María Elva González-HernándezAssociate Teaching Professor of Spanish

María Elva González-Hernández, originally from Alba de Tormes, Salamanca, Spain, earned her degree in Filología Hispánica at the University of Salamanca, where she graduated in 2003 after studying one year at the Universidad Autónoma of Barcelona with a SENECA scholarship. She began her teaching career at private language schools in Spain in 2004 after receiving a professional certification in Foreign Languages Teaching from the International House School in Barcelona. In 2005, she completed an M.A in Pedagogy and in 2011, a Diploma in Bilingual Education (Especialista en educación bilingüe), both at the University of Salamanca. Before joining Emory University as a Lecturer in 2012, she taught Spanish at Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama.   

She regularly teaches intermediate-advance classes using an interdisciplinary approach and establishing connections with the Spanish-speaking communities in Atlanta. As a result, she frequently organizes a diversity of cultural events as part of her courses by collaborating with local actors, dancers, and storytellers. 

Since 2020 she is an Affiliated Faculty member at the Theater Studies Department and, along with Professor Mary Lynn Owen, she has created three classes designed to improve students' Spanish skills using theater and storytelling techniques: SPN 300/THEA 385: “Taller de Teatro en Español: Reading and Performing” and two 1-credit multilingual courses, IDS 290: “Bilingual identity stories” and IDS 290:“Microtheater or Theater in a Cup”.    

In addition to her teaching and advising, Professor González-Hernández has participated under several roles in the Emory’s Iberian Summer Abroad Program in Salamanca and Sevilla, Spain since 2006, and has been acting as co-director since 2019.  

Her main academic interests include second language pedagogy and acquisition, interdisciplinary studies, visual and performing arts, community engaged learning, and study abroad.