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Summer Language Institute for Spanish Teachers

Coursework

Through courses on language acquisition and pedagogy as well as language and culture courses, you will improve both your language proficiency and cultural understanding while becoming a better teacher. The Institute leads to a Master of Arts in Spanish Language Teaching.

• Overview
• Courses / Master's Degree
• 2010 Courses

Overview:

In the Summer Institute for Spanish Teachers (a banner program of the SOU Center for Language Studies), you will perfect your language skills and enhance cultural understanding while receiving the most current training on language pedagogy and methodology. You will expand your linguistic and professional skills and go home ready to apply your new knowledge directly to lessons and materials for your classroom.

The Institute is specifically designed to meet the needs of middle school, high school and community college Spanish teachers. The program builds on the National Standards for Language Learning and incorporates recommendations for language teacher training developed by NCATE and ACTFL.

The Institute offers you the opportunity to earn a Master of Arts in Spanish Language Teaching over three summers. The program is also appropriate for teachers who are not seeking a master's degree but who need additional credits to retain or renew their certification. Space permitting, non-Masters candidates may attend individual sessions.

The SOU Center for Language Studies was developed after eight years of successful cooperation between Southern Oregon University and high school teachers through the Southern Oregon Foreign Language Articulation project (SOFLA). One of only eight projects selected nationally to participate in the Modern Language Association High School to College Articulation project, SOFLA has sponsored an average of 2-3 workshops a year for language teachers since 1998, bringing in nationally recognized language educators and creating links with ACTFL and other professional organizations.

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Master's Degree:

The Summer Institute for Spanish Teachers offers you the opportunity to earn a Master of Arts in Spanish Language Teaching (a total of 45 credits) over three summers. You may earn up to 18 credits each summer. NOTE: The Oregon University System is on a "quarter credit" system. For those of you NOT pursuing an MA through the SLI, and are taking courses simply to meet licensing requirements, make sure your licensing agency will transfer the correct semester credits. 

Course Work includes:

Five 3-credit required core courses:

#1 FL 511, Second Language Acquisition: Theory and Practice
#2 FL 512, Teaching for Proficiency: Methods and Strategies
#3 FL 513, Foreign Language Assessment: Principles and Strategies
#4 FL 514, Action Research
#5 FL 515, Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom

Core courses are taught in English. While we recommend you take core courses 1-3 in the above numbered order, they may be taken in any order. Action Research must be taken after core courses 1-3 and before your final summer. The Technology course is offered during the winter quarter (Jan-March) and may be taken any time.

A minimum of thirty credits of Hispanic Language and Culture courses:

Language and culture courses vary each summer. Each language or culture course has a companion course on pedagogical practices relative to the language or culture topic. All language and culture courses, as well as companion pedagogical courses, are taught in Spanish. With advisor approval, topics courses may be repeated for credit when the topic changes. A sample of Language and Culture courses and their companion pedagogy courses include the following 

• Communicative Grammar (3 credits) with Teaching Grammar in Context (2 credits)
• Spanish/Latin American Film (3 credits) with Teaching Language with Film (2 credits)
• Topics in Spanish/Latin American Culture (contemporary and historical) (3 credits) with Teaching Language through Culture (2 credits)
• Contemporary Spanish/Latin American Theater (3 credits) with Teaching Language through Theater (2 credits)
• Spanish/Latin American Music (3 credits) with Music in the Foreign Language classroom (2 credits)
• Topics in Spanish/Latin American Literature (3 credits) with Teaching Language through Literature (2 credits)
• Topics in Spanish/Latin American Art (3 credits) with Teaching Language through Art (2 credits)
• Topics in Spanish Linguistics: Spanish Pronunciation (3 credits) with Teaching Correct Pronunciation (2 credits)

At least ten credits must come from Spanish 516, which may be repeated for credit as topic changes.  Up to nine graduate credits can be transferred from other accredited institutions.  

Masters candidates must take all but the conversation/grammar class during a three-week session. The conversation/grammar class is an additional option which may count toward your nine elective credits. You may attend one or both of the three-week summer sessions. Masters candidates expecting to complete the program in three years must take both sessions at least two of the three summers. Space permitting, non-masters candidates may attend individual sessions.

During the school year prior to your final year in the program, if you are a masters candidate, you will conduct an action research project with your own students/at your own school. You will write a paper documenting the project and make a presentation about this action research project during your final summer. Based on feedback from your advisor, you may be expected to modify and resubmit the paper after your final summer. The action research project, presentation and paper take the place of a thesis project.

