Teaching Philosophy:
"I strongly believe that teaching goes beyond solely disseminating knowledge to students and instilling basic skills. It includes developing higher order critical thinking skills, instilling confidence in students' written and oral communication, and stirring them to become astute readers (of the world, not only of texts); increasing student involvement and active learning to build cultural identities and a sense of community on many levels; and boosting students' pursuit of goals coherent with their personal inclinations and professional aspirations. To these ends, I have actively kept myself as prepared as possible with new teaching techniques and pedagogical approaches. In particular, in my over 25 years of teaching (at York University, since July 1, 2006), I have participated in or led numerous teaching workshops to make myself the best classroom teacher I can be and to share my experiences. I have also worked to build student cultural awareness and a sense of community. To do so I have instituted several initiatives, including film-screenings, poetry and music performances, community engagement, arts based assignments and professionally geared contextual references to ensure that students’ learning is solidly based in cultural understanding and a sense of interconnectedness with peers and the institution, as well as beyond the university. I have created numerous courses (Aspects of Spanish American Literature, La narrativa de Gabriel García Márquez, Frida Kahlo: Image, Woman, Text, Poetry and Popular Music in Spain and Latin America, and Literature and Music in Spanish America), and aided my home department with curricular planning. I have taught at all undergraduate levels in Spanish language, translation, and Peninsular and Latin American literature and culture.

My goal is to maintain the highest standards that fairly reflect students’ capabilities at each level and prepare them to excel academically, professionally and personally. Between 2002 and 2015, I revised most of the courses I was assigned.

Overall, I integrate my research, theoretical interests and cultural analysis into a context for the materials studied. Many of my courses are innovative both in substance and in pedagogical approach. I have made substantial use of electronic media for class discussions, document delivery and communication services. Whether interpreting literary texts, presenting oral projects, or exploring cultural themes, student group-learning is an essential component of my courses. I strive to foster ways of thinking that are attained through the study of literature and that develop key areas of competence in critical analysis and dynamic socio- cultural dialogue.

Each course I design is based on my research and specialization in 20th Century and Contemporary Spanish American Literature, and on the greater framework of the literary heritage of Hispanic literatures and cultures in a global context. These all integrate the teaching of Spanish language, literatures and cultural expressions from the 15th century to the present.

My teaching also reaches beyond the classroom to create in students the awareness of how the material we study in class reaches into their real life experiences, connects with actual communities in which these literary traditions and contemporary practices engage with current events, values and cultural identities, and also to inform them and allow them greater access to experiential ways of putting their skills into practice. This combined approach, linking theory, reading, writing, oral communication mastery at each undergraduate course level, then manifests into creative, effective and professional volunteer and community service experience that they can add to their Curriculum Vitae.

One of the most prominent ways I have done so is with the co-founding of literary magazine Entre Voc/zes. Birthed out of discussions on assignments and meetings with students outside the classroom in a course I was teaching on Literature and Music in Spanish America (AP/SP 4650) in 2007, it united the student’s passion for literature and their creative inspiration in the writers we studied. It received an Academic Initiative Fund grant in 2010, recognizing its engagement of student experiences and its ability to connect pedagogical objectives, intercultural activities and service learning in the community. Each of the magazine’s seven editions had a different theme selected by the yearly editorial panel composed of students and faculty advisors, and is launched in yearly celebration that includes performances of music and dance, and readings of original works of prose and poetry by York University students and GTA community members. The translation of works from Spanish and Portuguese into English amplify the scope of the magazine’s reception. Since its inception in 2007, the magazine’s activities grew to incorporate tutoring and writing assistance for students at York University.

In a multi-part community-based project called “The Sport of Poetry & the Poetry of Sports: Poetry, Music, Action” I organized events at York University (July 11 and September 30), at Earlscourt Park (July 8) during the Pan American Games, and another proposed at Harbourfront (August 7 to 15) during the Parapan American Games. The Poet-Tree Project, an Ignite community partner of the Games, envisioned the interaction of poetry, music, civic memory and intercultural dialogues to share cultural heritages, traditions and viewpoints from the 20 Hispanic and Portuguese-speaking immigrant populations in Toronto. The events were delivered with students, faculty and community volunteers of the project, and in collaboration with a number of multi-ethnic community groups. The partners included the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Office of Research and Office of External Relations; the Office of the Master, Founders College; the Centre for Research in Latin America and the Caribbean, at York University; Abrace; Magia Negra and Toronto Candombe Cultural Committee; San Lorenzo Community Centre; and ANTARES Trilingual Publishing House and Cultural Organization.

