Navigating Teacher Licensure Made Easy: One Educator’s Journey with Idioma

For teachers navigating the maze of licensure requirements and professional development in Massachusetts, Adrienne D'Agostino knows the struggle all too well. Now in her 12th year of teaching, Adrienne found herself on a tireless quest to find courses that fit her schedule and helped her transition from her initial to professional license. That’s when she discovered us at Idioma—programming that not only fulfilled her licensure needs but also made professional development genuinely enjoyable. Since 2020, she’s been a dedicated student of Idioma’s online graduate-level courses for world language teachers, and it’s been a game-changer for her teaching journey. From insightful Italian courses to a support team that goes above and beyond, Adrienne generously shared with us why Idioma has made all the difference:

Adrienne D'Agostino in Italy, summer 2024

My name is Adrienne D'Agostino and I'm in my 12th year as a public school teacher in Massachusetts. Since 2020 I have been a dedicated student of Idioma world language classes for educators! Over the past few years, I have taken several courses at Idioma. I first encountered Idioma during a tireless quest for finding courses to move from my initial license to my professional license. The classes offered through Idioma are engaging and actually enjoyable! The structure naturally works with a teacher’s schedule and the expectations are feasible.

As a side note, I love logging on to the message board on the first day of class and reading the old posts from former participants; I recognize so many of the names both from other Idioma classes and from the New England teacher community at large!

In particular, the Italian courses with instructor Monica Canetta have stood out to me. She always took the time to answer my questions and thoughtfully review all of the work I submitted. Her classes actually helped me with my lesson planning! I love having units tailored to my courses, especially ones that I never would have thought to use myself such as the Italian Opera and Animated Film! I also felt compelled and comfortable to share with Monica how emotional reading the Tamaro text made me; it was remarkable to have that sense of trust with an instructor from an online course!

Mellissia Walles has been not only a "consultant" but a real life support system as well for me as a teacher in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has been the only person to truly be able to explain the DESE requirements for the different licenses as they pertain to World Language! She has also gone above and beyond to provide documentation supporting the courses I have taken through Idioma for my district! I cannot put into words how helpful Mellissia has been. She is professional and compassionate and also fiercely protective of her teacher-students!

Idioma has made being a teacher in a sometimes confusing system much more manageable. Without Mellissia and Idioma, I would have never been able to find courses to satisfy DESE. I love that Mellissia is just an email or a phone call away! I recommend Idioma to all of my colleagues who teach not only world language, but social studies as well. I look forward to each new class I enroll in, and I'm thrilled to see several new Italian courses have been added. Other friends in the field have also had similar experiences with Mellissia and the entire Idioma team; we are constantly raving about the program to each other.

Thank you Idioma for "saving" me when it comes to licensure and finding suitable courses for my area of instruction and licensure!