UTSA language program showcases linguistic legacies of Spanish-speaking communities in U.S.

JULY 11, 2024 — Working to help students develop their language skills while preserving the cultural and linguistic traditions of Spanish-speaking communities in San Antonio, the faculty behind UTSA’s Spanish as Heritage Language (SHL) program has been making some changes including offering new courses this fall.

Stephanie González, SHL program director and a postdoctoral fellow in the UTSA Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, who has been expanding the program over the last two years, said it now offers a revised curriculum, and will provide its undergraduate and graduate students with free access to online textbooks, course projects and activities. 

“A heritage program is designed to celebrate the knowledge, cultures and linguistic practices of our local communities, which is important in places like San Antonio,” González said. “The courses in our program are tailored to meet the needs of heritage learners — individuals who have grown up exposed to the Spanish language at home or in their communities.”

González continued, “Some heritage learners understand Spanish but may not speak it or may not be confident in their speaking abilities in Spanish.”

“A heritage program is designed to celebrate the knowledge, cultures and linguistic practices of our local communities, which is important in places like San Antonio.”

The program includes three main classes — Elementary Spanish for Heritage Learners I, the new Spanish for Heritage Learners I and Spanish for Heritage Learners II. Students can take a placement test to find the course best suited for them.

“Changes to the course sequence for the heritage classes will officially begin in the fall as we begin to distinguish these courses from Spanish as a Second Language classes,” González said. “Heritage courses will offer a different curriculum from second language classes, and we’ve changed our approach to how we teach the language.”

More advanced courses include Language and Culture in Multilingual Context, which studies the Spanish language in contact with other languages across the globe; and Spanish of the United States, which offers an in-depth study of Spanish spoken by Mexican Americans in the Southwest region of the U.S., including in cities like San Antonio.

Sylvia Fernández Quintanilla, assistant professor of digital and public humanities in the modern languages and literatures department, offers graduate courses at the intersection of border and Latinx studies and digital humanities for Spanish heritage learners.

Her courses immerse students in hands-on experiences with community-engaged projects where they learn how to implement their language skills and digital literacy to create more equitable, just and inclusive humanities data, records and digital stories of border and Latinx communities in San Antonio, Texas and the United States.

This fall, González will lead the new Community Service Learning for Spanish Learners. The course will offer students the opportunity to collaborate with organizations such as the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, where students will help transcribe community interviews.

“We have a lot of opportunity here, because we have so many students with a personal or familial connection to Spanish. All classes in the SHL program are designed to leverage the skills that students already have in Spanish while also building their confidence and agency in using their languages in their daily lives,” she said.

— Michelle Gaitan