Alessia Valfredini has a background in pedagogy. A graduate of Università di Torino, she holds a diploma from the Italian Teachers Training School with a concentration in sociologic-psychological-pedagogic studies. Before coming to the United States in 2004, she taught in a number of Italian schools and institutions, and worked as a member of the Regione Lombardia Research Group on the Italian National School System Reform for the foreign languages area. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Language, Literacy and Learning in the Graduate School of Education at Fordham. In April 2006, she delivered the paper, "How To Teach Our Students to Be Active Foreign Language Readers," at the Northeast Conference for the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Her research interests include the role of meta-cognitive strategies in language learning, writing in a foreign language, and bilingualism. She coordinates the Italian language program at both Rose Hill and Lincoln Center.