Spanish in the United States: Teaching Spanish to Spanish Speakers

This course is an introduction to issues concerning Spanish language use in the United States social context and the teaching of Spanish to Spanish heritage speakers. We will tie discussions of academic needs and linguistic knowledge of Heritage speakers with research on the relationship between language and society in several Spanish-speaking communities. This course will cover pedagogical principals and approaches that take into consideration the different set of competencies that heritage speakers have when learning Spanish. During the course, students will develop practical applications for the heritage speaker in their classroom: materials development, lesson planning, and in-class expectations. (1 unit)

Required Text: Kim Potowski, Fundamentos de la ensenanza del espanol a hispanohablantes en los EEUU (Madrid: Arco Libros, 2005); other materials will be provided in electronic form on Segue.