SYDNEY – “I’m the eldest child and I’ve always been passionate about Italian,” shares Currenti, born in Sydney to a Sicilian father and Triestina mother. “As soon as I started school, I knew I’d become a teacher.”

Her interest in foreign languages started young and was encouraged by her neighbour, who spoke French. At the age of 10, Currenti began studying Italian formally, attending classes at Co.As.It. for two hours every Saturday morning.

After graduating from university where she studied literature and obtained a teaching diploma, Currenti majored in applied linguistics and semiotics. Currenti’s passion for the field led her, during a study trip to the University of Bologna in 1985, to knock on Umberto Eco’s door in hope of meeting her favourite intellectual.

Unfortunately, Eco wasn’t home at the time, dampening the hopes of the traveller who was made to settle for knowing him only through his works.

Today in her own class, Currenti usually begins with a song, story or fact related to Italian culture. She does so in order to create a bridge with her students and spark their interest.

Sometimes though, she lets the environment itself elicit their curiosity.

On one occasion Currenti visited Rome with her students and took them to the Trevi Fountain, where they saw tourists throwing coins in.

“I thought, let’s see if someone spontaneously takes money and throws it in, then I’ll explain everything to them,” she recounts.

“So, without receiving any [initial] explanation, they were left free to explore this new aspect of Italian culture.”

Currenti applied this approach to teaching throughout her career, first in high school and then at Co.As.It., in the very same course she attended as a child. Through Co.As.It, she was able to teach in three different schools from kindergarten to Year 6, where she created a multimedia library and introduced the proposal for the bilingual school that was later opened in Five Dock, in 1995.

During her 14 years working at the New South Wales School of Languages - which was then called Open High School - she created the Italian and School magazine, where in the first three publications she gave voice to the stories of some colleagues.

A year ago, she joined the team at Drummoyne Public School, where she teaches Year 6 students who are mainly third-and-fourth-generation Italians who want to learn the language of their grandparents.

“The kids really like Italian, when we start the lesson they don’t immediately realise that they’ve already started to learn,” Currenti explains, adding that the children often expect the lessons to consist solely of difficult exercises.

With her current role, Currenti tries to stimulate learning through music, role-playing and fun activities, all part of the school’s Italian program, largely supported by headmaster Brian Dill.

During class, Currenti changes topics every five minutes, touching on many different subjects throughout the hour-long lesson.

“I also want the kids to record what I do, [such as] a whole dialogue that they can repeat with family, friends or their classmates,” she reveals.

Her method includes the use of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) because, as she says, “Every student learns differently listening, writing and repeating.”

Currenti also recommends making children laugh as the best way to engage them.