professional development \
startalk workshop \
2016 workshop
Workshop Mentors
Sybil Alexandrov I teach Spanish language for L2 learners and heritage speakers at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
I grew up in a bilingual family in Mexicali, Mexico, where I attended public schools (all in Spanish) until I was 15. For my last two years of high school I crossed the border to Calexico, California every day to attend public high school. Although I considered myself bilingual and bicultural, the enormous difference in teaching styles and cultural perspectives was a huge revelation and, at least initially, disconcerting. Where did I belong?
In college and graduate school I studied various Romance languages. I picked up a bit of Russian after meeting my husband, Vladimir. Our two children, now grown, are heritage speakers of Russian. Observing their very different reactions to language learning has helped me understand the challenges that heritage language learners AND heritage language instructors face. With my own students, my objective is to help them achieve their goals, whatever they may be, but more importantly, to help them learn to help themselves.
Soohee Kim received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Washington with a focus on Korean phonetics, phonology and morphology. Among her professional interests are the historical development of Korean language and lexicon, the role of grammatical knowledge in language learning and maintenance, and teaching novice and heritage language learners. She established the dual-track Korean language program in 1999 at the University of Washington and has been an avid advocate of heritage teaching and learning. Her interests include shorthand and grass script calligraphy in historical context, Eastern and Western philosophy, and living a meaningful life. She is the primary author of the 4-volume college-level Korean textbook series "You Speak Korean!" and a Korean grammar fundamentals book, “Basic Korean Grammar.”
Alejandro Lee
Alegria Ribadeneira completed her MA and PhD degrees at the University of Florida (Gainesville) and her BA degree at Fort Lewis College (Durango, Colorado). She is currently the head of the Foreign Languages Program at Colorado State University where she is an Associate Professor. Dr. Ribadeneira has received multiple awards for her teaching and service including the Student Choice Award for Outstanding Service and Transformative Leadership at CSU-Pueblo in 2012. She actively researches and presents on issues of instruction, assessment and program development under proficiency guidelines developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Her current projects focus on best teaching practices for courses that combine Heritage Language Learners and Second Language Learners. She has been working as a mentor at the Summer Institute since 2012.