As an American institution of higher education in Rome, John Cabot University promotes interaction between the international academic community and its surroundings. JCU offers cultural resources and educational activities to Italian high school teachers and their students, free of charge.
All programs are certifiable for PCTO, Work-Related Activities Requirement/Percorsi per le Competenze Trasversali e per l’Orientamento, and are offered to Italian high schools in English. All programs are available online; some activities are in-person at JCU and at your school.
Find out more about these programs and the opportunities for Professional Development for Teachers. Download our brochure in English or in Italian and the document Summary of Offer and Activities-criteria and timeline.
For more information, write to [email protected]
Professional Development for Teachers - write to [email protected] to find out about opportunities and how to join.
Students interested in earning PCTO certification - ask your teacher or PCTO Tutor to register you for one or more of the programs listed below.
Students currently enrolled at JCU or at one of our partner universities across the globe can apply to become a Mentor for one of the programs using the Mentor Registration Form.
This program is offered on Google Classrooms and is certifiable for 8-28 hours for PCTO. All material is presented in asynchronous form, not in live streaming.
Both sessions are equivalent. Teachers indicate ONE SESSION for their students when registering them. All activities relevant to the session must be concluded before the deadline for each session.
SESSION I - 11 November - 27 January
SESSION II - 10 February - 30 March
Students must register through their teacher/PCTO Tutor, who will use the Unique Registration and Request Form.
For more information, write to [email protected]
JCU’s English language reading and cultural exchange program, Italy Reads, since 2009, provides a variety of activities around a work of American literature. Certifiable for 2-100 hours for PCTO. Read about the activities for PCTO with Italy Reads.
Teachers select from among the activities offered based on the interests and level of English of their students.
Italy Reads 2025-2026 focuses on American short-story writer and poet (1938-1988) Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
For more information write to [email protected].
For details and to register for individual events, please see the Calendar of Events page.
September
Teacher Training Workshop
October/November
Keynote Address
Master Class with Keynote Address Speaker
Students Interview Keynote Speaker
November-December
Students Interview Guest Lecturers
January
Deadline for students to enter the Italy Reads Student Video Contest
Professional Development Course for High School Teachers (online) Teaching a Work by TBA. Jan.-May 2026)
February
Presentation by students of Digital Newsletters including interviews conducted
March
Video Contest Award Ceremony
Italy Reads Theatre in collaboration with The English Theatre of Rome. Performances will be at John Cabot University March 9-13.
April
Teacher Training Workshop at JCU
Italy Writes is JCU’s national Creative Writing Contest for high school students (scuola secondaria di secondo grado) whose primary language of instruction is NOT English. Since 2010, JCU's Italy Writes has partnered with the prestigious University of Iowa's International Writing Program for this contest, encouraging students and recognizing excellence in developing their creative voices in the English language.
Available for certification of up to 10 hours for PCTO.
All high school students are encouraged to participate in the contest regardless of their interest in earning PCTO certification.
JCU will provide resources to teachers interested in guiding their students in structured preparation for the Italy Writes Contest. Teachers can register their students for PCTO, using the Unique Registration and Request Form, and receive additional resources to use in their in-class writing workshops.
Students can choose one of the following categories:
Fiction (Narrativa)
Non-Fiction (Saggistica)
1 March - Deadline to submit entries using this Contest Submission Form. The award ceremony will be held online in late May/early June. Awards are announced by the Writer in Residence for JCU's Institute for Creative Writing and Literary Translation. For more information, write to [email protected]
JCU’s Institute for Entrepreneurship offers this national, English-language pitching competition for Italian high-school students - Italy Pitches. Participating students will be introduced to concepts such as corporate social responsibility (CSR), creating shared value (CSV), and impact investing. They will also learn how to construct an advocacy narrative, and how to translate it visually using digital skills. Completely online and certifiable for 30 hours for PCTO.
Students must register through their teacher/PCTO Tutor, who will use the Unique Registration and Request Form. Deadline to apply: February 2.
