Latin American Languages and Societies Commons^™

Task Design Challenges: The Meta Task Of Building Plns For Foreign Language Acquisition, Pilar Munday, Jaya Kannan

Languages Faculty Publications

Our latest collaborative research has primarily focused on studying challenges for digital pedagogy in promoting active learning and learner autonomy. These action research projects have been anchored in foreign language contexts in higher education settings. Here is a summary of two projects from 2014-2015: 1) With the goal of enhancing teaching practices in foreign language classrooms, the research project analyzed the use of student created videos to promote active learning. Using a case study of concrete tasks integrating student created videos in strengthening Spanish Language Acquisition (SLA), we were able to a)identify key characteristics of active learning, b)present the challenges …

Latino Catholicism And Indigenous Heritage As A Subfield Of Latino Studies: A Critical Evaluation Of New Approaches, Elizabeth C. Martinez Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Posed through critical theory on "third-space," and a brief history of Latin American Studies, this article pursues analysis of recent interdisciplinary scholarship in English, to delineate the emergence of a new subfield in Latina/o Catholicism, connected to greater understanding of Indigenous legacy. The article also demonstrates the path of study toward creation of a themed academic issue.

"Hacerlos Sentir A Ellos Como Seres Humanos Importantes": Teaching For Social Justice In Rural Dominican Republic, Isabel M. Sacks , '15

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

This thesis explores how teachers at Escuela Católica de los Bateyes (ECB), a rural school in the Dominican Republic, define and enact social justice education. The research is based upon semi-structured interviews with four teachers and the author's field notes during her work with nine ECB teachers on her Lang Opportunity Scholarship project in the summer of 2014. She finds that local and national contextual factors, including the Catholic mission of the school, the rural poverty of the area, and the presence of undocumented Haitian students in the school, were crucial to how the teachers viewed social justice education. Rather …

Travel As A Ritual Toward Transformative Consciousness: Juxtaposing Che Guevara’S Biography And Teacher Candidates’ Narratives, Yishan Lea

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Education and Professional Studies

This article discusses the development of critical consciousness by examining
the biographical-narratives in relationship to the experiential accounts on
travel. Biographical narratives are important cultural texts filled with history
and cultural nuances. The biography of Ernesto Che Guevara has resonated
with readers and viewers from around the world. By dreaming seemingly
impossible dreams and garnering triumph in the face of mounting obstacles,
Che has inspired the generations that have followed him. The life of Che,
which is a myth of idealism, has captivated the hearts of many around the
globe. This paper engages in the process of reading student narratives …

From The Bx To A Ba: Latino Male Students And The Transition From High School To College, Alejandro Eduardo Carrion

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aims to provide a counter narrative to the deficit filled discourse surrounding Latino males by informing teachers, policymakers and researchers of the barriers and resources encountered by this population as they make the transition from high school to college. A qualitative research design was utilized for this study, which focused on 10 Latino males who mainly identified as Puerto Rican and Dominican, from the Bronx. Bourdieu's Theory of Practice, and his theoretical tools of field (structures), habitus (dispositions) and capital (social, cultural and economic), was used as the theoretical framework guiding this study. Participants shared the nuances of …

The Patriarchy’S Role In Gender Inequality In The Caribbean, Erin C. O'Connor

Student Publications

While gender equality in the Caribbean is improving, with women’s growing social, economic, and political participation, literacy rates comparable to those in Europe, and greater female participation in higher education, deeply rooted inequalities are still present and are demonstrated in the types of jobs women are in and the limited number of women in decision-making positions. Sexism, racism, and classism are systemic inequalities being perpetuated in schools, through the types of education offered for individuals and the content in textbooks. Ironically, the patriarchy is coexisting within a system of matrifocal and matrilocal families, with a long tradition of female economic …

El Pasado Lingüístico Colonial Y Las Lenguas De Instrucción En La Educación Filipina, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Crossing Borders Toward Young Transnational Lives, G. Sue Kasun, Cinthya M. Saavedra

