Italian Language Foundation Announces Dante Award for Excellence in AP Italian Language Studies

Incentive for AP Italian Students

Initiative Follows ILF Funding of Workshops to Increase Ranks of Teachers of Italian

NEW YORK, July 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Italian Language Foundation today is announcing a financial award for students who score well on The College Board's Advanced Placement Test in Italian Language and Culture, or AP Italian.  

The Dante Awards for Excellence are unrestricted and will be given to students who score a four or a five in the AP Italian exam, which will be given in May 2012.  The amounts of the award are $200.00 for students who score a five and $100.00 for those who score a four.  

"The Foundation's Dante Award for Excellence will recognize significant achievement by students of Italian Language and Culture," said Margaret I. Cuomo, M.D., president of the ILF.  "It is an incentive for students to apply themselves to the study of a great language and culture at a time of globalization and increased cultural and commercial exchange between two great countries and during a period when governmental support of world language studies is under attack."  

The Dante Award for Excellence is part of the ILF's programming to build participation in the United States and abroad in AP Italian, which is being reinstated beginning in the fall of 2011.  

The Foundation is also currently underwriting the cost of workshops for teachers of high school Italian who will ultimately be certified to train other teachers in Italian language and studies.  The workshops are administered by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).  The first two days of the intensive workshops were held at the Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York City, on May 14 and 15, and the final two days will be held at the Generoso Pope Foundation, in Tuckahoe, New York, on August 27 and 28.  

"The Italian Language Foundation's goals include increasing teacher and student participation in AP Italian," Dr. Cuomo said.  "Teacher response to the inaugural rounds of workshops has been very encouraging, and we look forward to sponsoring additional workshops to increase the number of highly qualified teachers of Italian language and culture."  

Both the Dante Award for Excellence and the ACTFL workshops are open only to students and teachers who are members of the Italian Language Foundation.  Students may become members for free, and teachers may join at a cost of $25.00.  More information is available at www.ItalianLanguageFoundation.org.  

The Italian Language Foundation is dedicated to promoting and sustaining Italian language education in the United States and supporting the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) program in Italian Language and Culture. The Foundation is a not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) corporation qualified by the Internal Revenue Service to receive tax deductible contributions.  

Press Contact: Andrew Decker
212.222.4688
[email protected]

SOURCE Italian Language Foundation