Thursday, April 10, 2025, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm at the Observatorio Cervantes at Harvard (2 Arrow St, 4th Floor, Cambridge, MA)
This event will be held in person and conducted in Spanish. Click here to RSVP.
Next Thursday, April 10, we will welcome Cristina Sanz and Inma Taboada, both PhDs in Spanish Linguistics, who will join Professor María Luisa Parra in a conversation about some of the key topics addressed in Manual para la formación de profesores de español, a manual for the training of Spanish teachers that they co-edited alongside their colleague Ellen Serafini.
Spanish is not only the language with the largest number of students in the United States, but also the one with the most teachers at all levels of education. To perform their work effectively, Spanish language educators need strong training. Moreover, as in many other professions, they must continue learning and updating their skills while working in classrooms. It is essential for educators to stay informed about new approaches to language teaching, based on advances in research on cognition and second language acquisition, as well as on needs that stem from social realities and sociolinguistic justice.
From this perspective, the volume edited by our guests brings together the collective experience and expertise of teachers and scholars specializing in both the cognitive and social dimensions of teaching and learning Spanish as a second language or heritage language in the U.S. In this conversation, the editors will share some of the most significant reflections that emerged during the development of the volume, along with various pedagogical approaches and their foundations, with the aim of sparking dialogue on the challenges and needs of teacher training in this context.
Cristina Sanz (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is Professor of Spanish and Applied Linguistics at Georgetown University, where she directs both the Spanish program for the School of Foreign Service and the intensive program, both recognized by the AAUSC for their focus on social justice. She also founded and directs Georgetown’s summer program in Barcelona. An expert in bilingualism, she has published over 100 works in the field and has trained hundreds of teachers in the U.S., Spain, and the Philippines.
Inma Taboada (PhD, University of the Basque Country – Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea) is Clinical Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where she coordinates Spanish, French, and German teacher training programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her teaching and research focus on integrating culture into language teaching and on social justice-based approaches.
Ellen J. Serafini (PhD, Georgetown University) is Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Her research and teaching practice focus on developing critical language awareness and student and teacher agency in task-based pedagogical contexts with a critical orientation. Her work has been published in various academic journals and edited volumes. She currently directs the graduate program at her university, which includes the Certificate in Spanish Heritage Language Education (SHLE).