Mexican American Studies Faculty Publications

Young immigrant youth often live their lives across borders, either by physically crossing them for return visits and/or by metaphorically crossing them through social media and cultural identification. The authors argue these students are better understood as transnational, shifting the focus for educators away from imagining their immigrant students on a straight, one-way path to assimilation in the U.S. to understanding these youths’ abilities to cross borders. Specifically, they call for a redesignation of English Language Learners (ELLs) as Transnational English Learners (TELs). Highlighting examples of educators’ successful border-crossing work, the authors call for educators to cross borders as well …

Braceros, Mexicans, Americans, And Schools: (Re) Imagining Teaching And Learning In Mexican America, Francisco Guajardo, Stephanie Alvarez, Miguel Guajardo, Samuel García Jr., José Ángel Guajardo, Jocabed Márquez

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

This article examines the stories of Braceros, Mexican contract workers who participated in an international labor agreement between the United States and México between 1942 and 1964. The stories Braceros tell challenge some conventional historiographical notions that they were powerless agents and victims of exploitative labor practices. The stories shed new light regarding the kinds of agency and power Braceros actually displayed in negotiating certain circumstances specific to their work.

The Unheard Needs Of The Deaf In Ecuador, Natalie Delgado

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

According to the World Federation of the Deaf, at least 90% of deaf people in developing countries are not receiving any education (Hauland & Allen, 2011). Very little research has been done on deaf education in Ecuador specifically. Although some deaf children in Ecuador are receiving an education, their education is impeded by insufficient communication access, lack of government awareness about best practices, and a shortage of teachers with deaf-specific work experience and training. This project provides an analysis of Ecuador’s disabled citizens in general and deaf and hard-of-hearing people in particular, as a context for a focus on education …

Pedagogía De Hablantes De Herencia: Implicaciones Para El Entrenamiento De Instructores Al Nivel Universitario, Lina M. Reznicek-Parrado

Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study researches the differences in pedagogical needs between learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language (FL learners) and learners of Spanish as a Heritage Language (HL learners) at the university level. By using the UNL Modern Languages and Literatures Department as an illustrative case and based on an analysis of the Heritage Language student profile in the context of the United States, this study seeks to explore arguments in favor of providing training for university-level instructors of Spanish that responds to the specific pedagogical needs of Heritage Language Learners.

The relevancy of this study is not only based on …

What The Unglamorous Side Of Study Abroad Taught Me, Kathryn E. Bucolo

SURGE

I’ve been gallivanting around this beautiful planet posing as a study abroad student taking classes and writing papers for the past academic year, one semester in England and one in Argentina (where I still am) and, just like all the brochures, promotions, and panels of study abroad survivors say, it has been absolutely chock-full of amazing experiences, people, places, foods—I think “transformative” is the proper term.

But transformative can mean many things. It doesn’t just mean that you “find yourself” or “change your life”—it means you see the less glamorous stuff about yourself, too. [excerpt]

The Fallacy Of Free Market Democracy: Marginalization Through Chilean Health Care And Education, Robin L. Young

Senior Capstone Theses

This thesis examines how neoliberal policies implemented during Augusto Pinochet’s sixteen-year military regime in Chile have affected post-dictatorship democratization. It argues that democracy has been incomplete in Chile since the fall of Pinochet’s regime, due mainly to the three neoliberal policies of deregulation, decentralization, and decreased government funding. Through the detailed analysis of Chile’s health care and education systems, this thesis demonstrates how these neoliberal policies drastically changed social welfare practices in Chile during the 1980s, leading to extreme social inequality that has only continued to increase in the last thirty years. This social inequality, as well as the marginalization …

Exhibit Curriculum For Condition: My Place Our Longing (Lesson 2 Of 2), Sarah Aponte, Dania Diag

Open Educational Resources

Exhibit curriculum for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute exhibit, Condition: My Place Our Longing.

The exhibit highlights the work of two young Dominican immigrant artists living in New York: Julianny Ariza and Leslie Jiménez and showcases original pieces produced between 2011 and 2012 that explore the subject of living in between two worlds, and other conditions of living.

Exhibit Curriculum For Condition: My Place Our Longing (Lesson 1 Of 2), Sarah Aponte, Dania Diaz

Open Educational Resources

Exhibit curriculum for the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute exhibit, Condition: My Place Our Longing.

The exhibit highlights the work of two young Dominican immigrant artists living in New York: Julianny Ariza and Leslie Jiménez and showcases original pieces produced between 2011 and 2012 that explore the subject of living in between two worlds, and other conditions of living.

