This workshop will offer alternative strategies to second language teaching using Spanish as a basis to introduce skills to teach other Romance languages such as Italian, Portuguese, and French, among others. Research has shown not only a dramatic rise of minors and majors at other universities by modifying their curricula in this fashion but also a more practical acquisition of the language by preparing this new generation of potential polyglots for the rapidly changing world outside the university.

Workshop leaders are three experts in the inter-comprehension field. They will discuss the advantages, both administratively and pedagogically, of modifying our instruction and methods in order to embrace the Spanish-speaking community. They will demonstrate how to take advantage of Spanish as a tool to introduce a second or even third Romance language to interested students. This new methodology also calls for a non-punitive approach to “code-switching,” allowing students to switch back and forth between Spanish and the new Romance language being studied. By doing so, we allow the learner to freely associate/ disassociate and make mental connections between the two Romance languages and, as a result, create a classroom where students can start using their oral communicative skills right from the get-go.

Workshop Leaders:
Clorinda Donato (Cal State University Long Beach) - “What is Intercomprehension?”
Irene Zanini-Cordi (Florida State University) - “The FSU Experience: From Spanish to Italian”
Barbara Spinelli (Columbia University)- “Adopting a Plurilingual Approach in a Web 2.0 Environment”

SPONSORED BY
Department of Modern Languages & Literatures 
College of Arts and Sciences