Electives
SPAN 581: Bilingualism
Dr. Julio Torres – 3 credits
Who is bilingual? What does it mean to know and use two or more languages? How do history, politics, and society shape bilingual speakers—and what do these questions mean for the teaching of Spanish? This course explores a range of bilingual contexts in which Spanish comes into contact with one or more languages. Students will examine the historical and political forces that have shaped different forms of societal bilingualism throughout the Spanish-speaking world and consider how these broader forces influence the linguistic experiences of individual bilinguals. We will also investigate the grammatical, psycholinguistic, and acquisitional patterns that characterize Spanish as used and developed by bilingual speakers. The course begins by examining how bilingualism is defined and the many variables that shape an individual’s position along the bilingual continuum. After introducing key concepts in societal bilingualism and psycholinguistics, we will take a brief journey through bilingual communities in Spain and Latin America. The course concludes with an in-depth exploration of bilingualism in the United States, with particular attention to Spanish heritage speakers and the implications of their linguistic experiences for Spanish language teaching.
SPAN 516: Designing Assessment and Pedagogic Tasks
Dr. Julio Torres – 2 credits
Grounded in the principles of task-based language teaching (TBLT), this course introduces students to the central components of a task-based approach to curriculum design. Organized as a hands-on workshop, the course guides students through the process of designing assessment tasks that reflect learners’ communicative and academic goals across instructional levels and educational contexts. These contexts include elementary and secondary education, world language and dual-language immersion programs, and courses that include heritage language and neurodivergent learners. For each assessment task, students will develop a sequence of pedagogic tasks that prepares learners to achieve the targeted communicative objectives. By the end of the course, students will have created practical, classroom-ready materials and developed a coherent framework for aligning learning objectives, instruction, and assessment.
SPAN 521: Teaching AP Spanish Literature and Culture in Dialogue with Contemporary Film, Art, and Music
Dr. María Paz Pintane – 3 credits
This course approaches the Spanish-language literary canon as an active workshop for cultural critique, advanced language acquisition, and creative pedagogy. Designed for both current and aspiring AP Spanish Literature teachers as well as educators simply seeking a panoramic cultural immersion to deepen their understanding of the Spanish speaking world, we explore how some of the canonical masterworks in the AP lists enter into a dynamic dialogue with contemporary film, visual art, and counter-hegemonic voices. Together, we will trace the evolution of topics related to gender, power, and the creative process, among others, pairing deliberately foundational texts with more contemporary artistic creations (film, music, art…). In addition, throughout the course we will translate critical inquiry into pedagogical craft by designing curriculum frameworks that will elevate students’ proficiency in the AP Literature class. Grounded in ACTFL-aligned presentational, interpretive, and interpersonal modes of communication, our sessions will equip you with a variety of cross-temporal text pairings, engaging discussion models, and teaching units that transform the AP framework into a culturally vibrant, intellectually rigorous space of discovery.
SPAN 516: Humanity, Liberation, and Joy: Transformative Pedagogies for the Spanish Classroom
Dr. L.J. Randolph – 2 credits
Drawing upon educational research in Black and Indigenous language and cultural studies, this course explores how we can enact broader commitments to anticolonialism, antiracism, and social justice in our everyday classroom practice. Through discussion, critical reflection, and hands-on application activities, we will collectively (re)imagine the Spanish classroom as a transformative space that centers humanity, liberation, and joy. As a central component of the course, students will collaborate to create a shared bank of classroom-ready materials (lesson plans, resources, assessments, and instructional activities) adaptable for a variety of levels.
Core Courses
SPAN 504: Action Research Presentation, Session 1
Dr. Brianna Janssen Sánchez – 1 credit
Culmination of Action Research conducted in the student’s classroom. Consists of a presentation to faculty and students of the final version of the paper, which will also be submitted for digital storage in the library. These course components are graded based on the Spanish Action Research Project Rubric and the Spanish Action Research Presentation Rubric. The final written project must be approved before being presented to faculty and students.
This credit should be registered for during the session in which a student presents their Action Research project.
FL 511: Second Language Acquisition Theory and Practice
Dr. L.J. Randolph – 3 credits
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 world language classroom.
