Professor Mollica Retires

Brock University's teacher creates student bursaries created as departing gift

Professor Anthony Mollica retires, but he's busier than ever. After a 40-year career, full of rewards and satisfaction, he's now totally immersed in book-writing. His next work, which will be published in Canada and Italy in the fall, will bear the title Ludolinguistics, Creativity and Motivation in Glottology. Other books are being prepared for publication.
Professor Mollica took his leave from his colleagues and friends with a praiseworthy initiative. He had been asked what he wanted as a souvenir. "I already had a watch and a camera, and I had no need for an airplane ticket. So I thought,' told us Mollica, "to create a fund for bursaries to help students who wish to become teachers of Italian."
Mollica's wish was fulfilled beyond his expectations.
"I was surprised by the response," he tells. "My colleagues and friends gave generously, when they heard of the destination of the money. Instead of the usual $20, they gave as much as $100. We collected $5,000, and split the sum in 10 bursaries of $500 each, and maybe the government will double that sum."
Anthony Mollica is Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Pedagogy of Brock University in St. Catharines. He began teaching after graduating from University of Toronto, in 1963. He later worked for the Ministry of Education, and finally returned to teach as a full professor.
Mollica is proud of his past and his achievements. "I became professor emeritus without getting a PhD, because the commission deemed my publications of the same value."
Anthony Mollica's work has won him many rewards; the latest came from Venice's Università Ca' Foscari, which presented him the award "Una vita per l'italiano" (A Life for Italian). The motivation was read by Rector Pierfrancesco Ghetti in the presence of the Minister for Italians Abroad Mirko Tremaglia. It reads, "Anthony Mollica has held the chair of AATI, the Association of American Teachers of Italian, for two mandates, establishing the principle that every two year the Association holds its meeting in Italy. However, Anthony Mollica's action in favour of Italian has not been merely institutional and operational. With his courses, his conferences, his books, and the Mosaic magazine that he founded and still edits, Anthony Mollica formed a generation of teachers, spread the awareness of the need for high professional qualification in glottodidactics, and not just in U.S. and Canadian departments of Italian Studies, but also with annual workshops at Perugia's and Siena's Universities for Foreigners, and at Venice's ITALS Laboratory.
A deep scholar of the problems of bilingualism, Anthony Mollica has contributed in a significant way to the history of glottodidactics, especially by valorizing the motivational and affective aspects of teaching, in a logic of playful teaching that transforms grammar into a joyful discovery, tests in language games, and the seriousness of many courses in humour. Over the past few years, Ludodidactis has become a subject in Italy as well, and it bears one name: Anthony Mollica."

Publication Date: 2004-05-30
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4034