PCAL Modern Languages

WKU Spanish professor Inma Pertusa teaches Spanish 471: Advanced Spanish Composition every two years in the fall semester. It is a course for both undergraduate and graduate students that offers the unique experience of learning and practicing advanced writing techniques. In the class, Dr. Pertusa teaches about the advanced elements of grammar, the different structures and styles of writing, and how to take writing in Spanish to the advanced level. She creates a unique and enriching class for advanced Spanish students, combining both her love for reading and writing,

Dr. Pertusa is originally from Spain, where she studied journalism at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She also has an interest in gastronomy, especially Hispanic gastronomy. Now, teaching at WKU, Dr. Pertusa has found ways to incorporate her passions and her experiences into her Spanish courses. Over the course of her Fall 2021 471 course, her students each wrote 12-15 texts surrounding the topic of gastronomy. Each article demonstrated a historical, cultural, or social aspect of gastronomy in order to develop a broad and inclusive perspective of the real world throughout the semester. Students wrote about famous chefs, local restaurants, food from other countries, specific products from Spanish-speaking countries around the world, and more. 

For the final project in this course, her students —in collaboration with other students within the Spanish program-- created a magazine using the texts from the course over the semester. Honors student, Lizbeth Amacendes, augmented this course to receive honors credits serving as the editor of this magazine. The students produced a visually appealing, informative magazine that Dr. Pertusa later distributed. It is a beautiful, creative, and informative project that showcases the skills and knowledge of each student in the course. The project also demonstrates how creative and innovative Dr. Pertusa is in the construction of her courses. 

You can access the two issues of the magazine “Del Plato a la Boca” here and here and see the incredible work the students completed from this class.