr. Gabriella Accorti Materassi, CLIDA

Apart from offering high quality standard courses, our great success is in maintaining a ‘community atmosphere’, where teachers and students alike encourage each other and are proud of their success in learning and teaching Italian.
We offer a wide range of tailor made courses including one-to-one and small group sessions at different length and levels. CLIDA has produced their own teaching material and teaching methods used in all its schools in Florence, Rome and Greece. We also offer examinations which are internationally recognised.

Christel Schneider, ICC:

Yes, I remember, CLIDA was one of the first organisations receiving the ICC  Certificate of Quality and Best Practice and this was for examinations in Italian as a foreign language corresponding to levels A1-C1 of the Common European Framework in particular with regard to:
Standards and procedures and validity and
reliability in assessing language proficiency.

Alberto Materassi/ Photo: Claudia Nir

Dr. Alberto Materassi,CLIDA:

This is right and it was an important step for our organisation, of course, and the recognition helped to promote our examinations in Greece for example. It was a great honour to become a member of the ICC QAS steering committee after the accreditation. 

Christel Schneider, ICC:
Are the Italian Language Courses still the only course section you are focussing on?

Dr. Gabriella Accorti Materassi, CLIDA
Not quite. A new section we have recently taken up is courses on interior design, tourism and computer, which are running quite well.

Inside CLIDA/Photo: Claudia Nir

Dr. Alberto Materassi,CLIDA:

The most important thing for our organisation is to network with other member organisations. The network helps to keep in touch and find institutions or colleagues with same or similar interest.
The AGMs at our annual meetings are essential for networking and finding out what other organisations are doing. CLIDA was involved in ICC projects in the past and through the network we are just establishing a new learning partnership.  For us the ICC Network also means ‘business contacts’ and this is what we are interested in and looking for. We are happy to be part of the ICC and would like to get more involved in upcoming projects with the ICC in future. 

Conference Venue: Piazza della Repubblica/ Photo: Christel Schneider

Christel Schneider, ICC:

Thanks for your valuable time sharing your ideas, Gabriella and Alberto. I totally agree that establishing a good network among ICC member organisations is essential for mutual exchange and this is what the ICC is continuously working on.

In our discussion earlier on you mentioned your qualified teachers at EUROLTA Scheme for a EUROPEAN recognised and standardised Teacher Training Qualification Scheme?

Dr. Alberto Materassi,CLIDA:
Thanks for addressing this. We at CLIDA have certainly been considering establishing the EUROLTA Teacher Training Scheme for our Italian language teachers as an internationally recognised qualification. The EUROLTA Teaching Certificate or even EUROLTA Diploma will definitely add to our high standard of teachers’ qualification.
It will be useful to have the scheme translated into Italian to apply to our clientele.

SPOT ON interview with Steve Hailstone, Lancashire college September-October 2006