Specialties: Romance Language, Spanish and Italian Linguistics, and Latin American Woman Writers

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania

At Monmouth University I teach all levels of Spanish language, culture, literature, linguistics, and methods for teaching world languages. I also teach beginner Italian for non-speaking and heritage speakers students.

FS101 Elementary Spanish

Spanish elementary is a beginner-level communicative based language course. An introduction to basic Spanish grammar, vocabulary and communicative structures, this course is intended for students with no previous knowledge or no more than two years of Spanish studies. Students participate in pair, small group and whole-class conversation/listening activities that focus on the meaningful and accurate communication of information. In order to provide students opportunities to engage in spontaneous creativity in the language, grammar is always presented as a means to a communicative end.  Click here for syllabus

FS307 Survey of Spanish Literature

Survey of Peninsular Spanish Literature that focuses on drama, short story, and poetry from the medieval period until the beginning of the eighteenth century. Emphasis will be on the drama of the Renaissance and Baroque periods incorporating playwrights such as Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, and Calderón de la Barca. In addition, poets and writers such as Garcilaso, Fray Luis, Santa Teresa, Góngora, and Quevedo are included. Prerequisite: Spanish 301 or permission of the department.   Click here for syllabus

FS416 Medieval and Golden Age Spanish Literature

An in depth study of three periods of Spanish Peninsular literature: Medieval, Golden Age, and Baroque. Works include Poema de Mío Cid, La Celestina, La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes and other picaresque novels.  Click here for syllabus

FO 427 Method of Teaching Second Language

This course is designed to prepare future world language teachers‘ understanding of the ACTFL performance guidelines and standards together with their application and assessment in the classroom. Various modes of teaching language will be explored including the integration of culture and communication in each lesson. Cooperative creation of assessment rubrics based on the expectations of the ACTFL guidelines is an integral part of the course. Self and group assessments are incorporated into each class. Professional development is also explored and students must join three professional affiliations. Micro-teaching and 30 hours of fieldwork are required. Microteaching will be videotaped for self and group assessment. These components provide the students with valuable pre-teaching experiences that will strengthen understanding of teaching strategies and capabilities.  Click here for syllabus

IT 101 Elementary Italian

This course intends to give students the fundamentals of Italian language structure. It will train students in the basic skills: listening, speaking and grammar, with some emphasis on reading and writing. Throughout the course the students will become acquainted with many of the cultural themes of Italy. Some taped material and films will be used to supplement the instruction. Click here for syllabus

FS 315 Introduction to Spanish Linguistics

An introduction to the linguistic analysis of the Spanish language from the point of view of its internal organization and sound system. Intended for Spanish majors and will be conducted entirely in Spanish. Students will be introduced to the morphological study of the language; an introduction to Spanish phonetics in theory and practice will incorporate the history of the Spanish language from Latin to modern Spanish. Discussion of Hispanic dialectology and geolinguistics. Prerequisite: Four years of high-school Spanish or four semesters of college Spanish.  Click here for syllabus

FS 406 Cervantes

Analytical readings in Cervantes' Entremeses, Novelas Ejemplares, and Don Quixote.  Click here for syllabus