Abelardo Almazán-Vázquez

...and in my other class, we talked about understanding #IowaCaucuses and the amazing job from @RAICESTEXAS #DontLookAway initiative. The anti-immigrant rhetoric cannot be ignored or hidden so easily. #ShakiraBowl and #jlohalftime can wait, they would understand. (2/2)

Storytime: -Did you talk about...?? Nope, I did not talk about #SuperBowlLIV, or #Shakira, or #JLo... -But, but, you know, #LatinaPower, #RepresentationMatters?? -Yes, but instead, I felt like it was time we talked about the #Xenophobia with the #coronavirus these days... 1/2

Dejaré esto por aquí, y me iré lentamente a terminar mis reportes académicos... #SundayThoughts #SundayMotivation #langchat #spanishteachershttps://twitter.com/PoeticaAcciones/status/1080098865683070976 …

impact in their everyday lives. Like I shared recently: "No quiero grandes cosas en la vida, quiero cosas pequeñas que hagan más grande mi vida". If using "elles" is that small thing that makes my Ss's experience a bit better, then, I know it's totally worth it! #langchat

identities are honored and validated, so if I, as an educator, can make room and space for, perhaps, a fraction of a day where they don't have to feel sad, rejected, gaslighted, or questioned about who they are, then I know I'm actually making an...

I'm still Latino, I identify as Mexicano, and my wife is Latina and Mexicana too, we both still talk with "masculino genérico" and my Ss know that my non-binary Ss also acknowledge that it is EXTREMELY complicated to find spaces (both in English and Spanish) where their...

So, it became very normal to add an extra pronoun to the list, the "e" to the "o" and "a" endings, I was not going to "go rogue" and say "let's all use the E or the X", I am simply advocating for an addition, an enrichment of the language...

however, with this former student, and after 5 years, with more than 20+ students I've taught, whose preferred pronouns are "they/them", I understood that I'm not going to challenge that system in place, but simply creating a space where students are adding, not subtracting...

that is how I first started with "elloas", "ell@s", "elles", and I've decided to simply put it to a test. I knew in my that La Real Academia and other colleagues not only would dismiss this, but also, start making fun, and making memes or jokes about this...

they were extremely kind, compassionate, and with a genuine desire to learn #spanish as a second language, they knew about the masculine/feminine nature of the language, and we started to brainstorm options around pronoun and adjective agreement alternatives...

back in the days, I used to live in the #heteronormativity, the #binaryoptions, the #colonized curriculum, the #eurocentric views, but it all started with a simple conversation with this former student...

Other colleagues with a similar mindset. Then, around 5 years ago, I had my first non-binary student, and they/them were extremely important in my teaching career. I've learned so much about a field that I had no idea it existed...

I used to say that the RAE was the go-to authority for "proper use of Spanish" and I used to grade based on "proper grammar and accuracy". The first time I learned about #Latinx, I used to be one of the ppl who made jokes about it, and it was a way for me to "be cool" with...

I was not always this "woke", in my early adolescent yrs, I used to be sexist, misogynistic, perpetuated stereotypes and my Ss have known about this for a long time. This is something I've been learning, unlearning, and relearning in a painful and productive trajectory....

I'll give a try to another . Bear with me. I've got some DMs wondering why, as a native speaker, I was writing "strange" in Spanish, like some "whitewashed" ideas about gender-neutral lang in my Spanish classes. Let me vulnerable with you, and share a #storytime...

Colleague: how is it going with the “X” for #Latinx and all that fun stuff these days? Me: who said this was supposed to be funny? Is not. It takes a lot to practice #inclusive lang with your Ss. Honoring and validating identities should be on every L2 teacher PD these days.