GLOTTODRAMA ACADEMY

Story and mission

The International Language Academy (formerly Novacultur Srl) is a Linguistic Research and Training Agency based in Rome until 2016 and in Fermo since 2017. The agency which has been operating since 1987, is registered in the registry of research centers of the Italian Ministry of Education and is accredited as a training facility by the Marche Region.

In over 30 years of activity, the agency, I.L.A. for short, has participated, as coordinator or partner, in numerous transnational projects within the main European programmes: Lingua, Socrates, Leonardo Da Vinci, Lifelong Learning Programme, Erasmus+.

The major and best-known result of this research activity is the innovative Glottodrama Method. Founded in 2008 and developed through 3 European projects with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme Glottodrama aims at teaching foreign languages through the resources and techniques of the theater laboratory. Awarded twice with the European Language Label (2010 and 2014), the highest recognition given by the European Union to projects of excellence, the method is currently used by educational institutions in eight European countries.

Our agency, through the Glottodrama Academy brand, takes care of promoting the diffusion of Glottodrama internationally and organizes theoretical-practical residential courses every year in the summer season to learn the method. Foreign teachers can attend courses by taking advantage of scholarships granted by the European Erasmus+ Program while Italian teachers can use the Teacher Card

I.L.A. it is also the managing body of the Fermo branch of the San Domenico High School for Linguistic Mediators, a university institution (see DD n.1055 of 30.4.2018) which issues a three-year diploma equivalent to all legal effects to the Degree in Science of Linguistic Mediation (Class L12).

After the three-year period, students can continue their studies by attending the Master's Degree for Translators and Interpreters (LM94) and post-graduate courses such as the Master, organized in collaboration with RAI of Turin, "Translation and Editing of Audiovisual Products" focused on the concept of accessibility.

San Domenico is also the implementing body of an Experimental Degree Course for International Mediators of Sign Languages, the result of an inter-university partnership with the University of Parma and co-financed by the Ministry of Universities.

The SSML San Domenico is also open to student and teacher mobility exchanges under the Erasmus + program and participates in the "Marco Polo" bilateral university cooperation program between Italy and China.

The style of the institute, housed in a historic building in the city center with large and technologically equipped classrooms, is typical of British colleges. Non-resident students can stay in the dormitory, managed by the regional institution for the right to study, or in private apartments with special agreements. The university canteen, open 7 days a week, and the library complete the services offered to university students. Finally, all students who meet the expected income requirements can access the scholarships provided by the Marche Region. (www.ssmlfermo.it)

Go to the website https://www.glottodrama.eu/it

Director

(Abstract) Carlo Nofri, President of the National Observatory on Linguistic and Cultural Mediation (OSSMED) and Director of the Fermo branch of the San Domenico High School for Linguistic Mediators MIUR, has a degree in Philosophy of Language. He completed his studies at the La Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Oxford in Great Britain. Author of numerous articles and publications in the linguistic field he aimed his research in particular at the relationship between language and thought (see "Language and Mental Imagery", 1991, Preface by Tullio De Mauro) and at the glottodidactic reflections of the processes of conception and verbal and non-verbal communication. During his professional career he has collaborated as a contract professor with universities in Italy and abroad.

Founder and director of the Culturiana and La Rivista delle Lingue periodicals, in the 1990s he organized the 5 editions of the Espolingua Rome exhibition-congress and participated as a speaker in numerous conferences on the teaching of foreign languages both in Italy and abroad. He directed, within the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci Program of the European Union, the pioneering project "Italnet" dedicated to the distance teaching of Italian as a foreign language via the Internet (1995/1998) and supervised the scientific direction of the CD-Rom “Il Tesoro Italiano”, multimedia course of Italian language and culture for foreigners published under the patronage of Rai Giubileo (2000). Founder of the Glottodrama Method for teaching languages through theater laboratory techniques and resources, he directed the three homonymous European projects financed by the Lifelong Learning Program of the European Union (2007/2014) and awarded in 2010 and 2014 with the European Label of Languages. He also directs the training courses on the method organized by the "Glottodrama Academy" within the European programs Comenius, Grundtvig and Erasmus +.

Currently, in addition to carrying out research activities, he teaches General Linguistics and Glottodidactics at the Fermo branch of the San Domenico Higher School for Linguistic Mediators in Rome, where he also holds the role of Director of Education. Since 2019 he has been coordinating the inter-university project LILS, co-financed by the Ministry of the University, which aims to test an unprecedented degree course for international mediators of sign languages. Since the same year, he has coordinated the Scientific Committee of "Fermo Unesco City of Learning" and since 2020, within the Unesco Global Network of Learning Cities, he has been co-leader of the working group on "Equity and Inclusion". Since 2021 he has been the Spokesperson for the National Coordination of Unesco Learning Cities.