Speaker Series

2018 Speaker Events

The Amelia C. Murdoch Speaker Series continues with Luis Javier Pentón Herrera, language educator.

Evolution of Spanish Language Education in the United States: Past, Present and Future

Saturday, April 28, 2018 from 2 – 4 pm, at the College Park City Council Chambers, 4500 Knox Rd, College Park, MD 20740

Parking passes will be available for free parking at the event in the city hall lot or garage.

Language instruction and learning was an innate part of early educational programs in the United
States. Among the most common languages taught at schools and universities were Latin, Greek,
German, and French; however, Spanish was not formally taught at an American institution until
1749. Today the Spanish language is thriving in the United States as it is considered the foreign
language most commonly taught. Furthermore, by the year 2050 the United States is expected to
have more Spanish speakers than any other country in the world. In this presentation, I offer a
historical analysis of the Spanish language education in the United States since its beginnings in
the XVIII century to present. In addition, I share information about the trends, methodologies
and approaches used to teach Spanish throughout the years and reflect on possibilities for future
research in the field of Spanish language instruction in the United States.

Luis Javier Pentón Herrera is a Doctoral Candidate at Concordia University Chicago in the Ph.D.
in Leadership: Reading, Language, and Literacy program. He is currently a high school English
for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher and he is also an adjunct professor in TESOL,
Spanish, Writing, and Education at different colleges and universities. His research focuses on
Bilingual Education, Spanish, ESL/ESOL, Literacy Studies and Hispanic Pedagogues.
For more information about his works, publications, and contact information, please visit his
website: https://luisjpenton.wordpress.com/

This is a free event. To sign up, please use the Google Form below. We hope to see you there!

The Amelia C. Murdoch Speaker Series is continuing in the 2017-2018 season. We are accepting proposals from potential speakers and nominations of people you’d like to see at our series. Please share your suggestions in the form below or send an email to info [at] languagemuseum.org