Amelia Onorato majored in French and European History as an undergraduate, and she later earned Master’s degrees in TESOL and French Education at University of Albany-SUNY. She has worked in New York, Spain, and Massachusetts, teaching English in a variety of settings including refugee resettlement, international business, and higher education.

Since moving to Boston, her teaching has focused on helping students transition successfully to college. In addition to teaching courses in academic writing and critical thinking, Amelia designed and coordinated a successful peer tutoring and advising program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. Since joining the faculty at Boston University CELOP, she has used a content-based instruction approach to adapt undergraduate course materials to meet the needs of international students who are preparing for college study in the U.S. She has taught core and elective classes at all proficiency levels at CELOP, and her teaching is characterized by its use of technology in the classroom, differentiated instruction, and project-based learning. In 2005, the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education selected her as “Outstanding Adult Education Teacher”.

As an experienced educator, Amelia has shared her expertise by supervising field observers from Boston University’s TESOL program, teaching in CELOP’s Madrid Program for Educators, and conducting teacher- training workshops for the Boston Public Schools and Adult Literacy Resource Institute (ALRI). She has given numerous presentations at the TESOL convention and other conferences, and she recently completed two terms on the Board of Directors of WE LEARN, an international organization that promotes women’s literacy and empowerment.

In her leisure time, Amelia enjoys traveling, hosting dinner parties, reading the classics she missed in school, and taking long walks and hikes so that she can prepare to walk the “Camino de Santiago” someday.

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