Professor Anna Hodgson Wins Excellence in Classroom Teaching Award
From left: Lucas Murta Dias and Anna Hodgson
On January 25, Anna Hodgson, Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in World Languages & Cultures, was presented with the Excellence in Classroom Teaching – Post Secondary award from the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT) at the organization’s annual conference in Chandler, Arizona.
“As a second language learner myself, I’ve gone through the process and just fell in love with it,” says Hodgson. “I like to use authentic examples of language in my teaching – authentic reading, writing, audiovisual, hands-on experience. What works best is when the teacher is the mediator and the student discovers their own path experientially.”
Christopher Lewis, Associate Professor of Portuguese and Chair of the Department of World Languages & Cultures, adds his commendation. “As Anna’s colleague in the Portuguese section, I am acutely aware of how much of herself she pours into our program,” Lewis says. “I am especially grateful for all the slack she picks up for me — which is not inconsiderable — to allow me to serve as department chair. She isn’t just a brilliant teacher. She is a thoughtful mentor, a talented planner, and a whirlwind of activity that brings out the best in our students.”
Hodgson was nominated by her colleague Rachel Mamiya Hernández from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Hernández wrote in her nomination letter, “Dr. Anna Hodgson is a passionate and innovative educator who has made significant contributions to the field of language education. Her dedication to her students and her commitment to creating engaging and authentic learning experiences are evident in her teaching. Dr. Hodgson seamlessly blends theoretical knowledge with practical application, enabling her students to connect classroom learning with real-world contexts.”
Indeed, Hodgson’s students over the past 12 years of teaching Portuguese have had many opportunities to apply their classroom experiences through community-engaged learning. She works with the Bennion Center and teaches three Community Engaged Learning classes – a specific designation for courses that thoroughly integrate applied and classroom learning.
Hodgson works with community partners – local Dual Language Immersion schools, the U of U Brazilian Club, and the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce of Utah, to name a few – to create opportunities for students to put their language skills to the test. Students in Hodgson’s classes have also translated tourism materials for Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Great Basin National Park and provided interpretation and translation to patients at various local free medical clinics. Hodgson encourages her students to fully engage with community partners, working together to design projects that are valuable to the partner and the student’s own learning. She says, “The more a student can make their learning their own, the better they will do, the better experience they will have, and the more effective it will be. Students get attached and self-motivated.”
“The more a student can make their learning their own, the better they will do, the better experience they will have, and the more effective it will be. Students get attached and self-motivated.”
Not that teaching languages isn’t without challenges; Hodgson acknowledges that learning a language “takes a time commitment and a financial commitment. Some students are not sure how much return they’ll get on their investment. People are also a little lost because of technology – why learn to interpret if there is an AI that is going to do that for me?” Her answer? “Technology will never be able to navigate as well as a human in intercultural communication, will not be able to produce translation that is empathetic. You can’t translate emotions using AI, which is absolutely key to any field where there is interpreting.”
Despite the challenges, Hodgson finds deep satisfaction in the moments when her students experience their own revelations. Even very self-motivated students are sometimes daunted by the sheer level of time and commitment that community-engaged learning requires. But, she says, “The light bulb moment is when they see the practical application of what they’re learning,” smiling. “Even when I teach literature, they can come by that light bulb moment when they recognize how much their critical thinking has improved. It’s amazing when they see what learning a language can do for them, and what they can do with it.”
Acting Dean Wanda Pillow applauds Hodgson’s commitment to experiential pedagogy, saying, “Anna’s teaching enriches both the professional and personal lives of University of Utah Portuguese language students, bringing the community and the classroom together in a way that is both applicable and rewarding. This is exactly the kind of teaching that prepares students to be leaders and global citizens.”
Please join the College of Humanities in congratulating Dr. Hodgson on this well-deserved award! We are proud to have such stellar faculty educating Humanities students and deepening ties between the university and the community.