Teaching Hispanic Culture, Diversity, and Tolerance through Hispanic Dances and Music: Two Approaches for Flamenco & Caribbean Dances

This is an outdated version published on 27-12-2023. Read the most recent version.

Authors

  • Chita Espino-Bravo Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS, US
  • Nicole English Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS, US
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/flamenco.553181
Keywords: Spanish for Specific Purposes, Flamenco Sessions and Spanish Vocabulary and Culture, Task-Based Learning Activity, Teaching Spanish Through Hispanic Dances and Music, Embodied Learning, Teaching Social Concepts, Culture, Sociology of Dance

Supporting Agencies

  • Fort Hays State University

Abstract

A Sociology Approach: Dance can be a useful tool for teaching students about culture and community. Through the language of Dance and Music (Caribbean Dance), context is given to social facts, which engages and informs students about such social issues as history, Colonialism, social class, gender, race/ethnicity, and social justice. The added bonus of using Dance as a lens is that it involves active, embodied learning (Dewey, English, Mead), making the material more memorable, meaningful, and relevant to the learner.

A Communicative Approach (Task-based Learning Activity) \& Language for Specific Purposes: Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is a derivative of the
Communicative Approach (CA) and Second language Acquisition (SLA) studies. Certain types of communicative learning activities can lead to acquisition of language (Abdel Kazeroni, Aquilino Sanchez, Margaret Robertson, Yiqng Lin). When teaching a Hispanic Dance Session using specific Spanish vocabulary of the dance to address certain dance movements (like Flamenco dance), we engage language learners in acquiring Spanish parts of language related to the flamenco dance. We also immerse learners in the culture of flamenco dance, and its rich cultural context, so they can learn about the social context, gender issues, the different meanings of the dance movements, the metaphors, and by extension they will learn about diversity, tolerance, inclusion, and respect for another culture through dance and music (Language for Specific Purposes: Angela N. Gardner, Howard Gardner, Victoria Escaip).

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Author Biographies

Chita Espino-Bravo, Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS, US

Major areas:  18th, 19th, and early 20th Centuries Peninsular Literature.

Related areas:  Women’s Studies, Academic Feminism, Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Creative Writing, and Flamencology Research, ESL, Foreign Language Learning.

Other Interests:  Art and Painting/Digital Painting, Music, Singing, Flamenco Dancing and Classical Spanish Dance (‘Danza Estilizada’), Flamencology.

Nicole English, Fort Hays State University, Hays, KS, US

About the Authors

Chita Espino-Bravo, PhD, Associate Professor of Spanish, Department of Modern Languages, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, United Stated of America.

Nicole English, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, United States of America.

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Published
27-12-2023
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How to Cite
Espino-Bravo, C., & English, N. (2023). Teaching Hispanic Culture, Diversity, and Tolerance through Hispanic Dances and Music: Two Approaches for Flamenco & Caribbean Dances. Flamenco Research Magazine "La Madrugá", (20). https://doi.org/10.6018/flamenco.553181
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