Everything In Di Dark Muss Come To Light: A Postcolonial Investigation Of The Practice Of Extra Lessons At The Secondary Level In Jamaica's Education System, Saran Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the vast research examining the evolution of Caribbean education systems, little is chronologically tied to the postcolonial theoretical perspectives of specific island-state systems, such as the Jamaican education system and its relationship with the underground shadow education system. This dissertation study sought to address the gaps in the literature by critically positioning postcolonial theories in education to examine the macro- and micro-level impacts of extra lessons on secondary education in Jamaica. The following postcolonial theoretical (PCT) tenets in education were contextualized from a review of the literature: (a) PCT in education uses colonial discourse analysis to critically deconstruct and …

The Journey Home From Ecuador: A Reentry Guide For Tandana Foundation Volunteers, Heidi Bohn

Capstone Collection

The Tandana Foundation is a small, non-profit organization that works with communities nestled in the Andes of northern Ecuador, providing service-learning opportunities for students and professionals in the Otavalo region. The Journey Home from Ecuador: A Reentry Guide for Tandana Foundation Volunteers (The Journey Home) is a self-directed guide that serves to prepare interns and volunteers with the Tandana Foundation (Tandana) in Ecuador for reentry after their work abroad with the organization. In addition, it introduces the concept of reverse culture shock and provides tools and resources for a successful transition home. Living in rural Ecuador generally between …

Enhancing Road Scholar Cuba Programs Through Group Leader Training, Desiree N. Shrode

Capstone Collection

In response to the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the United States imposed several embargos and restrictions against Cuba. The stipulations of these embargos have included prohibitions on not only the importation and trade of cigars, rum, and coffee, but also travel between the U.S. and Cuba. However, in 2011, President Barack Obama decided to ease these travel restrictions for educational travel that is not related in pursuant to an academic degree, also known as a People-to-People license. Due to Obama’s change in policy, many organizations have been sponsoring travel to Cuba on these People-to-People licenses, granted by the Office of …

Multi-Cultural Encounter And Exchange Among Spaniards, American Indians And Africans In Colonial Florida And The Caribbean, Kathleen Deagan Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Lesson 6: Mapping The Spanish American War, Mario J. Minichino

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

The proximity of Tampa and Key West, Florida to the island of Cuba, and how their geographic locations played a major part in the Spanish American War. In this lesson, students will transfer/combine historical data from different sources to create a representative map, developing a deeper understanding of the connections between Tampa and Cuba and practicing their mapping skills.

(This lesson plan is designed for two days or can be used for a block schedule)

Conference Program

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Spain-Florida: Perspectives On A Common History. Spanish Culture In The United States, Juan Antonio García Galindo Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Tertulia Flyer And Schedule Current

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Lesson 5: “İhuelga!” (Strike!), Bárbara C. Cruz

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

Labor unions, workers’ rights, strikes, and boycotts all figure prominently Ybor City’s cigar manufacturing history. The strike of 1920-1921 serves as the focus of this lesson, shedding light on this important industry to Florida’s economy.

Lesson 4: Ybor City - The Cuban Club, Samantha Cook

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

The purpose of this unit is to make students aware of the rich history of not only Florida but of our own Ybor City. Ybor city was a multiethnic, multiracial, industrial community unlike any other in Florida at the time. Each lesson will be geared towards a specific topic but will incorporate Ybor City’s unique multi-cultural heritage with a focus on the Cubans.

Lesson 3: Ybor City, “Cigar City Of The World”, Samantha Cook

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

After it was established and continued to thrive, Ybor city was a multiethnic, multiracial, industrial community unlike any other in Florida at the time. This lesson explores the city’s unique history, with special emphasis on the Cuban community that settled there.

Mickey Ricans? The Recent Puerto Rican Diaspora To Florida, Jorge Duany Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

The Old World In The New: Florida Discovers The Arts Of Spain. 1885-1930, Richard Kagan Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

Passions, Affections, Dollars: A Sentimental Political Economy Of Cuba And Florida, Damian Fernández Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.

How Cubans Transformed Florida Politic And Leveraged Local For National Influence, Susan Eckstein Phd

Hispanic Heritage of Florida Conference 2012

No abstract provided.