# María Luisa Parra Senior Preceptor in Romance Languages and Literatures (Spanish) Co-Director of Language Programs Undergraduate Advisor in Spanish, Latin American, and Latino Studies ![parra](/sites/g/files/omnuum8296/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2025-04/maria_luisa_at_desk_1-3.jpg?itok=O8Dzis8i) location\_on Boylston 326 smartphone [(617) 495-1868]() email Office Hours: Mondays from 12:30pm-2:30pm and by appointment **Research Interests:** Spanish as a heritage language and Pedagogy, Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy; Child Language Development and Bilingualism; Latino Families and Immigration; Immigration and Education --- **Dr. María Luisa** **Parra** has a B.A. in Psychology, a Ph.D in Hispanics Linguistics and fifteen years of experience in the fields of Second Language Acquisition and Child Bilingual Development. She has taught Spanish Language and Culture at Boston University and in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard, where she is currently Senior Preceptor and course head of **Spanish Aa, Spanish Ab and Spanish 59 "Spanish and the Community".** She is pioneering the **Spanish courses for Latino students** **Spanish 49h ("Spanish for Latino students") and 59h ("Spanish for Latino Students II: Connecting with the Community).** And she is the coordinator of the [RLL's Initiative on the teaching of Spanish as heritage language](http://hwpi.harvard.edu/heritagespanish/home) She also has broad experience working closely with immigrant families and children. She was coordinator of the Home-School Connection Program at the Elliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University where she looked at the various ways in which parents and teachers supported transitions, school adaptation and academic success. In 2008 she continued and expanded her work as a post doctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Education working with Mexican and African American children attending East Palo Alto public schools. Based on an ecological theoretical model, Dr. Parra's work focuses on how parents and teachers impact bilingual development through daily interactions. A native Spanish speaker from Mexico City, and a mother of two bilingual and bicultural teen age boys, Dr. Parra has always been fascinated by the complexities and joys of bilingual development. She enjoys working with parents, teachers and pediatricians in training who seek to understand and enhance the road to multilingualism. She is the founder and director of the [Multilingual Family Resource Center](http://multilingualfamily.org/). In 2019, she was recognized by Babson University as one of the 6 Most Innovative Professors of that year. [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/meet-6-most-innovative-professors-2019-ry...](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/meet-6-most-innovative-professors-2019-ryan-laverty/) In 2022, she was voted as one of the favorite professors of the Class of 2022. She is featured in the Harvard College Faculty Spotlight Proyect: ### Spring, 2026 [### SPANSH 59 - Spanish and the Community ](/class/spansh-59-spanish-and-community-0) **Semester:** Spring | **Year offered:** 2026 | **Link:** [Course Website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-115919/2025/spring/12226) An advanced language course that examines the richness and complexity of the Latino experience in the US while promoting community engagement as a vehicle for greater linguistic fluency and cultural understanding. Students are placed with community organizations within the... [### SPANSH 59H - Spanish for Latino Students II: Connecting with Communities ](/class/spansh-59h-spanish-latino-students-ii-connecting-communities) **Semester:** Spring | **Year offered:** 2026 | **Link:** [Course Website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-159938/2025/spring/12652) An advanced language course for Spanish heritage learners that aims to strengthen students’ Spanish oral and written capabilities through civic engagement with Latinx communities; and to further develop students’ critical language and social awareness around important issues... [### SPANSH 10 - Introduction to the Spanish-speaking World I: Histories, Cultures, and Traditions ](/class/spansh-10-introduction-spanish-speaking-world-i-histories-cultures-and-traditions-0) **Semester:** Spring | **Year offered:** 2026 | **Link:** [Course Website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-124982/2025/spring/12220) Spanish 10 is the first course in the Beginning Spanish sequence (SPAN 10-SPAN 11). This course is designed for students with little or no previous experience in Spanish. Through interactions with peers, instructors, and native Spanish-speakers around the world, students in... [### SPANSH 11 - Introduction to the Spanish-speaking World II: Social, Cultural, and Sustainability Topics ](/class/spansh-11-introduction-spanish-speaking-world-ii-social-cultural-and-sustainability-topics-0) **Semester:** Spring | **Year offered:** 2026 | **Link:** [Course Website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-125058/2025/spring/12221) Spanish 11 is the second course in the Beginning Spanish sequence (SPAN 10-SPAN 11). In this course, students explore a host of social, cultural, and environmental sustainability issues that have historically impacted the lives and livelihoods of local and foreign Spanish... - ## Department Role [Language Faculty](/department-role/language-faculty) [Undergraduate Advisor](/people/role/undergraduate-advisor) - ## Language [Spanish](/language/spanish) - ## Research Interest [Latin American](/research-interest/latin-american) [Spanish](/research-interest/spanish)