Martina Fantinelli, Raffaele Salari, and Alice Fattori, Class III L (Professor Giulia Gatticchi) at Liceo Scientifico Statale "Giovanni Keplero", Rome (RM), for Salvatore Ferragamo
Karol Passari and Angelica Farris, Class III B (Professor Roberta Barni) at IIS Eliano Luzzatti, Palestrina (RM), for Poste Italiane
Giulia Tirapelle, Olimpia Maria Vittoria Perugini, and Aurora Merlini, Class I E, (Professor Marina Schiaroli) at IIS Classico Artistico - Liceo Classico G. C. Tacito, Terni (TR), for Barilla.
Emma Ariel Di Matteo, Class III BLC (Professor Anna Ferrari) at IIS Via delle Sette Chiese, Roma (RM), for Barilla
Emma Biancucci and Aurora Sportoletti, Class IV N (Professor Maria Rita Mastronardi) at IIS Via delle Scienze, Colleferro (RM), for Arcor
Alessandro Barbieri, Valerio Belluzzi, and Lorenzo Tomassi, Class III L (Professor Giulia Gatticchi) at Liceo Scientifico Statale "Giovanni Keplero", Rome (RM), for Poste Italiane
Maria Prosperi, Maria Elena Valeri, and Martina Valeri, Class IV O (Professor Silvia Bartolomei) at IIS Via delle Scienze, Colleferro (RM), for Salvatore Ferragamo
Dawid Antuszewski and Matteo Minale, Class III L (Professor Giulia Gatticchi) at Liceo Scientifico Statale "Giovanni Keplero", Rome (RM), for Piaggio
Honorable Mention for performance on social media goes to Iulia Elena Danaila, Stefano Del Mastro, and Mattia Zinno, Class III L (Professor Giulia Gatticchi) at Liceo Scientifico Statale "Giovanni Keplero", Rome (RM), for Barilla.
Italy Starts, a Peer-to-Peer Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program in English. University students (Mentors) volunteer to work with Italian High School Students (Mentees) to solve real business problems or develop business models for their business or social venture idea toward improving the Environment. This program is aimed at third and fourth-year students enrolled in Italian high schools. It will be conducted online. Certifiable for 40 hours for PCTO.
Students must apply for selection for this program through their teacher/PCTO Tutor, who will use the Unique Registration and Request Form. Deadline to apply: 9 December 2025.
These programs provide professional development opportunities and online resources to teachers and their students. Resources and sample lesson plans are available at Italy Reads Resources for Teachers. The material relevant to the current year is updated as we proceed through the academic year. Material from past editions can be accessed at Italy Reads Archives.
High School Teachers can apply to participate in the Italy Reads 2026-2027 Professional Development Course (Jan. - May 2026). The link to the Application Form will be posted here in November. Deadline to apply: January 19.
If you missed the Italy Reads 2025-2026 Professional Development Course, please write to [email protected] to receive all the information you need to join today.
Italy Reads 2009 - Teaching with Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
Italy Reads 2010 - Teaching with Thornton Wilder's Our Town
Italy Reads 2011 - Teaching with Carson McCullers's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Italy Reads 2012 - Teaching with F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
Italy Reads 2013 - Teaching with Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake
Italy Reads 2014 - Teaching with Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms
Italy Reads 2015 - Teaching with Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye
Italy Reads 2016 - Teaching with Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie
Italy Reads 2017 - Teaching with Emily Dickinson's Selected Poems
Italy Reads 2018 - Teaching with Flannery O'Connor's Short Stories
Italy Reads 2019 - Teaching with Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass
Italy Reads 2020 - Teaching with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Italy Reads 2021 - Teaching with William Demby's Beetlecreek
Italy Reads 2022 - Teaching with Margaret Fuller's Summer on the Lakes in 1843
Italy Reads 2023 - Teaching with Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology
Italy Reads 2024 - Teaching with Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Italy Reads 2025 - Teacher with Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Spring 2018, Information and Misinformation in a Fake News World by Visiting Professor Deanna Lee
Summer 2014, Media Literacy for Teaching English - a workshop for teachers by Professor Antonio Lopez
All of the above-listed programs can satisfy PCTO (Dlg.107/15) requirements for Italian high school students. Schools across Italy (170) have participated in at least one of the Programs for High Schools, and 131 of these have signed an Agreement with John Cabot University to participate in at least one of the activities offered for PCTO.
What are the requirements? Required for PCTO-associated participation:
For further information about Programs for High Schools at JCU, write to [email protected].