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2010 Courses

On-line Core Course, Winter Quarter

FL 515,Technology in the Classroom (3 credits) - Dr. Dennie Hoopingarner

Transforms knowledge into practice about Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and pedagogy, while focusing on the use of technology in the foreign language classroom. Fosters professional development as students formulate critical skills for creating, integrating, and assessing technology into the classroom. Topics may include interactive and non-interactive hypermedia technologies, Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), language testing and technology, distance learning, online discussions, and software selection.

 

Core Courses Summer Session 1

*  1. FL 511, Second Language Acquisition (3 credits) - Dr. Mary O'Donnell
Provides students with an overview of the most current theories of second language acquisition and the teaching methodologies that result from these approaches. Students will detail differences between and similarities among the various models of second language acquisition as they learn how to identify and integrate them into the foreign language classroom.

** 2. FL 513, FL Assessment (3 credits) - Dr. Susan Hildebrandt

Explores the many ways to assess foreign language proficiency. Compares traditional testing measures with more recent performance-based assessment methods and portfolio assessment models. Students study various assessment instruments and resources, as well as learning how to integrate assessment practices with foreign language standards.

* New students

** Returning students

Electives Summer Session 1 (Students choose both a and b of one grouping)

3a. SPAN 582, Advanced Level Writing Workshop (3 credits) - Dr. Gustavo Mejía

This course provides participants with opportunities to develop or improve writing skills at the Advanced Level in the ACTFL scale.  Class activities will focus on Advanced Level functions, such as detailed description and narration in different time frames; dealing with linguistically unfamiliar situations, and expressing and supporting opinion at different levels of abstraction. This is a writing intensive course that requires students to submit a writing portfolio at the end of the course.

3b. SPAN 516, Developing Writing Activities for the Intermediate Level (2 credits) - Dr. Gustavo Mejía

This is a practical course designed to help teachers create activities that they can use in their own classrooms to help their students develop their writing skills at the Pre-advanced or Intermediate level. Participants will analyze different model activities and will be guided through the process of adapting these activities to their curriculum needs.

 

4a. SPAN 581, Origins and Characteristics of American Spanish (3 credits) - Dr. Sonia Kania

This course will study the origins of American Spanish. It will start with a review of the rudiments of Spanish phonetics and phonology. From there we will analyze the linguistic characteristics of 15th- and 16th-century Spanish, in other words, the language that was brought to the Americas. We will also examine the relevant theories regarding the origin and configuration of the American varieties of Spanish. After this introductory preparation, we will look at the most salient linguistic characteristics of colonial American Spanish. Finally, the course will conclude with an overview of the principal modern dialects of Latin America that resulted from this historical evolution, concentrating on the phonology.

4b. SPAN 516, Inclusive Practices in the Spanish Classroom (2 credits) - Dr. Susan Hildebrandt

The Standards for Foreign Language Learning are meant to help ALL students “develop and maintain proficiency in English and at least one other language.” Given the ever-increasing diversity of students in the Spanish classroom, that is easier said than done. This two-credit course will highlight inclusive strategies for all students. Stemming from research with students with disabilities (Scott, McGuire, and Shaw, 2003), this course will help Spanish teachers address the diverse needs of not only students with disabilities, but gifted and talented students and heritage language speakers as well. By engaging in proactive strategies, teachers can help their students learn Spanish in a meaningful and inclusive way.

 

5a. SPAN 581, Applied Linguistics for Teachers of Spanish (3 credits) - Dr. Judith Liskin-Gasparro

This course is an introduction to applied linguistics with a special focus on the needs and interests of Spanish teachers. The course address areas of Spanish that are problematic for English-speaking learners, such as pronouns, the verb system and the difference between tense and aspect, the concept of mood, and lexicon/semantics. It also introduces the concept of pragmatics and cross-cultural pragmatic differences. Finally, the course includes units on technology in language teaching/learning and an introduction to issues in testing and assessment.

5b. SPAN 516, Evaluating Oral Proficiency (2 credits) - Dr. Judith Liskin-Gasparro

This practice-based course consists of training in scoring the Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) (produced by the Center for Applied Linguistics), as well as reflection on the applications of the SOPI in Spanish language programs. The course includes studying the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for Speaking in depth, rating speech samples at all levels of proficiency (but with a focus on proficiency levels of most high school students), comparing the SOPI to other speaking tests, and using the SOPI as a teaching tool, as well as an assessment instrument).

 

6. SPAN 507, Advanced Grammar (OPTIONAL, 1 credit) - Dr. Sonia Kania

Core Courses Summer Session 2

*    1. FL 512, Methods: Teaching for Proficiency (3 credits) - Dr. Catherine Barrette
Explores how proficiency standards can be applied in the classroom in conjunction with state and local standards based on the national standards for foreign language education as established by the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Students learn how to integrate the five Cs of foreign language education: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities, with clearly defined proficiency standards for foreign language performance.

