Diana Palenzuela Rodrigo

Assistant Instructional Professor
dpalenzuela@uchicago.edu
Gates-Blake 205
Office Hours: MWF 12:30-1:30 & by appt.

Born and raised in the Basque Country, northern Spain, I moved to the United States in 2011 to start my adventure as a language instructor. Since then, I have enjoyed every minute of it trying to share the pleasure of learning languages with all my students.

After graduating from the University of the Basque Country with a BA in Translation and Modern languages, I completed a Postgraduate Degree in Foreign Language Teaching, as well as an MA in Multilingualism and Education. Right now, I am finishing a PhD on Minority Languages and Education (I will be defending my dissertation in 2019). Regarding my professional experience, besides teaching languages in Spain and Italy, I have worked as a Spanish and Basque lecturer at the University of California Santa Barbara and at The University of Chicago since 2011.

My main research areas are minority languages, cross-cultural education and innovation of language pedagogies; however, I still find time to practice my real passion: traveling, which I think is one of the best ways to learn.

Recent Courses in RLL
  • BASQ 12000 Elementary Basque I (Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017)
  • BASQ 12100 Elementary Basque II (Winter 2017, Winter 2018)
  • BASQ 12200 Elementary Basque III (Spring 2017, Spring 2018)
  • BASQ 24710/SPAN 24716 Spanish Cinema-Basque Cinema (Spring 2017, Spring 2018)
  • SPAN 10200 Beginning Elementary Spanish II (Autumn 2019)
  • SPAN 10300 Beginning Elementary Spanish III (Autumn 2017, Spring 2019, Winter 2020, Spring 2020)
  • SPAN 20200 Language, History, and Culture II (Autumn 2019)
  • SPAN 20300 Language, History, and Culture III (Autumn 2018, Spring 2020)
  • SPAN 20400 Composición y conversación avanzada I (Autumn 2018, Spring 2020)
  • SPAN 20500 Composición y conversación avanzada II (Winter 2020)