Biography
Professor Chavarría received her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos in Cuernavaca, Mexico and received her Master’s Degree in Teaching Languages from the University of Southern Mississippi. She also has a Master's Degree in Linguistics Applied to the teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language from Universidad Antonio de Nebrija located in Spain. She is currently a member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
Chavarría originally came to the University of Houston – Victoria as part of partnership with Universidad Internacional in Cuernavaca, Mexico. In 2008, she was hired by UHV as a full time faculty to begin the Spanish program for upper division classes. Subsequently she developed the syllabi for the teaching of those courses. Since then a bachelor´s program has been approved for a degree. She was a member of the committee that developed the curriculum for the Bachelor of Arts in Spanish.
Her study and travels abroad have enabled her to interact with students from different backgrounds and cultures. She has taught Spanish as a second and foreign language in Mexico and the United States.
She organized and elaborated the plans and programs for the Master’s in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language (MEELE) which opened up at Universidad Internacional. She has taught courses in methods for teaching languages at the master’s and college level, she has edited and translated publications. Her experience also includes teaching Spanish for multinational corporate executives working in Mexico as well as supervising language tutors who teach executives in multinational companies. She has taught Spanish for specific purposes to army, highway patrol and narcotics police personnel in the United States.
Affiliations:
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages - ACTFL