Upcoming Events

Strategies for Grammar Development and Differentiation: Bringing Heritage Language Research to Life

This webinar reinforces crucial concepts for the understanding of the diverse profiles of Spanish heritage speakers in Texas. Specifically, it analyzes questions about the maintenance of Spanish in different heritage speakers, concentrating on the variability between individuals (that is, why one speaker speaks Spanish in one way and a different speaker in another). Moreover, it takes a closer look at why their knowledge is impacted by regularity in verb conjugations and the frequency with which heritage speakers use certain words. Following these theoretical findings, we propose the implementation of an adapted version of the PACE model (Presentation, Attention, Co-Construction, Extension; Adair-Hauck & Donato, 2002¹) in the classroom. The PACE model offers strategies for scaffolding and differentiation that allow students of different levels of Spanish to work together in the development of their grammars in an implicit way. This webinar’s attendees will familiarize themselves with the dynamic nature of heritage Spanish in Texas and with valuable strategies that can be implemented in a classroom of students with different levels and attitudes towards their heritage language.

Presenters

Patrick Thane is an assistant professor of Spanish Applied Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Texas at Austin. He researches how Spanish as a heritage language develops in bilingual children and adults. He is also an advocate for bilingual education.

Dr. Julio César López Otero is an assistant professor in the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston. He specializes in bilingualism and second language acquisition, with a focus on heritage Spanish in the United States and Brazil.

Registration

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1. Adair-Hauck, B., & Donato, R. (2002). The PACE Model: A story-based approach to meaning and form for standards-based language learning. The French Review, 76(2), 265–276.

Fostering linguistic and cultural critical awareness through the arts and creativity

This presentation explores the role of creativity as a powerful tool to foster critical linguistic and cultural awareness. Participants will gain insights into key theoretical perspectives on creativity as an individual, collaborative, and social process. The session will also present concrete ideas for integrating multidimensional creativity into the curriculum through content, tasks, and projects.

Presenter

María Luisa Parra Velasco is the Director of the Spanish Language Program in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. She holds a degree in Psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a PhD in Hispanic Linguistics from El Colegio de México. Her research focuses on Spanish acquisition and pedagogy among Latino children and youth in the United States. In her teaching, she integrates multiliteracies, critical pedagogy, and the arts, with an emphasis on youth and community engagement. She was awarded Babson College’s “Most Innovative Professor” prize in 2019 and named one of Harvard students’ favorite professors in 2022.

Registration

Registration is free! Click the button below to register.