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Published on 12/25/1995 All articles from this issue

Local eye doctor teaches English in Italy

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Dr. Anthony "Jake" Iantosca didn't head to Italy for the Chianti, the Coliseum or the frescoes.

He traveled to Europe in November, over Thanksgiving, to teach conversational English for two weeks to junior high and high school students in Ostuni, Italy, a historic town built atop the south Murgia Hills that overlook the Adriatic Sea.

Iantosca, an ophthalmologist who lives in Los Altos, used vacation for the trip. He said the volunteer program offered him an opportunity to experience daily life in Italy from a non-tourist perspective.

"The most enjoyable part of the experience was the daily interaction with the local people," he said. "I gained an overall understanding that people are really the same all over the world. We have the basic needs in common."

And the interaction continues.

"Recently the phone rang in the middle of the night," said his wife Theresa. "A kid called from Italy just to talk." She said her husband really loved his two weeks of teaching in Italy.

Global Volunteers, a private, non-profit, nonsectarian organization based in St. Paul, Minn., sponsors the program in which Iantosca participated.

At the invitation of the local host organization, Global Volunteers sends teams of 12 to 20 volunteers to Italy and to sites in 12 other countries several times year-round.

Founded in 1984, Global Volunteers works under the direction of local community leaders as "servant-learners."

"We are not regarded as experts," said Global Volunteers president Bud Philbrook, "nor do we make any assumptions about how we should help them."

Anyone who has the desire to learn about Italian culture can be useful in the English-teaching program, Philbrook said. No teaching experience is necessary.

"It just takes flexibility and a bit of creativity to improve students' understanding of and interest in English," he said. Volunteers from all ages and backgrounds are sought for teams which are scheduled during the school year.

Volunteers pay their own costs. Global Volunteers is not subsidized by any government or religious agency.

European programs cost $1,690 to $1,995. All service-program expenses, including air fare, are tax-deductible.

Three-week trips are scheduled throughout the year to Indonesia, China, Tanzania, Vietnam, Poland and Russia. Two-week trips include Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, Italy and Greece, with one-week programs offered in the southern United States.

For a current schedule and more information on each program, call Global Volunteers, 1-800-487-1074. Or write to 375 E. Little Canada Rd., St. Paul, MN 55117.