About Me

I'm Dr. Patrick Thane, bilingualism scholar and bilingual education advocate, dedicated tennis fan, frequent traveler, and aviation enthusiast (in case you couldn't tell above; fun fact, this picture was taken on the way back from a linguistics conference!).

I hold a Ph.D. in Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition from Rutgers University. My dissertation was on heritage language development in dual-language immersion programs in February 2023. I currently work as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Dual Lab in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Houston with Professor Anny Castilla-Earls. My primary responsibilities involve researching Spanish language development over the early childhood years in children who are typically developing as well as who have developmental language disorders. Such initiatives are essential for distinguishing between typical bilingual development and language disorders, with the goal of providing appropriate interventions to multilingual and multicultural students. I previously served as a Postdoctoral Fellow of Bilingual Education, Equity, and Inclusion at the Western Massachusetts Bilingual Hub at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I worked with local schools to increase Spanish-speaking students' access to bilingual education and implemented the Seal of Biliteracy for university course credits.

Growing up in New York City and northern New Jersey, linguistic diversity was a big part of my everyday life, but I come from an English-speaking family. I had two fabulous Spanish teachers at school, one in elementary and one in high school. I began studying Spanish in earnest when I was fifteen, and subsequently pursued a degree in it at the undergrad level. While in college, I had the opportunity to teach adults and children, which motivated me to combine my passions to become a bilingual teacher. In particular, working in Trenton, NJ with English-Spanish bilinguals was particularly motivating, not to mention hugely beneficial for my own linguistic development.

Throughout all of these experiences, I have had the fortune of traveling multiple times to Spain to study and to work. I have spent approximately two years in Spain, mostly in Granada and in Madrid. I have taught and worked as a volunteer in an elementary school in Alcorcón, a suburb of Madrid.

Since I have a passion for travel and language (and for flying), when I'm not working in schools, doing experiments, or teaching my undergraduate courses, you'll probably find me hopping a plane somewhere, as these pictures might have given away. I also love to play and watch tennis, and while I was raised a city boy, I'm a big fan of the country and enjoying the fresh air by going running.

To learn more about me and my work, please feel free to peruse my ResearchGate profile or the other pages on my website. Welcome and thanks for visiting!