Spanish Course Designation
At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, we view our students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds as valuable resources. Spanish language and bilingual courses capitalize on the rich cultural and linguistic heritage that many students bring into our classroom and prepare our students to serve their surrounding community. When UTRGV was founded in 2013, the UT System Board of Regents called on UTRGV to explore biculturalism, bilingualism, and biliteracy as part of its fabric, and teaching Spanish language and bilingual courses respond to that call.
We define a Spanish designated course as a course where academic content is taught in Spanish. The use of Spanish is intentional and purposeful. In order to qualify for the Spanish course designation, the course must include instruction and content/materials in Spanish and all students will be required to write, speak, and read Spanish during the course.
We encourage all professors to use Spanish as a resources and practice bilingual/ translanguaging and culturally relevant pedagogies when a bilingual course designation may not be possible. These pedagogies are very meaningful and impactful to our students. We will be developing a separate certificate for instructors integrating Bilingual & Culturally Relevant Pedagogies in their courses.
Planning Your Spanish Course
We embrace a dynamic view of bilingualism, and we appreciate that each bilingual course will look different. Below are some ideas of how you might integrate Spanish and English into your instruction, course content and materials, and student assignments. If you have any questions or would like to discuss your course, please contact us at b3institute@utrgv.edu
- Instruction: Provide lectures and instruction in Spanish.
- The expectation is that you will lecture entirely in Spanish for this course.
- Other types of instruction such as activities, discussion questions, videos, and modules should similarly be in Spanish.
- Content/Materials: Provide course content and materials in Spanish whenever possible.
- Provide instructions, exams, assignment sheets, and other course materials in Spanish.
- If your course has a pre-determined textbook that is in English, provide some additional supplementary reading materials in Spanish.
- B3 Institute will facilitate connections with library resources, or you may communicate directly with your academic area library liaison. Find your library liaison here.
- Demonstrations of Learning (Student Work): All students in the course must produce oral and written Spanish through activities and/or assignments.
- All written assignments should be submitted in Spanish, including exams, assignments, and other written student demonstrations of learning. The professor does not need to correct grammar or accents. Instead, as usual, they may grade for content.
- Spoken Spanish should include class discussions, presentations, videos, or other demonstrations of learning through spoken Spanish. Similarly, the instructor may grade for content.
Submitting Your Application
For your course to be designated as a Spanish language course, you will complete a short application, including the following:
- CV
- Answers to the following questions in Spanish:
- Why should this course be taught in Spanish? How will students benefit from the course being taught in Spanish?
- What is your particular interest in the course being taught in Spanish?
- What are your qualifications and experiences that have prepared you to teach this course in Spanish?
- Syllabus
- The syllabus should be in Spanish or made available in both English and Spanish (Contact Translation & Interpreting Office at tio@utrgv.edu to translate to Spanish)
- The syllabus should include a short description of why this course is being taught in Spanish.
- The syllabus should explain clearly how Spanish will be used in instruction, content/materials, and assignments/activities.
- Bilingual Language Profile - This short form allows us to keep a record of instructors’ language background and experiences for accreditation purposes.