Professor
Gabriel is a seasoned educator and leader in the fields of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Intercultural Competence (ICC), and experiential learning. He created the first community of blogs dedicated to the interchange of languages (2007), founded Team Tandem (2015), connecting Spanish and English learners in Salinas, California, and co-authored the third edition of Brave New Digital Classroom (2020), an overview on key concepts and challenges of teaching and learning languages with technology, with a new focus on social CALL.
Recently, Gabriel produced the Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) curriculum adopted across all McGraw Hill Spanish textbooks (2022), led the creation of Sabor y amor (2024), the first OER Spanish textbook at the Middlebury Language Schools, and launched the TAMC Fellowship (2024), in collaboration with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County.
At the Institute, Gabriel teaches language education, ICC, and content-based Spanish courses. He was also Director (2019-2020) and Spanish Coordinator (2017-2019) for the Summer Intensive Language Program and recently led the creation of a language specialization for professional purposes.
In the past, he has been a recipient of the prestigious AECID Spanish Lectureship, a study abroad coordinator, 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. For more information, please see his personal site.
ICCO 8570
Comm in Multicultural SettingsCourse Description
Communication in Multicultural Settings
When we talk about language, we are not merely referring to the spoken or written word. Instead, we are delving into a social, complex, and adaptive system that encompasses verbal and non-verbal communication, the context in which language is used, and our collective and individual identities, life experiences, biases, and agendas. Through relevant materials, reflections, discussions, and projects, we will explore the multifaceted dimensions of communication in multicultural settings, honing our skills as global professionals.
Terms Taught
IEPG 8593
EcoRestoration in ColombiaCourse Description
This course Exploring Sustainable Agriculture Transitions in Rural Colombia will consist of an 8-day visit to the town of Libano, Colombia, over spring break March 16-24, 2024 with an additional travel day on each end of the trip.
The creation of a sustainable global food system is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. High-input, animal-based, industrial agricultural practices drive land concentration, deplete soils, and generate deforestation, including the loss of soil and forest carbon -In total, the agri-food system accounts for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Promising innovations are emerging, especially around the principles and practices of regenerative agriculture, in both developing and developed countries. The overarching aim of regenerative agriculture is to create farming and grazing systems that are in harmony with nature while generating sustainable livelihoods for farmers. It is a whole-of-ecosystem approach, with soil health at the center. Healthy soils have a high level of biodiversity and capacity to store both water and carbon.
This “exposure tour” in Colombia will provide students an opportunity to explore how an agricultural community in a developing country is grappling with the challenges and opportunities to transition to regenerative agriculture in the context of global and local supply chains, as well as a country engaged in post-conflict reconciliation.
Terms Taught
LING 8500
Language AnalysisCourse Description
Serves as an introduction to linguistic analysis. Includes projects based on fieldwork in phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse, and pragmatics. Discusses importance of language awareness. Includes pedagogical strategies for consciousness-raising.
Terms Taught
LING 8531
Pedagogical Grammar in FLTCourse Description
This course is designed to provide teachers of different languages with opportunities to investigate and practice pedagogical subject matter knowledge and grammar teaching strategies in the language that they teach. There will be a number of different languages represented in the class, which will afford multiple opportunities to explore, investigate, and share a variety of pedagogical perspectives and linguistic experiences.
The course will combine a focus on recent theoretical approaches to grammar (cognitive grammar, construction grammar, systemic – functional grammar) with innovative and practical approaches to teaching and learning in an authentic, action-based and interaction-rich setting.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8216 Upcoming
Latin America & Its PeopleCourse Description
This course will facilitate interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational skills development in Spanish at the intermediate level. Students will work on projects and materials related to the past and present of Latin America, beyond geopolitical borders.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8243 Upcoming
Spanish in the CommunityCourse Description
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.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8293
ColombianSustain:VivirSabrosoCourse Description
Colombian Sustainability: Vivir Sabroso
Colombians are reshaping the national narrative and the slogan “vivir sabroso” (to live joyfully) encapsulates a new way of being in the world, living without fear and with dignity, guaranteed rights, and in harmony with the environment. This course will allow Spanish students at the intermediate level and above to explore the topic of Colombian Sustainability from a multidimensional perspective, considering recent events, the natural complexity of this nation, and the case of Norte Nativo, a non-profit organization in Líbano, Colombia, working on sustainable agricultural practices.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8321 Upcoming
Spanish in the CommunityCourse Description
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.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8322
Spanish in theGlobal CommunityCourse Description
This Team Tandem course will be an opportunity for Spanish students to participate in an online exchange program, allowing them to develop intercultural communicative competence, learning autonomy, global citizenship skills, and proficiency at the intermediate high/advanced levels. Students will be collaborating with Spanish speakers in English and Spanish and work together on a relevant advocacy project.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8342 Upcoming
Topics-Latin American PoliticsCourse Description
This course is designed to provide an overview of Latin America's significant political and economic transformations during recent decades. Throughout its history, the region has undergone various political systems, including military regimes and variations of democracy, as well as economic models such as commodity export and innovative developmentalism. In this course, we will examine the impact of these political and financial systems on contemporary societies, with a particular focus on topics related to poverty, corruption, and inequality. The classwork will involve weekly readings, investigations, and mini-debates designed to foster critical thinking and also develop interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational skills in Spanish at an advanced level.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8421 Upcoming
Spanish in the CommunityCourse Description
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.
Terms Taught
SPLA 8442 Upcoming
Topics-Latin American PoliticsCourse Description
Topic in Latin American Politics
This course seeks to promote a debate of ideas about the different challenges posed in today’s Latin American society both political and economic. This content-based (CBI) Spanish course also aims to enhance and strengthen linguistics skills at the advanced level in Spanish in the three modes of communication- interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. The contents of this course will focus on authoritarian regimes in the 60s and 70s, the rise of democracy and populism, human rights and the work of NGOs, Human Trafficking, and the effects of COVID19 on the American continent.
Terms Taught
Gabriel is passionate about Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), project-based language learning (PBLL), curriculum development, and experiential learning.
Professor Guillen has been teaching at the Institute since 2014.
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| by Sierra Abukins
The inaugural fellows created a bilingual booklet to help the community engage - in both English and Spanish - with new sidewalk murals along routes to Salinas schools. The multi-year partnership with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County lets faculty and students put their skills to work on local community projects.
| by Mark C. Anderson
This fall, students studying Spanish at the Institute teamed up with community members learning English to create a local bilingual job-seeker’s guide.
| by Sierra Abukins
In a small town in the mountains of Colombia students explored sustainable coffee-growing practices, biodiversity, and rural revitalization.
