Principal Lecturer of Spanish, Director of Language Instruction of the Basic Language Program in Spanish
Education
M.Ed., Spanish as a Second Language, Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (Applied Linguistics) (University Antonio de Nebrija; Madrid, Spain)
B.A., Spanish (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)
M.A., Workplace Risk Prevention in Safety, Health and Ergonomics (University Politécnica of Madrid)
B.S., Structural Engineering (University Politécnica Superior de La Rábida; Huelva, Spain)
Research/ Teaching Interests
• Strategies for Language Learners
• Teaching and Curriculum Development for Second Language Learners
• Professional Development in SLA
• Use of Technology in Language Courses
• Second Language Acquisition
• Spanish for Professions: Business, Law, Health, and Education
Teaching Experience
• SPA 301, Advanced Spanish
• SPA 311, Spanish Conversation
• SPA 315, Spanish Composition
• SPA 101, Beginning Spanish I
• SPA 101-D, Beginning Spanish I ONLINE
• SPA 102, Beginning Spanish II
• SPA 102-D, Beginning Spanish II ONLINE
• SPA 103, Intensive Beginning Spanish I-II
• SPA 105, Applied Beginning Spanish
• SPA 201, Applied Intermediate Spanish
• SPA 203, Intermediate Spanish I
• SPA 204, Intermediate Spanish II
• SPA 204-D, Intermediate Spanish II ONLINE
• SPA 240, Intermediate Spanish I for Business
Personal Statement
I am proud to have been a part of this fine department since I started as a part-time lecturer in 2005. In the fall of 2008 I was granted a full-time position following a committee search. A year later, in fall 2009, I was asked to assist Dr. Bayonas in the direction of the Basic Language Program in Spanish (BLP) as Assisstant Director. Part of my duties as Assistant Director of Language Instruction involved developing teaching materials for the multi-sectioned SPA 101-204 sequence, including summer and online classes. As a commendation for my contributions in this area, I was honored to receive the Dean’s Merit Award in the area of Teaching and Curriculum Development in June 2010.
During my time as Assistant Director, I was also entrusted with the creation and teaching of new courses inside the Basic Language Program. That was the case for the new SPA 103 Intensive Beginning Spanish course in spring 2012, and the first online Spanish classes (SPA 101 and 102) taught during the summer sessions (Summer I and II of 2012). SPA 103 is a course that combines Beginning Spanish I and II for students with previous knowledge of Spanish from HighSchool or Elementary.
Besides serving as Assistant Director and Spanish Instructor in the Basic Language Program, I was also entrusted with teaching a wide range of courses above the Basic Language Program. That was the case with SPA 301 Advanced Spanish, SPA 315 Intermediate Spanish Composition, and SPA 311 Spanish Conversation, all of which I have taught for several semesters.
In the fall of 2016, I was asked to take on the role of Acting Director of Language Instruction of the Basic Language in Spanish. As of the fall of 2017, I have been proud to take on the title of Director of Language Instruction.
One of the most rewarding challenges I have discovered as Director of Language Instruction is the role of student advisor that this position requires. In order to better serve the students in this capacity, I completed the Blue-Level Workshop (12 hours) and the Gold-Level Workshop (5 hours) of the Advisor Institute Workshop Series, organized by the Office of Retention Initiatives at UNCG in fall of 2017.
With the aim of better serving our students academically, I created in spring of 2018 two new courses for the Basic Language Program, SPA 105 Applied Beginning Spanish and SPA 201 Applied Intermediate Spanish. The purpose of these two new courses is to support the academic needs of students who come to our Basic Language Program in Spanish with previous credit from other institutions or programs, and students with a gap of 5 or more years of institutional credit. They provide an organizeed credit-bearing classroom experience to help these students transition to the academic rigor required by UNCG.
Finally, in fall of 2018 I was deeply honored to be endorsed by the LLC Advisory Commitee for Senior Lecturer. I want to reiterate how proud I am to be part of this fine team that is the LLC department, and I hope to continue to be a helpful member and to contribuite as best I can.
