Hangout: Puentes naturales y espacios seguros ‘post’-COVID19: Building bridges and fostering communities in our classrooms

February 28, 2022, 4:30pm CDT

What have educators learned since the start of this pandemic? Based on the presenter’s experiences in teaching heritage language courses remotely and in person, Silva will describe how we can utilize online tools to create communities of learning with the language learners in our classrooms. Approaches to using online platforms to differentiate HL instruction in second language acquisition classrooms or in full heritage language programs will be presented. Silva will present snapshots of her classroom examples of strategies that integrate all modes of communication and how they are grounded in creating an environment of respect and trust between educators and students, and among students.

BIO: Marta Silva has created and developed a three-level Spanish as Heritage Language program at a public school in Kansas. A frequent presenter at conferences and workshops on topics related to heritage language education from raciolinguistics and culturally sustaining instructional perspectives, Silva is currently a Ph.D. (C&I / Latinx Studies) candidate researching teachers of Spanish as a second language’s experiences in classrooms where heritage language students share spaces with their monolingual peers. Her background in linguistics, her passion for words and poetry, and her constant learning from the communities she serves inform her practices. Silva is a member of KC Latino Writers Collective, and her work has been published in two anthologies.

Sponsored by the Texas Coalition for Heritage Spanish