**  2. FL 514, Action Research (3 credits) - Dr. Troy Crawford (syllabus and writing assignment)

Introduces students to research methodologies that pursue action (change) and research (understanding) concurrently. Students will learn how to do a systematic inquiry into the teaching/learning environment of a classroom with the goal of developing reflective teaching practices. This course is intended as preparation for an action research project that students will conduct over the course of the following year.

*  New Students   

** Returning students
 
Electives Summer Session 2 (Students choose both a and b of one grouping)

3a. SPAN 541, Contemporary Mexican Culture (3 credits) - Dr. Craig Bergeson

In order to improve our understanding of Mexico, we will focus on the three “Ps” of culture: products, practices, and perspectives. We will analyze products and practices in order to determine perspectives. Some of the products studied may include art, dance, film, food, music, and literature. Some of the practices may include family life, friendships, pastimes, religious practices, and work. Students will experience these aspects of Mexican culture through readings and various other media, and they will analyze them through class discussions, presentations, and essays.
3b. SPAN 516, Teaching Culture (2 credits) - Dr. Craig Bergeson

We will read about, discuss, and practice methods of integrating culture into the communicative language classroom, with a focus on the three “Ps” of culture: products, practices and perspectives.

 

4a. SPAN 525, Identidades latinas en los Estados Unidos (3 credits) - Dr. Kim Potowski

This course explores linguistic and artistic representations of "latinidad" in the U.S.  In the first module, devoted to language, we will explore the debate about the terms “Hispanc” vs. “Latino” and briefly analyze the principal linguistic characteristics of U.S. Spanish and the ways in which identity is expressed through language.  In this module, course participants will analyze interview transcripts with U.S. Spanish speakers for issues of language and identity.  In the second module, we will turn to U.S. Latino literature written in Spanish, working primarily with Cuentos hispanos de los Estados Unidos (Juan Olivares, ed., 1998). The syllabus and many course readings will be uploaded to http://potowski.org/latinidades.

4b. SPAN 516, Autobiografías lingüísticas (2 credits) - Dr. Kim Potowski

Students will explore the pedagogical value of an autobiografía lingüística (Aparicio 1997) in heritage speaker courses and will learn to develop and use rubrics for Spanish biographical writing. Prior to the start of the course, participants are required to complete a 2-hour free online Human Subjects Protection course and are highly encouraged to gather 10 autobiografía lingüísticas from heritage speaker students in their area using the assignment specified at http://potowski.org/autobiografia (although this is not required). After briefly discussing How I learned English (Miller 2007) as a background to linguistic autobiography, students will read, develop a rubric for, and evaluate a group of approximately 50 student autobiografías lingüísticas.

 

5a. SPAN 520, Globalizing Mexican Cinema after NAFTA (3 credits) - Dr. Enrique Marquez

The course examines the recent resurgence of Mexican cinema through films that aim to re-shape Mexico's self-images and cultural symbols in radically novel ways, and engage a global audience. Films are organized around the theme of national identity and the global challenges it now faces. Through the films, we’ll be able to examine, and through the films we'll examine significant aspects of political, economic, social, and aesthetic tensions that have characterized the construction of "nation" and constitution of Mexican identity. Films (some with English subtitles) to be viewed and discussed include works from Cuarón, del Toro, González-Inárruti, Reygadas, Sistach, Schyfter, and others. Language of instruction, class discussion, and assessment: Spanish. Reading materials in Spanish and English. Assessment: review of films, 2 papers (thematic approach, director's oeuvre).

5b. SPAN 516, Image to Word: Cortometraje, Using Short Fiction Film in the Spanish Classroom (2 credits) - Dr. Enrique Marquez

Practicum aimed at developing classroom strategies to develop Spanish language skills at the Intermediate level-listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing-and cultural aspects through the use of fiction short films from Argentina, Mexico, and Spain, ranging from 2-15 minutes in length. Class will feature a diverse series of cortos which will serve as basis for individual curricular projects.

 

6. SPAN 510, Advanced Conversation (Optional, 1 credit) Escuela de Idiomas Staff

Designed to improve Spanish conversational skills. Students will learn about and discuss a wide variety of current topics, including historical influences on contemporary culture; art and media; and societal, religious, and political institutions. This course may be taken for repeat credit. Up to 3 credits may be applied to degree requirements.

 

 

Plan to arrive on Saturday in order to attend the orientation activities on the following Sunday.

Evenings will be spent preparing class assignments and at an occasional special event.

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Summer Language Institute for Spanish Teachers