John Cunicelli

Education

• Ph.D. 20th Century Latin American Literature. Temple University, April 2017
• M.A. Peninsular Spanish Literature. University of Delaware
• B.A. Language Pedagogy, Spanish and Italian. West Chester University

Teaching Philosophy

I wholeheartedly believe in the communicative approach to language learning, deemphasizing the rote memorization of grammatical structures in favor of meaningful cultural and situational contexts to teach such concepts. When coupled with a friendly and accepting atmosphere that utilizes the cultural backgrounds of students as well as target cultures to foment language acquisition, I have seen a language classroom succeed time and time again. My principal goal is giving students the opportunity to make meaningful connections between their own linguistics and that of the target language while also making similar connections between their own customs and those of the cultures we are studying. I want them to be excited by and curious to know the ways in which other cultures differ from their own yet revel in the commonalities that can always be found when looking outside of their own surroundings.

Teaching Areas

• Spanish Italian

Areas of Interest

• Spanish and Italian language pedagogy Dialectology Metafiction