FL 513: Second Language Assessment: Principles and Strategies
Dr. Mark Darhower – 3 credits
Equips participants with up-to-date knowledge of best practices in assessing foreign language development and provides them with meaningful opportunities to practice creating assessment tools and evaluation criteria in a collaborative setting. The approach to assessment emphasized in this course is multidimensional and Standards-based. Course participants complete a portfolio of assessment tools for classroom use.
Optional Courses
SPAN 510 - Conversación Avanzada
University of Guanajuato Staff – 1 credit
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.
New topics each year – syllabus will vary by instructor. No text purchase required.
Session 2: (July 11 – 30, 2027)
Electives
SPAN 541: Music and Latin American Cultures
Dr. John Maddox – 3 Credits
This course demonstrates the deep impact of music on the cultures of Latin America and its diasporas in the United States. Focusing on contemporary music and texts, this course shows how music is central to the thought, rituals, and perspectives of this region and those who have brought its cultural production to the United States. This multimedia course will prepare students for informed discussions of music, film, and literature of Mexico and the Caribbean. After a four-day “Welcome to Mexico” that focuses on the music of Guanajuato, we will discuss Chicana icon Selena. Week two theorizes the music of Puerto Rico and demonstrates its centrality to identity and literature on the archipelago and in New York. Finally, the course analyzes its second and third films, which depict Havana as both setting and character.
SPAN 516: Incorporating Music into the K-12 Classroom
Dr. John Maddox – 2 credits
This class complements the culture seminar by supporting the incorporation of music into the K-12 classroom. Students will share songs and activities they use in the language classroom. They will create activities about Latin American music. They will evaluate two intermediate-level novels in Spanish and create activities based on Superstar Bad Bunny. They will end by giving group mini-lessons that will receive feedback from their peers and instructor.
SPAN 541: Conquistadors, Convents and Golden Cups of Chocolate: The Gastronomical Relationship between Spain and Mexico
Dr. María Paz Moreno- 3 Credits
The purpose of this course is to explore the relationship between Spain and Mexico across the centuries, through an analysis of the intersections of their respective culinary histories. We will explore the gastronomic culture of both countries as a reflection of their respective identities. We will analyze and discuss the significance of the discovery of the New World and the mutual influences that followed from it, both from a gastronomic point of view and from a historical perspective. Students will read a wide variety of texts, ranging from academic essays and cookbooks to excerpts from early gastronomic treatises.
SPAN 516: Eat Your Words: A Culinary Approach to Teaching Culture and Language
Dr. María Paz Moreno – 2 Credits
The course combines theory and practice, with an emphasis on the latter. We will explore the possibilities that Hispanic gastronomy offers for the Spanish classroom. We will design and test out various activities using food as a vehicle for teaching language and culture, taking advantage of food’s enormous pedagogical potential as a form of cultural expression. The course will be built around two main strands: 1) reading and discussion of scholarly articles on the pedagogical possibilities of food, and 2) hands-on activities, such as putting together a collective cookbook or gastronomic map, creating a food blog or video, visiting the local market, and vocabulary and grammar games. Through this class, students will 1) deepen their knowledge of the educational possibilities of food, and 2) develop a broad repertoire of activities for use in their own classrooms.
Core Courses
FL 512: Teaching for Proficiency: Methods and Strategies
Dr. Carolina Bustamante – 3 credits
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 world language education: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities, with clearly defined proficiency standards for foreign language performance.
SPAN 504: Action Research: Presentation, Session 2
Dr. Brianna Janssen Sánchez – 1 credit
Culmination of Action Research conducted in the student’s classroom. Consists of a presentation to faculty and students of the final version of the paper, which will also be submitted for digital storage in the library. These course components are graded based on the Spanish Action Research Project Rubric and the Spanish Action Research Presentation Rubric. The final written project must be approved before being presented to faculty and students.
This credit should be registered for during the session in which a student presents their Action Research project.
FL 514: Action Research
Dr. Michele Back – 3 credits
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.
Optional Courses
SPAN 511 - Gramática Avanzada
Dr. Rachel Shively – 1 credit
Addresses selected topics in Spanish grammar, with particular focus on grammatical difficulties for English speakers with the goal of helping students improve proficiency in the language. Course conducted entirely in Spanish.
New topics each year – syllabus will vary by instructor. No text purchase required.
Contact the Summer Language Institute
SOU Summer Language Institute Program
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
Spanish: 541.552.6743
– Questions About Summer Language Institute? –