On April 5 2018, the Allsopp Centre held its first one-day workshop for teachers of Spanish from secondary schools across the island. This workshop took place in the Gallery of the Sidney Martin Library at the UWI, Cave Hill Campus. Conducted entirely in Spanish by specially invited guest, Dr. Leonel Ruiz Miyares from Cuba, the workshop sought to assist teachers of the foreign language to enhance their Spanish monolingual/bilingual dictionary methods within the classroom.

Through use of a PowerPoint presentation, Dr. Ruiz Miyares showed examples of how different types of dictionaries including those with illustrations which could be used to enhance student learning. This would assist in building their students’ competence and comprehension when having to look up terms or check the usage of a word within the dictionary.

After he presented on the intricacies of Spanish language dictionaries and the challenges faced by students when learning Spanish, teachers got into groups and created practical exercises for their classrooms while utilising the information from the presentation to teach dictionary skills.

Dr. Ruiz Miyares also encouraged teachers to adopt new and exciting pedagogical approaches into language learning and teaching. By doing so, they would be adequately prepared to refocus their lesson planning by integrating proper usage of the dictionary whether it be in print or in technological form. That way, they could better meet the needs of their students in the changing classroom environment.