Language, Literacy, & Sociocultural Studies Centers, Institutes, & Projects
LLSS Centers
- American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center
- Institute for American Indian Education (IAIE)
LLSS Teaching Institutes and Projects
- Native American Language Teacher's Institute
- Spanish Summer Immersion Institute for Bilingual Teachers
- UNM/APS ESL Endorsement Summer Institute
LLSS Centers
American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center
Director: Dr. Chris Sims
Program Manager: Dr. Carlotta Penny Bird
Telephone: 505-277-1819
Location: Hokona Hall, Room 133
The Center aims to serve as a local and national center of collaborative research that examines major policy issues affecting the survival and maintenance of American Indian languages. The Center also provides a venue for building an international dialogue about language issues that extends to other indigenous languages of the Americas. Developing and providing native language teacher training programs and technical assistance support for American Indian tribes engaged in language maintenance and preservation initiatives is another key aspect of the Center's outreach and service. For more information about the center, click here.
Institute for American Indian Education (IAIE)
Co-Directors: Dr. Glenabah Martinez and Dr. Christine Sims
Program Manager: Jay Rubilayd
Telephone: 505-277-7781
Location: Hokona Hall, Room 250
The Institute for American Indian Education, IAIE, was created in response to New Mexico's overwhelming need to improve American Indian student retention and achievement in schools. Since its inception in 2003, more than 80 American Indian students have graduated or are on track to graduate with degrees in education. We have a 90% retention rate and 67% graduation rate for our students.
Additionally, the UNM College of Education & Human Sciences American Indian/First Nations faculty, which is the largest group of American Indian/First Nations faculty at any College of Education in the country, conduct outreach, workshops, and seminars in the area of curriculum development, preparation for teacher licensure tests, American Indian charter school development, and American Indian language revitalization and instructional planning.
LLSS Teaching Institutes and Projects
Native American Language Teacher's Institute
This one-week institute is restricted to speakers of Native languages who are preparing to teach or are responsible for teaching language in tribal language programs or in school settings. The course is especially recommended for native speakers who are interested in teaching language in an immersion setting. This course will focus on methodologies and strategies that support effective oral language teaching, principles of second language development for Native language learners, with a special emphasis on planning and applying principles to appropriate oral language teaching activities. Students will be expected to participate in interactive activities with other Native speakers and demonstrations of Native language teaching by “veteran” Native language immersion teachers. There will be ample opportunities for discussion and sharing or creative ideas for language teaching.
Spanish Summer Immersion Institute for Bilingual Teachers
The Spanish Summer Immersion Institute for Bilingual Teachers is the result of a partnership between the NMPED’s Bilingual and Multicultural Education Bureau and the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies in the College of Education & Human Sciences. The aim of the Institute is to provide teachers with the opportunity to use their Spanish in an academic setting while learning necessary instructional, historical, linguistic, and cultural information. The Institute plays an instrumental role in helping bilingual teachers in New Mexico prepare for and pass La Prueba, the state-mandated assessment for teachers in Spanish. For more information, please contact Dr. Carlos LópezLeiva at callopez@unm.edu.
TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Summer Institute
Since its founding in 1999, the UNM/APS ESL Endorsement Summer Institute has helped over 750 in-service and pre-service teachers acquire their TESOL endorsements (pdf). The six-week institute, in which students take three UNM courses toward their endorsement, also features six elementary classes in which institute participants gain teaching experience with ESL students who are recruited from the neighborhoods around La Mesa Elementary School, where the institute is held.
The 2024 TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Summer Institute will be a six-week institute held online from June 10th to July 18th. The institute classes run Monday through Friday from 8:00 am ~ 1:30 pm. The institute classes run Monday through Friday from 8:00 am ~ 1:30 pm.
The courses are offered online during the Summer Institute. No course pre-requisites are needed, 400 level courses are for undergraduate credit and 500 for graduate credit level:
- LLSS 456/556 – First and Second Language Development within Cultural Contexts
- LLSS 459/559 – Second Language Literacy
- LLSS 482/581 – Teaching English as a Second Language
For best consideration, submit your application by May 10, 2024. Notification of acceptance will be e-mailed to applicants within two weeks after receipt of the application. If you are not currently a UNM student, you will need to apply for UNM non-degree status. Call 277-6044 or visit this website: https://grad.unm.edu/prospective-students/admissions-criteria.html
If you are interested in attending the 2024 TESOL Summer Institute, please follow this link to complete the application. If you have any questions, using the Subject "TESOL Institute", please email Dr. Carlos LópezLeiva at callopez@unm.edu. If you are an APS teacher, contact the Department of Language and Cultural Equity at 881-9429 for information about tuition reimbursement. If you are from another district, please contact your district with a similar inquiry
