Episode 4.1: Bothered about Basque

Robbie has met her pop culture match! In this episode of the GradLings Podcast, she sits down with Ander, a 2nd year Hispanic Linguistics PhD student at UIUC (and her Basque instructor!).

In addition to talking about his awesome research (NASA might or might not have been mentioned), Ander discusses his passion for teaching Spanish and Basque language courses and how he sees cultures coming to life for his students. He also brings up an intriguing point of tension that has become more prevalent in the evolving foreign language classroom: when it comes to teaching about cultural awareness, social justice, and activism, are there limitations to the instructor being a native speaker? To hear more about how Ander approaches teaching with respect, check out this wonderful episode of GradLings!