1.1: Introducción

¿Para quién es este libro?  This book was designed for Spanish heritage-speaking students, those students whose connection to Spanish is primarily rooted in their homes and communities resulting in significant political and sociocultural ties to the language. For these students, Spanish represents much more than an additional language they can use for work or play. For heritage speakers, Spanish is an invaluable resource that allows them to connect with their families, communities, and cultural background; it is their cultural and linguistic inheritance (Amezcua, 2019). We strongly believe that any implementation of heritage language curriculum must begin with an understanding of our students' explicit right to engage with and preserve this inheritance as they see fit. By the very nature of their language experience, heritage-speaking students enter our classrooms with a broad range of Spanish language practices and experiences. With this in mind, a central aim of this two-part book is to support the continued development of heritage speakers’ Spanish literacy while also fostering linguistic confidence through the cultivation of strong identity formation and critical awareness of their heritage language. Bridging critical theories to practice: Critical Language Pedagogy (CLP) We join Claudia Holguin (2018) and others (see Del Valle, 2014; Leeman, Rabin, and Román Mendoza 2011; Leeman and Serafini 2016; Loza 2017; Martínez 2003; Parra 2016) in proposing a critical approach to the design of Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL) education. We aim to integrate students' lived experiences and create space to reflect, analyze, and collectively build a critical understanding of the roles that race, identity, social class, immigration, and social justice play in how language is understood and used in their communities and the world. In addition to critical language pedagogy (CLP), our curriculum draws on theories of Place-Based Education and Critical Sociocultural Linguistic Literacy (CriSOLL). While grammar and accuracy are not the primary drivers of our curriculum we rely on the ACTFL proficiency guidelines as a frame for our students to measure their individual growth according to their own language development goals.  In our implementation of CLP we prioritize centering U.S. Latinx voices featuring literary works by U.S. Latina/o/x authors and historical events and movements like the Chicano Movement of the 1960s, that are often excluded from traditional Spanish language textbooks. We seek to promote student agency by placing their life experiences at the core of the curriculum while also helping them develop the tools and skills to identify and resist the harmful socio-political and cultural ideologies and practices that position their language and culture as deficient.  We also offer students the opportunity to explore themes that center their lives and those of other US Latina/o/x community members. Some of the topics we explore are US Latina/o/x Identity, the History of Spanish in the U.S., Spanish Language Variation, Activism in Latinx communities, Immigration, Race and Latinidad, Music, Art and Theater as a Form of Resistance and Cultural Pride, and Spanish in their Future and Careers.  Explicit grammar instruction is not a primary focus of this text as there is little evidence for its efficacy in heritage language instruction. In our own classrooms, we have found that it often undermines students' growth and investment in their heritage language with very little pay-off in terms of language development. Time and again, we have found that grammar is most likely to "stick" when taught in context and as needed to support students' own communicative goals. In this book, we approach grammar as a contextualized practice to support the development of students’ Spanish literacy skills while doing our best to avoid unnecessary grammatical jargon. While each chapter includes a grammar and orthography section, these are intended to serve as flexible resources rather than the primary focus of instruction. In taking this approach, we are intentionally choosing to prioritize our students' investment in Spanish, which has been shown to be strongly correlated to language proficiency among heritage speakers of Spanish (Marshall, 2026).  Place-Based Education: Del barrio para el barrio  This textbook draws on place-based education, which positions local communities and lived experiences as powerful sources of knowledge. Place-based education is an umbrella term that refers to pedagogical practices that center the local community, environment, culture, and students' lived experiences as the foundation for meaningful and relevant teaching and learning. One of the goals of place-based learning is to foster civic engagement by helping students develop a deep sense of belonging, collective responsibility, and a commitment to improving the well-being of their communities, not just their own individual interests (Yemini et al., 2025). We believe that U.S. Latinx history matters and should be at the core of the curriculum. The textbook invites students to explore and reflect on local issues affecting U.S. Latino/x communities, highlighting grassroots activism and meaningful ways to get involved and give back within communities across Illinois. It also makes connections between these topics and their impact on Latinx communities beyond the United States. Each chapter features an oral history connected to the unit’s theme, drawn from conversations with Chicago area professors, community activists, and community members who generously share their stories and expertise. In addition, every chapter includes lecturas written by local professors, students, and members of the Latinx community with strong ties to Chicago and the Spanish language. It also features work by Northern Illinois University and University of Chicago students, including testimonios (stories of growing up bilingual), poems, and oral history interviews. The curriculum also documents the history of Latinx student activism at Northern Illinois University, particularly their efforts in establishing the Undocumented Student Resource Center and the Latino Center. As part of these courses, students engage in paseos to these centers to learn about this history and its connection to our identity as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Part of the responsibility of an HSI is to serve Latinx students, and we see Spanish for Heritage Language (SHL) courses as part of this effort to truly support their academic and linguistic needs, in partnership with existing institutional resources. We invite teachers and professors to visit and engage with institutional centers and resources on their own campuses, and to explore local histories of activism in their contexts and meaningfully incorporate them into their instruction. The grammatical and orthographic points included in each chapter reflect what has been effective for the student population we currently serve; however, different learning contexts may call for different topics—or none at all. We placed these sections at the end of each chapter, but encourage educators to use them throughout the chapter when appropriate. We strongly encourage all instructors to evaluate and develop activities that respond to their students’ needs and adapt these sections accordingly, using them as a guide to support students in continuing to develop their heritage language with confidence. Linguistic and Social Justice Standards The majority of our student community enters our SHL classroom with an Advanced Low level of proficiency. This textbook uses a broad range of styles (different ways of languaging), genres (e.g., fiction, nonfiction, oral histories, testimonios), and text types (e.g., narrative, argumentative, and expository texts) to support students’ development toward the Advanced High and Superior proficiency levels through learning objectives in the form of Can-Do Statements. These learning objectives were informed by the ACTFL Proficiency Standards and the Critical Sociocultural Linguistic Literacy (CriSoLL) framework. CriSoLL, as proposed by Claudia Holguín Mendoza is a critical pedagogy-based approach rooted in sociolinguistic justice that aims to increase students’ critical language awareness and linguistic agency. Holguín Mendoza (2022) calls on SHL educators to reimagine language assessment to prioritize critical pedagogies and sociolinguistic justice. Centering student agency, she proposes a CSLL-based rubric that recognizes heritage speakers’ linguistic knowledge and supports student self-reflection on their critical literacy development. CriSoLL in no way suggests that students should not or will not learn standardized or prestige varieties of Spanish. Crucially, however, it requires students (and instructors) to simultaneously develop a critical awareness of the privileged status of these varieties and the white logic that underpins it. Beyond language proficiency, these learning objectives aim to measure critical consciousness and critical literacy. Using a backwards design approach, texts and materials were carefully selected to support this progression of both proficiency and critical engagement. We encourage teachers to differentiate instruction based on their student community and adapt activities with scaffolding and support. The content of each unit is organized around essential questions designed to encourage students to explore different aspects of their lives and communities. Drawing on Holguin Mendoza’s CSLL-based rubric as a model, each unit includes a self-assessment tool for students to measure growth in both language and critical literacy.   Throughout these chapters, students will have the opportunity to: Conduct independent research using both primary and secondary sources  Describe in detail important people, relationships, places, and events Narrate significant personal, cultural, and historical events Compare and contrast ideas, texts, or concepts and share opinions and perspectives based on their own lived experiences Synthesize information from a variety of sources to prepare multimodal projects regarding complex ideas Plan and prepare oral presentations engaging complex ideas or concepts Identify arguments, including both main points and supporting details Infer meaning and analyze the author's use of language to communicate across a variety of text types  Understand and apply specialized vocabulary in written and oral language Present, develop, and defend arguments with clear main points and supporting evidence  Analyze, discuss, and explain complex social, political, and academic topics Evaluate and compare multiple viewpoints or opinions   Develop and propose solutions to complex social, political, and academic issues We believe language should promote social justice, helping students critically understand the world, recognize inequities, and communicate inclusively. Therefore, we have also aligned this curriculum with the social justice standards. We end this introduction with the following quote from Gloria Anzaldúa, as we believe that SHL courses should be spaces where students’ languages, identities, histories, and lived experiences matter, belong, and are celebrated.                                                      “Chicanos who grew up speaking Chicano Spanish have internalized the belief that we speak poor Spanish.                                                       It is illegitimate, a bastard language                                                     ...we use our language differences against each other.                                                     ...Repeated attacks on our native tongue diminish our sense of self                          ...So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my language.” A Note on Inclusive Language As we discuss throughout this textbook, languages evolve and develop along with the communities who use them. Over the past years, we have witnessed one of these changes in progress with many Spanish-speaking communities integrating the use of inclusive language. The goal of inclusive language is to acknowledge the full range of gender identities without prioritizing any of them above another. We recognize that each community has its own preferences and traditions. Our goal is to share options with our students so they are aware of current usage across multiple contexts and to ensure that they know how to use their preferred forms.  In terms of our own usage within this book, we implemented the following norms:  In reference to any individual, we used (to the best of our knowledge) their preferred pronouns and corresponding grammatical forms.  In reference to the broader Spanish-speaking community in the U.S., we use the two most frequent variations “Latinx” and “Latine” interchangeably.  In all other cases, we vary usage between the traditional masculine default and including options for feminine, masculine, and non-binary gender referents (e.g., un compañero, una compañera, une compañere). Where we use the non-binary forms, we have opted for the -e primarily due to its phonological transparency.

