Our Commitment to Spanish Heritage Language Instruction

Our commitment to Spanish heritage language instruction continues as we move into the summer with the development of a new edition of Nuevos mundos 4e , the training for new adopters of Conversaciones 3e , and the launch of Galería 2e . These three programs will allow you and any faculty to create a complete sequence for heritage learners.

As we have discussed, we want to nurture, evolve, and grow our support for the heritage language learning community. We all share the interest in developing courses by recruiting and retaining heritage students, reviewing meaningful curricula (recommending changes and embracing the future/being flexible!), and learning how to make this meaningful with the population growth in the US

According to the US Census from 2018, the Latinx population totaled 58.9 million, becoming the nation’s most prominent ‘minority’ group. What does this mean for people, our society, the education community, instructors, and us as individuals? As minorities become a more significant part of who we are as a nation, it is also essential to understand the complexity that a multilingual society brings, especially in the educational system, and the challenges that this population faces as they move through the system.

In the article, Towards an Understanding of the Relationship between Heritage Language Programs and Latinx Student Retention: An Exploratory Case Study by Josh Prada (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) and Diego Pascual y Cabo (University of Florida), their main objective is to “ examine the potential academic impact that may result from embracing and adopting a model for Spanish heritage language teaching that goes beyond the promotion of language development, maintenance, and revitalization, also to include the development of positive perspectives on multilingual and ethnolinguistic minority identities, intercultural sensitivity, and experiential learning. ” (pg.13) – See full article here.