FLARR Pages #46: Teaching Teresa: Some Considerations and Suggestions, Part II

St Teresa of Avila.(1515-1582), since 1970 a Doctor of the Church, founder of the discalced Carmelite Order of Spain, is perhaps the most important figure of Spanish mysticism. She was, as well. despite almost insurmountable resistance, one of the greatest reformers of Spain. Her success was remarkable and she still serves as a model for women of today, with her determination to get things done in a male ·dominated world. The purpose of this article is to offer some considerations and suggestions for teaching certain aspects of St Teresa\u27s life and times. Sources are recommended

FLARR Pages #60: Lady Assassins in Spain? A Psychological and Cultural Profile of Perez-Reverte\u27s Dona Adela de Otero

In 1988, twenty years ago, Arturo Perez-Reverte wrote a marvelously complex novel entitled El maestro de esgrima (The Fencing Master). The project of that novel was to show how certain traditional Spanish values and attitudes were threatened by contemporary realities. The protagonist, the talented and socially withdrawn Don Jaime de Astarloa, is a gentleman of the ideal caballero-hidalgo type, a fencing master, who is nearly killed defending his values, single-handedly, against a major transnational conspiracy being played out during the political turmoil of the late 19th century. Perez-Reverte shows that by then it had become extremely difficult to be an honorable man in the traditional sense, to lead a provite life devoted to an art, like fencing, and especially to deal as an individual with the complexities of modem intrigue

FLARR Pages #61: Murder and Mayhem... and How to Teach Them

A good question for speculation is, By the age of 18 how many serial killers and assassins have our young people seen? Very few, of course, unless you count the scores of fictional characters who are depicted every year on television and in films. They are, for some reason, a point of particular curiosity, and they are appearing in the literature of Spain. Perhaps the most well-known 20th century serial killer is Camilo Jose Cela\u27s Pascual Duarte. Just how could these characters be approached in our classes

FLARR Pages #68: Autobiography and Travel: Motivation for Writing in World Languages Classes

My idea for motivating compositional skill is to have students write about questions that they will surely be asked when they travel, especially, in my classes, when they travel to Latin America and Spain Students are most commonly asked about their families; about studies and future plans; about jobs, which are usually Summer jobs; and shortly thereafter about their views on love, courtship, and marriage. I have students write composition about these topics, drafts to be revised three times,and then students arrange the statements on one page, front and back. with illustrations. I then laminate the page for them and they have a tool, a durable tool, to take with them on their travels

FLARR Pages #69: Teaching the College Survey of Literature Course

The following is a summary, in categorized form, of a discussion which took place at the Fall Conference of FLARR on October 9, 2010 at Concordia College, Moorhead, on the teaching of the college literature survey course, along with additional information submitted later by e-mail. Some questions to stimulate thinking were distributed initially to the participants (see below-they will still be useful in discipline discussions)

FLARR Pages #45: Teaching Teresa: Some Considerations and Suggestions, Part I

St Teresa of Avila.(1515-1582), since 1970 a Doctor of the Church, founder of the discalced Carmelite Order of Spain, is perhaps the most important figure of Spanish mysticism. She was, as well. despite almost insurmountable resistance, one of the greatest reformers of Spain. Her success was remarkable and she still serves as a model for women of today, with her determination to get things done in a male ·dominated world. The purpose of this article is to offer some considerations and suggestions for teaching certain aspects of St Teresa\u27s life and times. Sources are recommended

FLARR Pages #30: Writing the Novel, an Interview with Vicente Cabrera

Professor Vicente Cabrera, who now teaches at the University of Minnesota, Morris has just published a new novel, La sombra del espia, which has received wide acclaim in Ecuador. This work is a cross-cultural tale of spies, drug-traffickers and typewriters. Two other novels, published previously are: La Noche del Te, which has mental illness as its theme, and El Gaban, which describes a student and a serious political uprising. A fourth novel is in the works: El Hortelano de Ulba, which treats a mixed-race Hispano and American theme

FLARR Pages #5: FLARR: a Beginning Agenda for the Next 25 Years

In the Fall of 1997 the Foreign Language Association of the Red River celebrates its 25th Anniversary. We are the oldest collaborative group of its kind in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota

FLARR Pages #53: Teaching Larra: Approaches and Student Reactions

Mariano Jose de Lana was one of Spain\u27s finest journalist of the early nineteenth century. I teach a entire half semester on Lana in a course on reform in Spain. Today\u27s students are still interested in the subject of reform and they do, predictably, compare Larra \u27s recommendations with what they see on their own trips to Spain as well as with similar issues in 21st century United States culture. As a framework for the course, four basic approaches were designed, which were also the topics for a take--home, mid-term exam