Thelma Belmonte-Alcantara

Visiting Lecturer in Spanish

Specialization
Spanish language, literacy, culture

Thelma Belmonte-Alcántara received her B.A. in Economics from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) with an specialization in Econometrics. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Education at UMASS- Amherst.

Her research interests are: Second Language Pedagogy particularly the teaching and learning of Spanish as a Foreign (SFL) and Heritage Language (SHL) at college level. Her two other areas of academic research are: Educational Policies and Economic Globalization and Feminist Research in Second Language Education.

Belmonte-Alcántara has taught Spanish at most of the other colleges of the Five College Consortium as well as in Spain. In Mexico, her native country, she taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and for specific purposes (ESP) at Universidad Anáhuac del Sur and Colegio de México in Mexico City.

At Mount Holyoke College, she teaches the elementary level (SPAN101-102), the intermediate level (SPAN200 and SPAN201), the writing-intensive language course (SPAN 209) and the course specifically designed for Heritage Spanish Speakers (SPAN202). Belmonte-Alcántara and MHC Chaplain Anita Magovern were awarded a 2005-2006 Innovation Fund Grant for the project “Odyssey: Community Service and Spanish Immersion (SÍ) in the Dominican Republic”.