A Flipped Learning Experience on Decoloniality: Recreating a Sociohistorical Perspective on Shunko by Reading His Story and Watching His Progress

A Flipped Learning Experience on Decoloniality: Recreating a Sociohistorical Perspective on Shunko by Reading His Story and Watching His Progress Ana María Fernández Some initiatives of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese reflect the efforts of the K–20 members to find strategies to improve societies through education. According to the educational research literature related to the Global South, academia requires a transformation in the epistemologies and teaching approaches to cope with the effects of globalization and neoliberalism (Lander 2000; Mignolo 2007; Mignolo and Walsh 2018; Monzó and McLaren 2014; Quijano 2007; Walsh 2015). In the context of Latin American Studies (LAS) and from a sociohistorical perspective, we propose a non-credit workshop in Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Its general aim is to raise students’ awareness of the interrelationships between coloniality and the geopolitics of knowledge through fiction. Its specific objective is to reflect on the representation of the national educational system and the decolonization of knowledge in the rural Quichuan culture of Argentina. The workshop, based on the results of our research on Shunko (Fernandez 2020), follows a flipped learning approach (Bergmann and Aaron 2012). It is particularly aimed at advanced Spanish students at levels C1-Effective operational proficiency and C2-Mastery or proficiency, as stated by the Common European Framework of Reference (Council of Europe 2001). The use of this framework has been recommended in Canada and adapted to every Canadian context (Council of Ministers of Education Canada 2010). According to Arnott et al. (2017), “the introduction of the CEFR in the Canadian context set a positive process in motion at the level of (re)conceptualization of tools and frameworks related to assessment, curriculum, and pedagogy” (33). The workshop syllabus is based on the story of a young student called Shunko (Quichuan for “the little one”), who lives in the rural area of Santiago del Estero (north-central province of Argentina), and his new urban teacher. It is necessary to underline that these two main characters are based on the immersion experience of Jorge W. Ábalos, the writer of the novel and a rural teacher himself, and his student and friend, Shunko. This six-week workshop on fiction and decoloniality features three main subparts (presented below), offering individual and group-based activities related to LAS. The workshop was developed by the author in spring 2018, and presented at the eleventh PIXEL–Innovation in Language Learning International Conference (Nov. 2018, Florence, Italy). It was tested in winter 2019 at the University of Ottawa, with the voluntary participation of 12 advanced students of Spanish (C1–2). 1. Recreating a Sociohistorical Perspective on Shunko During the first half of the workshop, students study the relationship between the two main characters: a student named Shunko and his (urban) teacher, who is always identified as “the (new) teacher,” thereby intensifying his role as national educator in the particular rural setting. This part takes three weekly lessons of 2.5 hours each and introduces the autobiographical novel Shunko in which Ábalos, an Argentinian rural teacher, writer and scientist, recreated his [End Page 161] (own) experiences in the rural Quichuan setting of Santigo del Estero. From the very beginning, students are invited to search for and select information related to Shunko and share it with their peers and create an open online folder. This virtual resource progressively increases along with the experience. In this type of workshop, the university’s virtual campus can be conveniently replaced by a combination of Dropbox, Google Docs and some cloud applications such as VoiceThread. After introducing themselves, students compare their research findings: first, by working in small groups, and, then, in a sharing circle. The instructor provides enough time so they can express themselves and complete their notes. This task cultivates a sense of cooperation and collegiality. Then, students sum up the information and start reading the first chapter of the book. They pay attention to the features of the two main characters and continue the reading at home. They are then invited to share their interpretations by working in pairs or small groups in class and online, with the guidance of the instructor/facilitator...

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