Students who enroll in the Spanish for Heritage Speakers I course are able to communicate in Spanish, but are limited to a home register and lack confidence in their linguistic abilities. In addition, there is a high level of disparity in communicative abilities among the students. To address this, at the beginning of the semester I gauge the students’ strengths and weaknesses through a variety of assessments and meet with them individually to discuss strategies for moving forward. In the fall of 2016 I implemented a place-based syllabus that allows students to explore aspects of Yale University, including Sterling Library, Beinecke Library, and the Yale University Art Gallery. and New Haven while making connections to their heritage countries. For this class, we use a variety of text types and genres in order to encourage real-life communicative skills. I teach students the importance of taking charge of their own learning experience, which in turn promotes life-long learners. Some of the products from this class as well as course evaluations can be seen in the following sections.
Sybil Alexandrov
