Assistant Professor; Summer Intensive Spanish Program Coordinator
- Office
- 400 Pacific Street D207
- Tel
- (831) 647-3085
- gabi@middlebury.edu
Gabriel is a seasoned practitioner and researcher in the field of language learning and technology. He created the first community of blogs dedicated to the interchange of languages, back in 2007, and recently founded Team Tandem (Recicle.org), connecting Spanish and English learners in the county of Monterey. His own doctoral dissertation centered on online intercultural exchanges and the use of language learning social networks in the context of hybrid language education.
At MIIS Gabriel teaches content-based Spanish courses focusing on social entrepreneurship and the use of media in the Hispanic world. In the past, he has been a Frontier Market Scout, a recipient of the prestigious AECID Spanish Lectureship, a study abroad coordinator, a journal editor, a web developer, and a reporter who published more than 300 articles in Spanish. His teaching has been recognized with the Excellence in Teaching Year Award from the UC Davis Department of Spanish & Portuguese and the HOPE Award from the Southern Methodist University. He is an active member of the CALICO organization and regularly publishes about language learning in the Huffington Post.
Courses Taught
Courses offered in the past two years.
- Current term ●
- Upcoming term(s) ○
SPLA 8311 - Spanish Storytelling ●
This course will facilitate interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational skills development in Spanish at the upper intermediate level. Learners will watch, analyze, and discuss TED talks in Spanish, while working on a personal and professional story of their own.
Fall 2018 - MIIS
SPLA 8355 - Spanish Fake News & Persuasion ●
This course will facilitate interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational skills development in Spanish at the advanced level. Learners will explore traditional media, trending topics, and fake news, peeling the Spanish cultural onion. A weekly publication in our own site (OndaGlobal.org) will help develop transnational awareness, critical thinking, and persuasion skills in Spanish.
Fall 2018 - MIIS
SPLA 8393 - Adv Spanish in the Community ●
Each Friday, you will travel to Salinas and interact with Salinas Adult School ESL learners who are speakers of Spanish. Through a sequence of online and onsite activities, you will collaborate with community members and develop language awareness, language confidence and language proficiency; problem posing and problem solving skills in Spanish; interpersonal and intercultural competence; and learning autonomy. This course will meet two days a week and you will be required to work on Spanish assignments on a regular basis, meet with the course instructor, and submit a final deliverable (a solid blend of oral and written work).
Fall 2018 - MIIS
SPLA 8200 - Intermediate Spanish I
Summer 2018 Language Programs
SPLA 8201 - Intermediate Spanish I
Summer 2018 Language Programs
SPLA 8250 - Intermediate Spanish II
Summer 2018 Language Programs
SPLA 8251 - Intermediate Spanish II
Summer 2018 Language Programs
SPLA 8280 - Intermediate Spanish III
Summer 2018 Language Programs
SPLA 8281 - Intermediate Spanish III
Summer 2018 Language Programs
SPLA 8243 - Spanish in the Community
This course allows learner to develop intercultural communicative competence in Spanish. Each Friday, students will travel to Salinas and interact with English learners who are speakers of their target language. Through a sequence of tasks and projects, learners will develop language skills, creativity, critical thinking, community awareness, intercultural competence, language confidence, and learning autonomy.
Spring 2017 - MIIS, Fall 2017 - MIIS, Spring 2018 - MIIS
SPLA 8372 - SpanishSocialEntrepreneurship
This course will explore the creation and characteristics of organizations that seek the fulfillment of social needs in the Hispanic world. Through readings, in-class discussions, presentations, and a final project, students will develop a better understanding of the topic (emprendedurismo social) while developing interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational skills in Spanish.
Spring 2017 - MIIS, Spring 2018 - MIIS
SPLA 8315 - Spanish Current Events
This course will facilitate interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational skills development in Spanish at the advanced level. Discussion on topics related to contemporary trends and current events in the Hispanic world will be combined with audiovisual and news analysis, within a project-based framework.
Fall 2017 - MIIS
SPLA 8354 - Spanish 5th Estate
This course will explore both traditional and social media in the Hispanic world, paying attention to “glocal” voices and events. News, debates, social media analysis, and a weekly publication will help develop transnational awareness and critical thinking in Spanish.
Fall 2017 - MIIS
Areas of Interest
Gabriel is passionate about genuine social impact, language learning in the community, general linguistics, social media, viral communication, international cinema, meaningful photography, and traveling with a purpose. As a practitioner, he is relentlessly willing to improve and develop spaces and resources for online and face-to-face second language learning, such as Onda Global and Recicle. For more information, please see his personal blog.
Academic Degrees
- Ph.D. Spanish Linguistics & SLA, University of California, Davis
- M.A. Applied Linguistics, Antonio de Nebrija University, Spain
- Certificate in Social Enterprise Management and Impact Investing, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Professor Guillen has been teaching at the Institute since 2014.
Publications
- Guillén, G., T. Sawin & Springer, S. (2018). The Lingo of Language Learning Startups: Congruency between Claims, Affordances, and SLA Theory. In S. Link & J. Li (Eds.) Assessment Across Online Language Education. CALICO BOOK Series.
- Guillén, G. & Blake R. (2017). Can you repeat, please? L2 complexity, awareness, and fluency development in the hybrid “classroom”. In: Sanz-Sánchez, I, Rivera-Mills, S V and Morin, R. (eds.) Online Language Teaching Research: Pedagogical, Academic and Institutional Issues. Pp. 55–77. TBC: Trysting Tree Books.
- Guillén, G. (2017). La represión del deseo en el cine cubano: los antihéroes sexuales de Memorias del subdesarrollo, Cecilia y Fresa y Chocolate. Ética & Cine Journal. Forthcoming
- Guillén, G. (2016). Intercultural Exchanges Assessment: Heating the Warm Little Pond. In J. Dai (Ed.), Innovative Pedagogy and Ecological Perspective (161-173). Taipei: Sharing Publisher.
- Guillén, G. (2015). Awareness and Corrective Feedback in Social CALL, Tandems, and E-Tandems. IALLT Journal of Language Learning Technologies, 44(2) 1-42.
- Guillén, G. (2015). Review of Language MOOCS: Providing Learning, Transcending Boundaries. Language Learning & Technology 19(3) 61-64.
- Blake, R., G. Guillén & Bradley, T. (2014). iCultura: Multimedia Textbook for the Intermediate Level in Spanish. Davis, CA: University of California, Davis.