Faculty Speaker Series - Spring 2015

Bilingual Puppetry: A Project-based Learning Exploration
Elizabeth Ubiergo, Spanish

Professor Ubiergo presents her sabbatical research on the use of puppetry and other forms of art and literature to enhance learning world languages.

“There is a lot of research going on right now regarding performance-based language learning,” says Ubiergo. She used her sabbatical to learn performance-based teaching techniques, build a series of large puppets based on classic works of Spanish literature, and create bilingual scripts for short plays. Now, her courses include working with students to perform the plays on campus and in the community.

About Elizabeth Ubiergo

Spanish professor Elizabeth Ubiergo has earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree in Spanish language and literature from the University of Oregon. She also attended Universidad de Valladolid, Spain, and the Universidad Católica in Quito, Ecuador. Ubiergo has previous work experience with the University of Portland, Portland Community College, Chapman & Silva Translation Services, Universidad Católica—Ecuador, University of Oregon, and Clark College. She began teaching at Clark in 1994 and received tenure in 2008.

At Clark College, Ubiergo serves as co-advisor of the Spanish Club. She is the founder of Clark’s study abroad program in Valladolid, Spain, and this year began co-leading Clark students in a newly designed, two-week course of study in Mexico. She is the founder of the Mesa Redonda, a series of Spanish-language roundtable discussion groups which have been held at Clark for 13 years. She also served on Clark’s Financial Aid Committee, International Education Committee, and Latino Celebration Month Planning Committee. In addition, for more than a decade Ubiergo has served as an Advance Placement (AP) exam reader for the AP test in Spanish.

Ubiergo says her teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of play in the learning process. “I tell my students that language learning should be fun and creative, not competitive and stressful,” she says. “Basically, students learn by speaking and making mistakes in authentic situations.”