Participants (face to face and on-line) during the second day of the 2014 Colloquium of Spanish Educators in Southern Africa. From L-R: Ms Katia de la Cruz (UCT), Ms Ines de Carvalho (American School of Cape Town), Ms Irene Serra (Spain), Ms Ana María García (UP), Ms Luz Hunter (primary and secondary education, Cape Town), Mr Luis Andrés Lancho (UP). Second row: Ms María Romo (American School of Cape Town), Ms Cristina Torralbas (DIRCO), Ms Jenny Martin (primary and secondary education, Cape Town), Ms María Gómez (UCT), and Dr Maria Recuenco (UCT). On the screen: upper left corner, Mr Uriel Valencia (University Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique); upper right corner, Paz San Sebastián (secondary education, Italy): bottom left corner, Ms Paloma Serrano (primary education, EE.UU.); bottom right corner, Ms Laura Bretón, University of Namibia, and Mr Jesús lasso, Polytechnik of Namibia.

A large body of literary work is written in Spanish language including Don Quichotte, 100 years of solitude and Spanish language films are popular thanks to directors like Almodóvar or González Iñárritu. “The Hispanic culture continues to have a global impact on culture, architecture, art and literature. These cultural indicators are everywhere with Cervantes' "Don Quijote de la Mancha", as the second most translated book in the world after the Bible, Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" painting as the second most expensive painting ever sold and Antoni Gaudi's influence on architecture all over the world” said Dr. Recuenco Peñalver.

According to Dr. Recuenco Peñalver, the number of private schools and institutions where Spanish is taught in South Africa is growing. Currently, Spanish is offered at four local universities: the University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, the University of South Africa (UNISA) and the University of the Witwatersrand. Spanish Language studies commenced at UCT in 2004 and there are now approximately 150 undergraduate students registered for these courses in any given year.

The purpose of the two-day colloquium held at UCT was to discuss learning strategies and to explore ways to promote Spanish language instruction in the region. Delegates included representatives from primary through to tertiary institutions (University of Pretoria, UCT and University of South Africa (UNISA)); the private sector as well as the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). Two of the biggest publishing houses of Spanish textbooks (Difusión and Edinumen) hosted online workshops on vocabulary teaching in class, gamification and the didactics of imagination.  The second day of the Colloquium was devoted to the maintenance of Spanish culture, language and heritage in South Africa, Spanish language instruction in Mozambique, language learning strategies, the use of internet in the classroom, Accelerative Integrated Method and oral fluency and interculturality. Speakers from Namibia, Mozambique, United States of America and Italy brought an international perspective to the conference.  The two previous colloquia were hosted by the University of Pretoria in 2010 and 2012 respectively.

“The 2014 colloquium went exceptionally well. New networks and links were established which will certainly lead to future collaborations among institutions and stakeholders.  The celebration of the next Colloquium and the establishment of an Association of Experts in Spanish in Southern Africa were put on the table and work is ongoing in this direction” said Dr. Recuenco Peñalver