Author Team
Laila Dawson
Laila's love for Hispanic countries and cultures has its roots in Buenos Aires and Mexico City, where she spent her childhood. This foundation eventually led her to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin and a teaching career, first at Virginia Union University and then at the University of Richmond. At the University of Richmond, she was director of the Intensive Spanish-Language Program, where she was able to help promote a communicative and truly student-centered approach to language learning, and she also developed the department's first service-learning course. Laila shared her passion for travel with her students through summer study and service programs in Spain, Venezuela, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Honduras. She began writing Spanish textbooks for Wiley in 1979. In her retirement, she works with Mexican immigrant women, teaching ESL and participating in community integration projects.
Dedico este libro a mis queridos nietos, Joel, Maya y Emmy.
Maria Concepción Lucas Murillo
Maria was born in Castile in the old university town of Salamanca, Spain. She spent her childhood in Galicia in the delightful city of Santiago de Compostela and thereafter, in the Basque Country, which greatly impacted her youth during the years she lived in Bilbao and continues to influence her as she spends every summer there. Maria obtained a Licenciatura in German from the University of Deusto in Bilbao and a Master's degree in Spanish from the University of Iowa. She also studied at the University of Saarbrücken in Germany and the University of Perugia in Italy. After completing her studies in German, Maria moved to Madrid where she was hired as an interpreter at the Commission of the European Union in Brussels, Belgium. There she interpreted from German and French into Spanish. She then left Belgium to come to the United States. The combination of her experiences, her studies abroad, and teaching at Black Hawk College for 25 years inspired Maria to conceive and write the first edition of this book together with Laila Dawson.
En memoria de mi padre, Pablo Lucas Verdú.
Donna Shelton
Donna grew up in the Kansas City metropolitan area and began to study Spanish in junior high school. While an undergraduate at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, a study abroad experience in Guadalajara ignited her enduring fascination with the cultural richness of the Spanish-speaking world. Donna specialized in Latin American literature, but soon realized that her passion was working with students in the early years of language and culture study. She taught Spanish at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, led summer study abroad programs in Mexico, and mentored students preparing to become teachers. Then, at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Donna directed a federal grant project that provided training to teachers in school districts with large Hispanic immigrant populations.
Since 2004, Donna has taught all levels of Spanish courses at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and served as program coordinator. The students are from diverse backgrounds, and many will use the language in their work and personal lives in this region of the US. Donna enthusiastically agreed to contribute to ¡Con brío! because it considers the needs of students of different ages and circumstances and acknowledges the role of Hispanic culture in this country.
Quiero dedicar este trabajo a mi marido, Richard, por su apoyo; y a mis estudiantes, especialmente a aquellos que ahora están enseñando español.
Janet Sedlar
Growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, Janet's experience with languages other than English were limited until she had the opportunity to spend the summer in Belo Horizonte, Brazil at age twelve. This experience opened her eyes to a completely different world and sparked what would become a lifelong passion for learning foreign languages and experiencing new cultures and perspectives. Janet went on to earn a B.A. in Linguistics at the Université de Montréal, and then a Master's in Teaching French and English as Foreign Languages at McGill University. Upon graduation, she moved to Spain to continue studying Spanish and taught English in Madrid. Later, Janet completed an Advanced Certificate in Teaching Foreign Languages at New York University before moving to the Bay Area to pursue a Ph.D. in Romance Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. The challenges of teaching Spanish to undergraduates and mentoring graduate students in language teaching inspired Janet to become a textbook author in the hopes of making language learning more efficient and enjoyable for future generations of students and instructors.
A la memoria de mi madre, Jean Whitenack Sedlar, sin cuyo apoyo constante nada de esto hubiera sido posible.
