Cultures, Linguistics, Literatures, and Concepts from Other Disciplines-CAEP Principle B: Content

Through my appointment as a teaching assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and as a summer visiting instructor at the University of Deusto in Spain, I have accumulated extensive teaching experience, working with diverse groups of students while using varied teaching techniques. I have taught the entire basic Spanish sequence at UNL, as well as intermediate and advanced content courses.

Literature and Art class in Spanish at UNL: With this group activity students needed to create an original piece of art following the Felix González-Torres' artistic concept of "Relational Art".

For culture, I know how to investigate and hypothesize about the dynamic dimensions of Spanish culture and language. I can analyze in Spanish new cultural information, including information contained in documents, interactions with native speakers, and social. For literary texts and those from other disciplines, I can identify the contributions of major Spanish and Latino American writers, thinkers, artists, and cultural icons, the roles they play, and references made to them in the culture. I can read at the level of analysis, interpretation, and synthesis, using my knowledge of the literary and cultural traditions to interpret changes in the culture over time. I can compare and contrast literary and cultural traditions in Spanish culture with Latin American cultures. (ACTFL & CAEP 9-10).

Cultural materials for Spanish Literature and Art

For linguistics, I understand Spanish language system and its major linguistic features (i.e., phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics). I can diagnose pronunciation problems. I can describe how words are formed (morphological rules), how sentences are put together (syntactic patterns), and how meaning is conveyed (semantics). I can describe the rules for word and sentence formation such as those pertaining to the verb system (time, aspect, mood), agreement (nouns and adjectives/articles, verbs and subjects), word order, the pronominal system, use of key prepositions/postpositions, and interrogatives. I can describe the structure, function, and meaning of Spanish discourse. I understand and describe Spanish features for producing coherence (i.e., connection between and among sentences) in spoken and written discourse (e.g., expressions such as first, next), and pragmatic features of Spanish discourse. I understand and can identify the sociolinguistic features of Spanish; that is, ways in which Spanish discourse can be tailored for a particular person or cultural or social context (ACTFL & CAEP 9-10).

Linguistic materials created to teach grammar in Spanish upper-level classes

Cultural and Linguistic Experiences in Spanish

I expand my own language proficiency and cultural knowledge through independent and on-going work with literary and cultural texts. I expand my academic knowledge by reading texts in a variety of media formats, as well as by listening to and/or viewing film, video, or the Internet from a variety of disciplinary sources. I seek opportunities to collaborate with other disciplines because I believe that other subject areas can be enhanced through language study (ACTFL & CAEP 9-10).

As part of my pedagogical training, I have taken classes in the Department of Education at UNL since 2016 and I will also graduate in Summer 2021 with a Master’s degree in Education. In these classes, I have learned and practiced new methodological techniques for teaching second languages, including the design of curricula for Spanish classes and the use of applications and digital tools to teach and learn remotely. I have also taken classes on the importance of bilingualism and intercultural communication in the classroom to educate in diversity. In addition, I created six didactic units in Spanish for heritage speakers for using during an academic course.

Since 2016 to 2021, I was the Faculty-Lead for a UNL Study Abroad program in Bilbao, Spain. This experience let me mentoring students in the process of language and cultural acquisition while witnessing their growth at both individual and interpersonal levels, which is a particular rewarding experience for me.