Exploring Spanish as a heritage language in the UK.
The Instituto Cervantes in Manchester is celebratingInternational Mother Language Daywith the round tableâSpanish as a Heritage Language in the United Kingdomâ, featuring specialists in the educational and linguistic fields such as MarĂa GarcĂa Florenciano, Carlos Soler Montes, Chary GonzĂĄlez-Latham and hosted by Eva Alcayde.
The discussion will explore the challenges and opportunities for preserving Spanish as a heritage language within the countryâs Spanish-speaking communities. Key issues will include intergenerational transmission, the role of families and complementary schools, as well as the linguistic and cultural development challenges posed by a multilingual environment.
The round table is organised in collaboration with Manchester City of Literature, the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain in the United Kingdom, the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom, and ELEUK.
Eva Alcayde is currently an Education Advisor at the Spanish Embassy Education Office in the UK. In this role, she manages the organisation of continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities for teachers of Spanish and collaborates on the development and implementation of ALCE programmes.
She began her career as a secondary school teacher of English within the bilingual Basque-medium education model in Navarre, where she later worked for the Department of Education of the Government of Navarre coordinating CPD programmes for foreign language teachers in primary and secondary education levels.
She subsequently joined Spainâs Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, working at the National Institute for Educational Evaluation (INEE) as part of the Spanish unit in the European Eurydice Network, contributing to international education policy research and analysis.
She has also shared her expertise in higher education as a part-time lecturer in English Studies at the Complutense University of Madrid, where she taught English Literature.
Senior Lecturer in Spanish Linguistics and the Head of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
University of Edinburgh
About Dr Carlos Soler Montes
Senior Lecturer in Spanish Linguistics and the Head of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at the University of Edinburgh. As a researcher, Carlos is particularly interested in the area of language variation from a pluricentric perspective and how this variation can be dealt with by native speakers, as well as learners of Spanish and new speakers of the language. This is reflected in his research trajectory as he has examined the ways in which Spanish grammar varies across different Hispanic regions, its particularities, cultural connections and social contacts with other languages. Carlos has obtained a thorough training in language pedagogy and has worked as a language teacher throughout his career, teaching Spanish at various North American universities (Connecticut, Calgary and New Mexico) and the Instituto Cervantes. In 2017, he won the Edinburgh University Studentsâ Association Teaching Award for Best Feedback. He is currently the President of SRUK/CERU, the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom ELEUK.
MarĂa GarcĂa Florenciano is associate professor of Spanish at the University of Leeds, where she has held several leadership roles, including Director of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, and Programme Leader for Modern Languages; she is currently Deputy Head of the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies. Her research interests include ELE pedagogy, CLIL and pluriliteracies, languageâlearning motivation, and Spanish as a heritage language. She is Editor of The Language Scholar and President of ELEUK, the association that brings together teachers of Spanish in Higher Education across the UK.
