2023-04-21 08:20:26
The congress began with a dissertation by the Spanish poet and director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, on the figure of Pablo Neruda, and the solemn ceremony of his doctoral investiture Honorary by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV), on the coast of Chile.
“I am very, very grateful because the university has been very involved in the preparation of the Congress on that platform that the Instituto Cervantes has with Latin American universities to study and care for the quality of teaching Spanish in the world,” García Montero told EFE.
«And, apart from that, I am personally very moved also by the decision to grant me the Honorary, something that I value a lot as a university professor. I entered the university in 1981 as a professor. In other words, I have dedicated more than 40 years of my life and I highly value what a PhD means Honorary», he added.
García Montero, who defended the validity of Neruda as a poet, but also as a supportive and committed politician —and critical when necessary— with progressive ideas, also highlighted the venue of the congress, of high poetic significance.
“And also in Valparaíso, which is a city so related to Chilean poetry and Pablo Neruda,” he stressed. Regarding the congress, the Spanish poet recalled that this group of universities and the Instituto Cervantes “formed in 2005 a platform, a great agreement to ensure the quality of the teaching of Spanish and to certify the quality in the centers that are dedicated to the teaching of Spanish. Spanish”.
“Spanish is the second language in the world for native speakers after Mandarin Chinese, and we have learned a long time ago that no one owns the language,” added García Montero before stressing that Spanish is, above all, a powerful communication tool. union for more than 500 million people who have it as their native language around the world.
In the same line, Carmen Pastor, academic director of the Cervantes Institute, expressed herself, who recalled that “international congresses began in 2012 and are held every two years at the headquarters of an associated university.” “We are 38 institutions from Spain and Latin America that work in the field of Spanish as a foreign language,” she added.
«It is an international forum in which the latest research in the field of teaching and assessment of Spanish as a foreign language is presented and it is very important because it is the moment in which all the Spanish-speaking countries come together to see how we are doing research, how we are applying everything related to the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language”, he explained to EFE.
Sonia Toledo, academic coordinator of the PUCV Spanish Program also told EFE that it is a tremendous honor for Chile and the Pontificia to host this congress.
«We have given a single space to poetry as part of our language. To date, we have more than 15 participating countries and more than 61 speakers», who will analyze Spanish and its teaching during the next three days.
According to the organizers, “the central objective of this meeting is to create an academic space for reflection and dialogue between national and international specialists who carry out applied research, teacher training activities and specialized teaching in Spanish as a foreign or second language and related areas”.
The specific areas to be discussed will be the evaluation and certification in ELE, Spanish for academic purposes, Spanish for professional and emerging contexts, Spanish for specific linguistic communities and the methodology and fields of innovation in ELE, among others.
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