ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of the curricular redesign of a second-semester beginner Spanish course at a Northeastern university. Couched within content-based instruction (CBI) and the multiliteracies pedagogical framework, the new course looks to develop students’ language proficiency and literacies while engaging them with social, cultural, and environmental sustainability issues faced by local, national, and global Spanish-speaking communities. Four thematic units are presented herein, detailing how compelling and often complex content was selected and scaffolded through various tasks and project-based assessments that make it accessible to beginning Spanish learners. The evaluations of the first iteration of the course indicate that students believe that they met the course’s literacy, linguistic, cultural, and sustainability goals, in significant part because they were able to delve into and critically analyze authentic and sophisticated content related to sustainability in the Spanish-speaking world.
