Keep Language Learning Relevant and Interesting Last week I posted the Spanish for Social Justice Quiz (the answers are below). I used this activity with students who were passionate about social justice activism, and they really enjoyed it. It has been shown that student motivation a

A Fun Activity for Progressive Spanish Students While living in Vancouver, I ran a monthly Spanish for Social Justice Conversation Group – a space for students to practice conversational Spanish while discussing social justice issues and solidarity with Spanish-speakers. One of

This is the second installment in a series about my favourite things about some of the countries I’ve traveled to (see Part 1: Cuba). The views expressed in these posts are subjective but I explain my choices so that you can determine if my favourites could become yours. In 2004 I par

My Introduction to Latin America This is the first part in a series about my favourite things about some of the countries I’ve traveled to. The views expressed in these posts are completely subjective but I will give an explanation of my choices so that you might determine whether or

Fun and Frustration with the Spanish Language Like other global languages, there are many different varieties of Spanish spoken throughout the world. While the general structure of the language doesn’t change too much from one country to the next, the accents and especially the

Simple Social Justice Lessons from the Spanish Classroom In earlier blog posts, Mary and I have described what we mean by Progressive Language Teaching and Social Justice Education. Today I would like to share a few examples of how I teach Spanish for social justice. It’s actually qui

My Work with UNICEF Peru – Part 1 In June 2013, I began a six month position as a Junior Professional Consultant in Education Research at UNICEF Peru in Lima. The position is part of the UN Professional Placement Program with the United Nations Association in Canada. My terms of

My Favourite Social Justice Organization and Their Work to Improve Public Education in the Americas In 2007, I was on my way back to Canada after a year of living in Spain. I wanted to find a way to bring together my passions for Spanish, education, and social justice and I thought th

The Question I Always Ask as a Language Learner, and the Importance of Context “¿Me entiendes?” (Do you understand me?) is one of the questions I have asked most frequently to Spanish-speakers around the globe. I really do wonder sometimes. I consider myself fluent in Spanish but I am

Avoiding Sexist Vocabulary in a Gendered Language In Spanish, all nouns and adjectives are assigned a gender, also referred to as grammatical gender. We have grammatical gender in English as well (for example, we say “he” or “she”, “boy” or “girl”, etc) but in Spanish even inanimate o