Maggie Beers
magbeers@unixg.ubc.ca

Ph.D. Student in Modern Language Education
Team Member in MERLin

Welcome to my homepage!

STUDIES: I come to MERLin with an undergraduate and Master's degree in Spanish and Latin American Literature from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California Santa Barbara.

RESEARCH: My doctoral research project: "Cultural Readings of Digital Texts: A Media-Based Approach to Language Teaching and Learning" is sponsored by MERLin, Bitmovers Communications Inc., and two UBC Teaching and Learning Grants. The final phase of research will be carried out in MLED 480A "Advanced Studies in Language Education: Integrating Language and Culture with Modern Media", a course I designed and teach for pre-service and in-service teachers of Modern Languages.

HOME: Though I grew up in what is now known as "Silicon Valley" in Northern California, my love for language, teaching and international exchanges has allowed me to call many different places home.

BACKGROUND: It all started when I spent my third year of university abroad as a student at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. Since then, I've taught more than ten years in the English and Spanish target language classrooms in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, Madrid, Spain and Lille, France. I've also educated foreign language teachers and published university level textbook and testing materials. You can visit some of these institutions: Department of Spanish and Portuguese, UCSB, English Language Program, UCSB, Ventura Community College, L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Lille, Heinle and Heinle Publishers.

TEACHING: Currently I teach Modern Languages methodology courses (MLED 311, 313-318; MLED 480A) in the Teacher Education program at the University of British Columbia.

[Sites I maintain for friends and family]