As Project Manager, I brought my over 20 years of experience as educator, researcher and organizer of community-based and academic events. For the proposed event, I worked closely with the members of the Latin American community with whom I was serving in the Latin American Working Group, the Organizing Committee of the Torch Celebration Event and the LatAm at PanAm Pavillion, and by extension, the communities represented by each of these constituencies.

As a faculty member and specialist in Latin American culture and language, my work in this regard represents York University’s strong commitment to multilingual study, diversity and being “open to the world,” strengthening intercultural linkages by finding innovative, creative, sustainable and formative ways to build these bridges. This is evident in the project’s aim to embody the links between innovation and tradition, communicated in the university’s motto: Tentanda Via: The way must be tried.” This interdisciplinary approach celebrates the stated mission and the spirit espoused by the Toronto 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games, by connecting sport and the arts and culture. Community learning and service experience such as this one also provides opportunities for intercultural dialogue and promotes the core values of democratic citizenry.

I was awarded the Hispanic Women’s Network “Creando Puentes” [Building Bridges] Award at its inaugural annual Award Meeting held at Toronto City Hall, Toronto in March 2009. This was a great honour for me, as I was nominated by former students whom I had taught at York University in AP/SP 4650, and whom I had supervised as founding Faculty Advisor for the student literary magazine Entre Voczes housed at York University since 2007, and who later completed their graduate studies at the University of Guelph’s interdisciplinary Masters in Latin American Studies."

As Undergraduate Program Director--Languages and Literatures, I served many other languages and literatures programs, not only the Spanish and Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies section. During my term as UPD-LL I created the Wor(l)d Cultures Buddy Program that was awarded funding through the 2012/2013 International Initiatives Fund for Academic Units, through the Office of the Associate Dean, External. The program paired international students with students registered in programs housed at the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. Selected by first language(s), visiting international students, whose life experiences and knowledge of their home culture and literature were matched with a DLLL student peer (enrolled in a language, literature or linguistics course) at York University. Each international student was invited to pair up with a DLLL student who is interested in that area of the world."

Courses taught:

SP 4880 3.0 Nos/otras: Contemporary Poetic Expressions of Spanish American Women (created this course, and have taught it every 3 years or so since 2013)

SP 4650 6.0 Literature and Music in Spanish America (created this new interdisciplinary course, and have taught it every 2 years or so since 2007). New in 2018-2019: embedded an experiential education component by establishing the "Literature and Music in Dialogue" series featuring eight lectures/workshops/demonstrations and local community engagement: http://spanish.dlll.laps.yorku.ca/students/resources/).
In past years performances organized in conjunction with program events, and included visits by Mexican cellist and composer Dr. Gustavo Martín, Escuela Nacional de Música de la UNAM, in conjuction with bolero and the novel, and scholar Dr. Illa Carrillo Rodríguez, Université Paris I – Panthéon-Sorbonne, with relation to her work on political agency and popular identity in Argentine folk music of the long 1960s).
Co-chaired and led the committee that created the new General Education course: AP/DLLL 1000 6.0 World Literatures in Perspective (General Education course).

SP 4640 6.0 The Spanish American Novel of the Twentieth Century (F/W 2012-13: Inaugurated a new blog spot connection for students with author Pablo Urbanyi on his official website, and Skype visits by writers P. Urbanyi and V. Lecomte in 2012-2013).

SP 3210 6.0 Aspects of Spanish American Literature (visits by writers such as María Ángeles Lescano in 2007, and writer Eduardo Rejduch de la Mancha in 2009, the latter with a reading by the author open to the public and complemented by presentations on the author and musical performance by students: http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2009/10/06/uruguay-born-sailor-author-and-adventurer-to-give-reading-at-york/).

SP 2200 6.0 Introduction to Spanish Literature, a core required course for Spanish Program majors and minors; the course was renamed "Introduction to Spain's & Latin America's Greatest Writers" in 2017.

SP 2020 6.0 Intermediate Spanish Abroad - Ávila, Spain

SP 2000 6.0 Intermediate Spanish, coordinator

SP 4900 3.0 La narrativa de Gabriel García Márquez: Novela (Independent Study Course)

Current Courses

Upcoming Courses

Latin American Working Group, TO2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games , Toronto 2015. Invited to serve as member of the Latin American Working Group of the Community Outreach department of the TO2015 Latin American Steering Committee for the Pan American and Parapan American American Games from August 2014 to August 2015.