![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/instruction.austincc.edu\/tledupdates\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/05\/Dr.-Tim.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nby Alexa Haverlah, TLED Content Marketing Intern<\/p>\n
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Shock & Awe<\/b><\/p>\n
ACC Professor of Spanish Dr. Tim Altanero\u2019s colorful, art-filled Zoom background is just as immediately eye-catching as the work of Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero, one of many artists Altanero mentions he likes to show to students.<\/p>\n
Botero\u2019s unmistakably large subjects literally take up their entire canvas space, forcing the viewer to consider their sheer monumentality. According to the British Auction House Christie\u2019s, Botero has insisted that he does not paint \u201cfat people\u201d; rather, he paints \u201cvolume\u201d and \u201csensuality of form.\u201d<\/p>\n
Botero is also known for his whimsical, humorous style, which Altanero utilizes to initially pique students\u2019 interest in Spanish. Fewer people know of Botero\u2019s political works, such as his Abu Ghraib series<\/a>.<\/p>\n Accompanied by a trigger warning, Altanero shows the series to facilitate a connection between his students\u2019 personal lives, some of whom are veterans having served in the U.S. War in Afghanistan, and this seemingly random artist in Colombia.<\/p>\n Now that he has their attention, Altanero prompts questions that refine students\u2019 critical thinking skills. Questions like, Why is an artist in Colombia interested in this topic? hold their attention as they contemplate.<\/p>\n This is at the core of Altanero\u2019s teaching: look for the unusual to grab students\u2019 attention. Then, make it relevant or personal so they can begin building the connection.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to, or it\u2019s just this abstractness,\u201d says Altanero.<\/p>\n License To Be Strange<\/strong><\/p>\n Born into a family of immigrants, Altanero was one of the first to obtain a Bachelor\u2019s degree in the family and the only one to have a Ph.D., which he calls \u201cbasically a license to be strange.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to reach the top,\u201d says Altanero of continuing his studies. In graduate school, he remembers mostly reading literature, complete with deep symbolism that Altanero says he always managed to get wrong. He didn\u2019t enjoy it because he felt disconnected from his main passion: people.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018When you\u2019re high up in the clouds, you often can\u2019t see the people on the ground,\u2019\u201d says Altanero, referencing an African saying. It refers to the many low-paid workers working not just on the ground but under it (mining) while their bosses spent their time in tall buildings. The saying is an allegory for how management can be so distanced from those it manages that it doesn\u2019t even see them.<\/p>\n Altanero learned many sayings like these while living in South Africa, completing fieldwork and research for his doctorate in Germanic Studies. In addition to his studies, Altanero taught at a rural, Christian university in Potchefstroom, Northwest Province. Post-apartheid, the school was still attended mostly by white children, causing Altanero to feel disconnected again from his surroundings.<\/p>\n By chance, Altanero met and befriended the owner of a record store, who introduced Altanero to his community in one of the Muslim Indian townships surrounding the city. As an honorary member of the community, Tim became Tarik, or Gibraltar <\/i>in Spanish, a deviation from the Arabic name and meaning \u201cmountain of Tariq,\u201d a nickname he earned by being as hard (headed) as rock.<\/p>\n Altanero\u2019s Indian friends were mostly merchants. As Indians, they couldn\u2019t participate in professions because they would need to seek approval from the South African government to attend training schools, and certain professions like accountant or doctor which required training were reserved for whites.<\/p>\n For his dissertation topic, Altanero\u2019s university suggested topics like vowel movements or vowel shifts in Afrikaans. \u201cThis is all so disconnected from people,\u201d thought Altanero.<\/p>\n The wife of the record owner offered that Altanero study their community. Here was the chance to blend the personal with the pedagogy, an opportunity to bridge the gap Altanero had long felt between his academic studies and his passion for people.<\/p>\n Miss Connection\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For his students, Altanero strives to bridge the gap between the study of the Spanish language and the study of Hispanic cultures through art, food, and humor. One of his assignments asks students to practice ordering in Spanish at a local Salvadorian restaurant, El Sunzal<\/a>. El Sunzal is perfect because students can\u2019t fall back on familiar Tex-Mex favorites like tacos or enchiladas.<\/p>\n When Altanero found out his students were bringing their parents or going in groups to the restaurant because they assumed it was dangerous, he recognized a familiar disconnect. With it, too, though, Altanero knew there existed the possibility for connection between the students and the Salvadorian staff, and moreover, between the foreign and the friendly.<\/p>\n \u201cWatching Spanish be so distant from [them], maybe [they\u2019ll] never learn it fluently, but a few words, a couple of smiles, and not being afraid to walk into El Sunzal\u2026 it can go a long way,\u201d says Altanero.<\/p>\n Another artist Altanero likes to discuss with students is Frida Kahlo, although ironically not about her art. Altanero prefers sharing her backstory with students, of the bus accident that left her in pain for the rest of her life, of her toxic marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, who was cheating on her all the time (even with her sister!), of her possible affair with Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, killed by ice pick, and of her affinity for cats, especially ones with six toes.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are things that will shock a student and make them laugh,\u201d says Altanero.<\/p>\n But Frida Kahlo\u2019s dramatic life is not just comedic relief for a wide-eyed, disbelieving audience. Sharing Frida\u2019s life stories makes her relatable<\/i>. It\u2019s in this way that Altanero transforms the unusual, the abstract, the \u201cother\u201d into the familiar, the interconnected, the human<\/i>.<\/p>\n Connect with Timothy Altanero <\/b>via email: taltaner@austincc.edu<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Teaching & Learning Champions are faculty and staff who contribute to student learning <\/i><\/b> (Guided Pathways Essential Practice #4)<\/i><\/a>. We share their stories to celebrate their dedication to instructional excellence & innovation in a series of spotlight articles. <\/i>#ACCExcellence<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n![\"Amazon.com:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61-QgB2FU5L._AC_SL1200_.jpg?resize=171%2C273&ssl=1\")
In a straightforward approach, the series reproduces the brutal torture of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by the United States Army and the CIA, which came to the public\u2019s attention in April 2004.<\/p>\n
\nRecommend a Colleague:<\/b><\/h3>\n