Spanish symposium shows one language is never enough

UQ’s School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies (LCCS) recently hosted a successful Spanish teachers symposium at the St Lucia campus.

Coordinated by the LCCS, the Spanish Embassy’s Education Office and the Modern Language Teachers’ Association of Queensland Inc, the symposium ran from September 18-20 and featured three experts in Spanish language acquisition from the University of Salamanca and Editorial SM.

The aim of the event was to offer Spanish teachers in Queensland with an opportunity for professional development, and also to provide the Spanish Embassy’s Education Office with a logistics base in Brisbane.

Head of LCCS Professor Alfredo Martínez-Expósito said the symposium had been well attended and showed the need for future initiatives of its type.

“Our work is highly valued by the teachers and, as the high attendance at the symposium shows, there seems to be growing demand as more schools (and universities) across Queensland decide to open Spanish language programs,” Professor Martínez-Expósito said.

Professor Martínez-Expósito said he looked forward to strengthening UQ’s relationship with the Spanish Education Office to better support local second language teachers.

“Currently, opportunities for the professional development of second language teachers are very rare in Queensland,” he said.

“Workshops like this one are so important for practising teachers and the feedback from the event has been excellent.”

Media: Alfredo Martinez-Exposito (07 3365 6336 or a.martinez@uq.edu.au) or Dania Lawrence at the Faculty of Arts (07 3365 9163)