Staff profile

Hannah Valenzuela


Senior Lecturer in Education Studies

Hannah Valenzuela standing outside on a working day

Subject

Education, Childhood and SEND

College

College of Arts, Humanities and Education

Department

Institute of Education

ORCiD ID

0000-0002-0691-6488

Campus

Derby Campus

Email

H.Valenzuela@derby.ac.uk

About

I am a Senior Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Education Studies programme. I am Stage 1 lead, and responsible for the Sociology of Education strand of the programme. 

I am currently writing up my PhD in Education, a linguistic ethnography focusing on multilingual learners in an English secondary school.

Teaching responsibilities

I teach at all stages of the programme and am Module Leader for our Stage 1 and Stage 2 Sociology modules (Another Brick in the Wall? and Is it All Just Words?), Linguistics for TESOL, Education in Context, and Principles & Practices of TESOL 2. I supervise undergraduate and postgraduate Independent Studies.

Professional interests

I am particularly interested in language in all its aspects: how it works, how we use it, how it is changing in today's world, and how we teach it in different contexts. As a corollary of this, I follow with interest debates around globalisation, including the globalisation of English and other languages.

I am part of the University's Education for Sustainable Development Network and have thought carefully about how to bring greater awareness of sustainability (environmental and social) into our programme. I continue to work as part of this group to promote greater sustainability across programmes.

Research interests

My PhD focuses on young people who arrive quite late into the English school system, and who are multilingual. I explore how their interactions with peers and staff form part of their construction of a learner identity, and if this might help us to understand their success and attainment.

Membership of professional bodies

Qualifications

Recent conferences

 

Experience in industry

For twelve years I worked in TESOL, as a teacher and teacher trainer, in a variety of international contexts. During this time, I taught classes to adults and young learners, business English, and one-to-one specialist classes. I also developed and facilitated teacher training sessions and courses on methodology, as well as language skills.

In 2008, I moved back to England and began working as an MFL teacher in a secondary school. I taught languages to young people aged 11-18, as well as primary children through outreach programmes. I developed a Spanish curriculum within the school and mentored trainee teachers. In addition, as a Specialist Leader of Education, I facilitated external teacher training courses and supported a number of primary schools in the development of MFL provision.

Recent publications