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Biography
My work experience to date includes teaching Spanish language and Central American literature in several institutions in El Salvador, Guatemala, Ireland and Britain.
In 2007, I joined the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Nottingham as a co-ordinator for Spanish language. In this capacity I have been responsible for curriculum development, assessment, course leadership and the coordination and delivery of the Spanish language programme for all levels, from ab-initio to advanced English-Spanish translation. My role has also entailed pastoral care of undergraduate Spanish language students and the supervision of a few MA and PhD students.
My research interests include Central American poetry, in particular, that of "guerrilla poets", as both creating and responding to the political and intellectual climate in Latin America in the latter half of the twentieth century. My PhD thesis posits the poetry of Ernesto Cardenal, Roque Dalton and Oto René Castillo, the best known and, arguably, the most influential Central American poets of the 20th century, within the postcolonial problematic of Latin America, and reviews their work in the context of the history of twentieth-century Central America. It examines the construction and deconstruction of metanarratives in the poetry of the period: in the understanding and revision of historiographical models of conquest and imperialism, particularly in the light of the Cuban revolution and ideas surrounding the "New Man". It traces the use of the poetic voice as a representative of the most marginalized in society - the poor and the indigenous population - and the emergence of a transnational Latin American aesthetic of social justice which has become key to the region's identity.
I am also interested in the ideas and theories behind Language Teaching Pedagogy, which I have studied and used extensively since the completion of my first degree.
I hold a Diploma in Higher Education in Second Language Teaching and Acquisition, a BA in Philology, an MA and a PhD in Hispanic Studies with a focus on Central American poetry.
I am currently working, as part of a team, on the design of a Spanish MOOC, an online Spanish course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web.
In collaboration with Universidad de El Salvador, I am working on a socio-linguistic study of Nahuat, a Central American indigenous language which at the turn of the XXI century had become almost extinct, having less than 200 native speakers.