About Me

Things I enjoy:

• Teaching Italian language and culture
• Watching my students walk into class singing Italian songs
• Smiling as my students ask me why there are so many naked statues in Italy 
• Friday date night with my husband Cesar
• Catching my daughter Alessandra reading the New York Times
• Listening to my son Mateo comment on an NPR piece we are listening to while driving
• Chicago Summers
• Pasta all’ Amatriciana 



La Famiglia, Natale 2014

• Technology, when it follows my lead

Things I could live without:

• Chicago Winters
• Chicago Winters 
• Realizing I need gas at 6:50 in the morning
• Making school lunches
• Alfredo Sauce
• Technology, when it won’t do what I ask 

     Mi chiamo Juliana Costabile. I have been an Italian teacher for almost 20 years.  The road that led me to teaching has been an interesting one. I am the oldest daughter of Southern Italian Immigrants who came to the United States in the early1970’s. My first trip to Italy was at the age of 5 with my father.  I still have vivid memories of our trip, from the fresh cow’s milk I refused to drink, to sneaking out to the barn to pet a horse I adored.

    I was born and raised in Highland Park Illinois till the age of 13. In 1986 my parents decided to move my 2 sisters and I from the North Shore to Calabria Italy, to live on a working farm.  As a teen you can imagine how thrilled I was!  After a few tears, I grew to love my surroundings.  I attended a liceo lingistico - a language high school. Here, I discovered I had a passion for languages.  

    Soon after I returned to the States to complete my senior year of high school and went on to major in Italian and minor in French and Spanish at Loyola University.  I continued my studies at The Ohio State University enrolling in a Masters program in Italian Language and Literature. At this point I still was not sure where I was headed professionally.  A week after arriving at Ohio State I also began a position as a teaching assistant ~ I taught Italian, levels 101-103.  I found it entertaining teaching students that were my age or slightly older and I still remember my hands shaking and speed reading through the syllabus on the first day of class. While teaching these classes I realized I wanted to go into teaching long-term and enrolled simultaneously in a newly created M.Ed. in Foreign Language Education program.

The school year begins

    After graduate school I returned to Chicago and started teaching at an all girl Catholic high school on the North Side of Chicago.  I taught there 14 years which seems crazy when I see it in print.  While teaching there I went through many personal milestones, met and married my husband Cesar, lived in Oak Park, and moved from Park (I still miss that one bedroom apartment).  From there we bought a home in Highland Park 3 minutes from my parents ~ love the free babysitting! In this home we are raising our 2 children Alessandra (11) and Mateo (8).  They make life fun, exciting and a bit hectic!

     

    Last year, on a very last minute whim I decided to apply for the Italian teacher position at Roosevelt Middle School.  I accepted the position the Saturday before school started and have been running (happily) ever since.  I love the enthusiasm and curiosity middle school students have and how willing they are to try new things. I feel they teach me something new everyday.