Referencias 

Anzaldúa, G. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books.

Del Valle, J. (2014). The politics of normativity and globalization: Which Spanish in the classroom? The Modern Language Journal, 98(1), 358–372.

Holguín Mendoza, C. (2018). Critical language awareness (CLA) for Spanish heritage language programs: Implementing a complete curriculum. lnternational Multilingual Journal,12(2),65-79.

Leeman, J., Rabin, L., & Roman-Mendoza, E. (2011). Identity and activism in language education. Modern Language Journal, 95(4), 481–495.

Leeman, J., & Serafini, E. (2016). Sociolinguistics and heritage language education: A model for promoting critical translingual competence. In M. Fairclough & S. Beaudrie (Eds.), Spanish as a Heritage Language in the United States: The State of the Field (pp. 56–79). Georgetown University Press.

Loza, S. (2017). Transgressing standard language ideologies in the Spanish heritage language (SHL) classroom. Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures, 1(2), 56–77.

Martínez, G. A. (2003). Classroom-based dialect awareness in heritage language instruction: A critical applied linguistic approach. Heritage Language Journal, 1(1), 44–57.

Parra, M. L. (2016). Understanding identity among Spanish heritage learners. In D. Pascual y Cabo (Ed.), Advances in Spanish as a Heritage Language (pp. 177- 204). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Yemini, M., Engel, L., & Ben Simon, A. (2025). Place-based education: A systematic review of literature. Educational Review, 77(2), 640–660.