About me
Degrees/Professional Qualifications
- B.A. Honours in Modern Languages, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain), 1995
- Postgraduate Diploma in "Fundamentos Metodológicos para la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera", Universidad Menéndez y Pelayo, Santander (UIMP), Spain, August 1995. Título de Experto en Enseñanza del Español como Lengua Extranjera (Expert in Teaching Spanish as a Second Language), 2005
- Postgraduate Diploma in European Business Administration, West Kent College, Tonbridge, Kent, 1996
- MA in Bilingual Translation, University of Westminster, 2000
- Postgraduate Diploma in Translation for the Media (Dubbing and Subtitling), City University, 2002
- MA in Cinema Studies (Máster en Historia y Estética de la Cinematografía), Universidad de Valladolid, 2004
- MPhil in Translation Studies. Postgraduate Certificate of "Suficiència investigadora" (Research Competence in Translation Studies) and Diploma d'Estudis Avançats" (Diploma of Advanced Studies in Translation Studies), Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain, 2005
- Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education, University of Westminster (2013). Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education, University of Westminster (2014).
- MA in Higher Education, University of Westminster (2017)
Teaching
My main role at the University of Westminster is teaching undergraduate language and translation modules and supervising final-year projects and dissertations. Modules I currently lead on or teach include The Spanish World and the Word 1/2, Expressions of Spanish Culture 1/2, Themes in Hispanic Contemporary Studies and Spanish Translation 3. I also act as personal tutor for undergraduate students, SSH Teaching, Learning and Assessment representative
I acted as the Spanish Chief Examiner for the British Ministry of Defence Language Examination Board (MODLEB) between 1999 and 2013, and have worked as a language consultant for a number of language publishing houses including Hodder Arnold, John Murray and Oxford University Press. I have recently co-written a Spanish textbook called "Speed Up your Spanish: Strategies to Avoid Common Errors" and co-edited "Panorámica actual de la cultura ecuatoriana" with Rocío Durán Barba, Claude Couffon and Michael Handelsman.I have undertaken free-lance translation work since 1999 and have translated four books on the natural world for Tick Tock Publishing: Under the Ocean, From Pole to Pole, In the Dessert and In the Rainforest. Between 2012 and 2013 I co-organised at Westminster an international conference called "Languages of Exile: translating modern and contemporary Hispanic literature" and between 2013 and 2014 I co-organised the 36th Annual Conference of the Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies at the University of Westminster and acted as a member of the ACIS (Association for Contemporary Iberian Studies) executive group.
I am currently a member of the UCML (University Council of Modern Languages) Year Abroad group.
Research
I have recently undertaken a research project on the experience of undergraduate exchange students in the UK and am now working on setting up a virtual study abroad period and conducting research on learner autonomy.
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.