ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT AND CLASSROOM VISITS
To stimulate student' interest in the Spanish speaking world, and in order to encourage them to further their education in Spanish, I visit local high schools and give talks on the importance of Spanish in our increasingly global –both personal and professional– lives. While at Francis Marion University, I arranged the visits of numerous students from various local middle and high schools to our campus, where they attended Spanish language classes and experienced first-hand college language instruction. I also assisted my advanced Spanish students with internship programs that explicitly require the use of Spanish and direct interaction with the members of the Hispanic community. |
WORKSHOPS
All the workshops that I have developed are hands-on, and include various levels of engagement. I have organized cooking workshops for both high-schoolers and Spanish majors on various occasions. As part of the workshop, we learn about the historically diverse culinary traditions of Spain and Latin America. At the Governor's School, I organized a number of art workshops, where students analyze a selection of Spanish and Latin American paintings, murals and frescoes, and then recreate a work of their choice. Both at Francis Marion University and the SC Governor's School for Science and Mathematics, I also had the opportunity to organize workshops on medieval calligraphy and manuscript illumination. At these workshops we learn, among other things, to identify and read medieval calligraphy, treat feathers for writing, mix pigments, and apply gold leafs to illuminations. See pictures here. TUTORING
During my tenure at Francis Marion University, I served as Spanish tutor. I worked side by side with a committed group of student tutors and other fellow professors to better assist our students with their written assignments. I also served as the co-director of the Spanish tutoring services at the Governor's School for Sciences and Mathematics. |
PROMOTION, RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION
To further promote the importance of Spanish, I have organized career information sessions that highlight the professional value of mastering a second language. For those sessions, I always bring guest speakers from different professional fields to share with the audience the numerous benefits that Spanish brought to their careers "The participants at the Career and Information Session really put it into perspective how learning Spanish could aid me in the long run, especially on the job front. As a painting major I've never really thought of a second language as a good quality for prospective jobs."
- Kaitlin Elmore, student "I went to the language speaking session. It was actually interesting because I've always thought that the only thing you could do with a language major was teach afterward. I'm actually considering a Spanish minor with my pre-nursing major. It was really interesting to hear those speakers talk about how they were able to benefit from knowing two languages." - Erick Miller, student. "We had a very successful Career Information Session today for Modern Languages, with over 50 students in attendance. Speakers from Florence, Puerto Rico and New York shared how learning a foreign language helped them get their dream jobs. Congrats to FMU Spanish professor Dr. María Garcia Otero for putting together such a fine program!" - Dr. Elizabeth Zahnd, Professor of French. "I look forward to continuing my Spanish learning career. " - Anna Paton, student |