Workshop: Marta Fairclough (University of Houston) The purpose of this workshop is to offer an overview of current pedagogical practices in the teaching of Spanish as a heritage language in the United States, including some innovative ideas in the field. After a brief introduction to the sociodemographic and linguistic contexts of Spanish in the United States, including some of the main characteristics of heritage language learners (which differentiate them from second language learners of Spanish), we will look at existing pedagogical approaches. The second part of the presentation will focus on the Spanish as a Heritage Language Program at the University of Houston. It will include information about the student population, the courses being offered and their main objectives, the placement exam, and teachers’ professional development. During the last portion of the workshop we will put into practice some of the presented concepts through group activities. Emphasis will be placed on activities to select and design the types of assessment that are better aligned with the curriculum and course goals. Co-sponsored by the Seminar ‘Teaching Spanish as Heritage Language: theory and practice’, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
Photo gallery: https://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/en/galleries/photos/marta-fairclough-teaching-spanish-heritage-language