3. Teaching Experience

 

Summer 2011, SPAN 130

Intermediate Spanish Language (University of Pennsylvania)

[Course syllabus forthcoming]

Course Description: Spanish 130 is a first-semester intermediate-level language course that emphasizes the development of the four basic skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) within a culturally based context. Class time will focus on communicative activities that combine grammatical concepts, relevant vocabulary, and cultural themes. Students will participate in pair, small group and whole-class activities to practice linguistic skills in meaningful contexts. Major course goals include: the acquisition of intermediate-level vocabulary, the controlled use of the past tense, and the development of writing skills at a paragraph level with transitions. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish.

The summer session meets twice per week for 2.5 hours each session over the course of 12 weeks.

Spring 2011, CINE 388

The Great Illusion: Over a Century of Spanish Cinema (University of Pennsylvania)

[Click here for the full course syllabus in pdf of visit the homepage of my Course Site for an interactive syllabus]

Course Description: Film in Spain has a rich but turbulent tradition that, until recently, occupied a marginal position within Cinema Studies departments in American universities. From the pioneering shorts of Segundo de Chomón —often nicknamed “the Spanish Méliès”— to the worldwide success of Pedro Almodóvar’s melodramatic and irreverent films that caricature contemporary (Spanish) culture, this course offers both a survey of Spanish film and an introduction to critical thought in the field of Film Studies. We analyze the trajectory of Spanish film beginning in its silent origins in the nineteenth century, passing through the censorship and hegemonic ideology of the Francoist regime, and ending in the years of Spain’s progressive transition to democracy that leads us to the present-day status of Spanish cinema. Along the way, we supplement the shorts and feature-length films with a diverse selection of critical readings that present pertinent historical and cultural contexts, fundamental cinematic concepts, as well as current theoretical debates in Film Studies. We conclude the class by exploring new trends in cinematic productions including short digital cinema, recent developments in new media, and the rise in participatory cinema.

Over the course of the semester, students will learn to discuss the technical and stylistic aspects of cinema while developing a theoretical language to think critically about the cultural and historical contexts of Spanish cinema. We interrogate the specificity of cinema as a means of representation (in comparison with literature) and we question the particularities of a cinema “made in Spain.”

Students are required to attend the 80-minute lecture on Tuesdays and the 80-minute recitation session on Thursdays each week. They will also have the option of attending theatrical screenings of every film on Wednesdays.

Fall 2010, SPAN 130

Intermediate Spanish Language (University of Pennsylvania)

[Click here for the full course syllabus in pdf]

Course Description: Spanish 130 is a first-semester intermediate-level language course that emphasizes the development of the four basic skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) within a culturally based context. Class time will focus on communicative activities that combine grammatical concepts, relevant vocabulary, and cultural themes. Students will participate in pair, small group and whole-class activities to practice linguistic skills in meaningful contexts. Major course goals include: the acquisition of intermediate-level vocabulary, the controlled use of the past tense, and the development of writing skills at a paragraph level with transitions. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish.

The course meets for 4 50-minute sessions per week over the course of the semester.

2008–09, Upward Bound Summer Program

I was responsible for designing and teaching beginning and intermediate Spanish language, introductory Chemistry, and introductory Physics for underprivileged high school students aspiring to attend college upon graduating high school. The program was hosted at the Ohio State University's satellite campus, the Agricultural Technical Institute. I was expected to give students a thorough introduction to the topics that they would explore in more detail the following semester in their home school. Each class had between 20–25 students, and met 4 times per week for 80 minutes.

I also participated in several other activities that the program offered, including academic consoling, college visits, tutoring, SAT/ACT review, and so on.

2007, Spanish Teaching Assistant

Intermediate Spanish Language (Wesleyan University)

I led weekly hour-long tertulia conversation sessions, where I was responsible for coming up with communicative activities to re-enforce the materials and concepts that the students were learning that week in class. I met with the professor each week to discuss the topics that he planned to cover, and then planned my lessons accordingly.

2006, Calculus Teaching Assistant

Calculus II (Wesleyan University)

I held weekly 2-hour long sessions to present and review the material covered each week in a second semester calculus course. I prepared brief lesson plans to review the materials and occasionally introduce new concepts. I also was available to go over any questions that students may have regarding problem sets, quizzes, or exams, which I worked through with them as a class.



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