Patti Franklin Nelson
Patti (AKA Patrizia in Europe) has been speaking and singing professionally in Italian since the age of 19. Born in an Italian neighborhood of upstate New York gave Patti fond memories of growing up among Italians. She studied in Europe and then served with a Christian Organization for 10 years, both in Italy and India. She then lived and worked in the music business for nearly another ten years while living in Torino, Northern Italy.
Patti’s fun style of teaching conversational Italian to beginners has become popular among students in Nashville. She introduces geography, cultural aspects of Italy and the basics of spoken Italian for the traveler.
Patti lives with her husband, Gary, her son Nathan and two adorable Maltese dogs in Nashville. She travels back to Italy often to sing and accompany groups.
Angela Galetto-DeVietti
Angela was born in Turin (Italy) and she spent the first 33 years of her life in Pinerolo, where she attended school until the 12th grade, actually the …13th, because in Italy there are five years of High School. Angela attended the “Liceo Classico”, focused mostly on the study of humanities. She earned a degree in Law at the University of Turin in 1979. She married Walter in 1981 and has two children: Eloisa who is now 23 years old and Davide, 19. In 1988 Walter was transferred for work to Mexico with his family. He still today works in Engineering.
From 1990 to 1994 Angela was instructor of Italian at the “ Dante Alighieri ” private school in Monterrey (Mexico). In 1994 the family transferred to Nashville. In the year 2000 Angela organized and taught a full immersion course of Italian for new employees at the Teksid Aluminum Foundry in Dickson (TN). From 2001 to 2005 she was the instructor of Italian at Vanderbilt University, and currently teaches part-time at Belmont University.
Angela says, “I love teaching and enjoy the relationship with my students. Being 100% Italian I am a little atypical because I don’t like coffee, wine and…opera. I like traveling and getting to know new people and new cultures, and this is one of the reasons why I am happy to be here in Tennessee, not as a tourist, but being part of the American life.”
Daniela Ciliberti Nichols
Daniela was born and raised in Ferrara, Italy until she was twenty years old. In 1998 Daniela applied at Harding University, a private Christian College in Searcy, Arkansas, where she received a BS in Interior design and Art in May 2002. She then continued her education at Harding and received a Master of Education in May 2004.
While in College Daniela worked for a Bible Translation Non-Profit Organization, where she was able to put to use her bilingual skills, translating Bible material from English to Italian. Daniela moved to Nashville in May 2004 and is currently working as a
Pre-K teacher for Woodmont Hills Church. She married Ryan Nichols in January 2006 and resides with Ryan in Nashville.
Daniela teaches the children’s classes for Italian for Fun. The children's class is a simple and fun way to learn Italian. Every class period is well planned and ensures that the programs for children are based on current knowledge of child development. The cost of the class includes craft materials and copies. Daniela is very loving, fun and talented teacher.