La cultura latinoamericana en el español de aquí y allá

About the Book

The format of this book enables the student in spanish to understand being bilingual on the part of the communicative process; that of being bicultural is an indispensable element. The text tunes the learner, at the advanced level, by introducing the communicative performance taking into consideration the spanish dialectal variations into some cultural aspects of the traditional and contemporary systems of latin american societies. The book applies a practical approach to learning spanish as a foreign language by focusing on most latin american countries culture with specific topics: family, social stratification, politics, religion, the position of women, transportation problems, drugs and trafficking, traditional healers, the concept of time, the social stratification of language, the life of some indigenous cultures in the high Andes and in the deep jungles, students visiting a foreign country, in addition to some other topics of interest. Each chapter starts with an ethnographic description of some cultural aspects of a geographical area and its people. Some cultural aspects are suggested to participate on discussions related to the chapter. The student is asked to translate simple sentences into spanish. The verbal interaction among the people in the described area is reflected in the dialectal variations collected, which leads to questions to measure the student’s comprehension level. Cultural notes are explained at the end of each chapter.

About the Author

While having the academic qualifications, the author does not write as an “armchair” linguist and anthropologist, but as a Bolivian scholar who has spent most of his life in the Andes and in the United States, who has personally traveled driving a car the whole length of the Panamerican Highway from the Rio Grande to Cochabamba, Bolivia, and one who has spent time in each of the areas he describes in such an interesting manner. Dr. Vallejo graduated from The University of Texas at Austin (UT) receiving his M.A. and his Ph.D. in Anthropology and Applied Linguistics. He taught Quechua and Cultural Anthropology at UT for four years. After spending one year in Bolivia, Dr. Vallejo returned to teach at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in the Department of Psychology. Just before completing his fourth year,was called to Texas to lead the programs at the University of Houston until 1980. Since 1980, he started international education programs and has taught English and Spanish at the Houston Community College, and since 1999, he has taught Cultural Anthropology at the University of Houston Downtown. Dr. Vallejo has conducted ethnographic research in the tropical regions of South America and has published quite a large number of textbooks for learning English, Quechua, and Spanish, and has produced documentaries on the Andean rural communities. His work in the field of education applies the required competency in the fields of linguistics, anthropology and education which brought him several opportunities to create programs in Bilingual Education, international student exchange programs between Mexico the United States and Bolivia, and technical training programs for Panamanian supervisors and high school graduates. Most of these were under grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Education.