Search

Though language education and research have pushed back against traditional, hegemonic ways of teaching, they continue to exclude conversations on spirituality. Moreover, a deficit lens in language education perpetuates a focus on what needs to be improved rather than on our students’ assets. In this pedagogical intervention, we begin by weaving the work of feminists of color to discuss what asset-based, desired-based research and feminist pedagogy can contribute to understanding children’s spiritual activism. We worked with 31 fourth graders in a private school in Duitama, Colombia. As the study took place during the pandemic and mass mobilizations, the children shared their spirituality to cope with reality. Furthermore, the children’s spirituality demonstrated their belief in a higher power, positive emotions to comfort others, hope for a better future, and an understanding of equity based on race and gender. We invite language educators and researchers to create spaces for children to share their spiritual activism through the integration of feminist pedagogy focused on asset and desire-based approaches.

The following pedagogical proposal seeks to understand what types of reflections Modern Languages students reveal about educational issues when analyzing artwork within their context. We worked with twelve Modern Languages students in their fifth and sixth semester at a public university in Colombia. The students began by analyzing four murals located within the university. Then, they created their own artwork and provided reflections on each other’s pieces of art. The findings showed that the students first began analyzing visual aspects of the murals and artwork, followed by the educational issues represented in each piece. As a common theme, the students reflected on the idea that working together yields a diversity of solutions. Finally, the students demonstrated that they could benefit from reflective practices despite not having started their teaching practicum.

In this pedagogical proposal, we utilized Feminist Pedagogy and narratives to reveal women’s skills that they had silenced in their cover letters for employment. Five females’ narratives were analyzed using aspects of the grounded theory method to answer the question: What do women’s narratives reveal about their personal skills otherwise silenced in their cover letters? The results showed that women find strength in their spirituality, as well as demonstrating loyalty, flexibility, respectfulness, and resilience. All of the women wrote about their decision-making abilities, which included organization, responsibility, and problem-solving. Finally, the stories revealed that women’s ability to make choices defined their freedom and their future.