AATSP Bestows Founder's Award on the Consejería de Educación en Estados Unidos y Canadá

The AATSP Board of Directors is honored to name the Consejería de Educación (Washington, DC) the recipient of the 2022 AATSP Lawrence Wilkins Founder's Award. Dr. Jesús Fernández González, Consejero de Educación en Estados Unidos y Canadá, will accept the award. The Founder's Award is a relatively new award and one of the AATSP's highest honors. The Founder's Award was created to recognize individuals or entities that have a long history of collaboration with the AATSP and have played a foundational role in building the Association and supporting Spanish and/or Portuguese instruction in the United States. The Consejería de Educación en EEUU y Canadá truly embodies the spirit of the Founder’s Award. The AATSP is grateful for our partnership and shared mission.

The relationship between the AATSP and the Consejería de Educación has been-and continues to be-a rich, long-standing collaboration that extends for decades. The Consejería is a model of mutual support of our shared mission of sustaining and developing teachers of Spanish of all levels in the US and beyond, as well as sharing our passion for the beautiful languages and cultures of Spain and the varieties of Spanish worldwide. The AATSP recognizes the outstanding educational outreach programs of the Consejería de Educación that have encouraged mobility and the development of US teachers and students.

Since 1986, the Consejería has supported over 10,000 Spanish visiting teachers to the US and outbound supports over 3,500 US and Canadian language assistants annually who travel to Spain to help teach English (and French) in elementary and secondary schools while they learn, perfect, and maintain their Spanish and develop a deeper understanding of the diverse cultures of Spain.

Among the Consejería de Educación’s other programs are School of the Year Contest, Summer Courses in Spain for Teachers and Administrators, International Spanish Programs in American Schools, and the Consejería maintains numerous Spanish Resource Centers throughout the US and Canada. We invite you to explore the Consejería’s many opportunities for students and teachers of Spanish at www.educacionyfp.gob.es/eeuu/en_US/.

Who was Lawrence Wilkins?

Lawrence Wilkins was a founding member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish (AATS) as the Association was known at the time. The genesis of the AATS began in 1914 with organizing the teachers of Spanish in New York City. In the years that followed, Wilkins communicated with teachers of Spanish on all levels and areas of the country until finally on December 29, 1917, teachers of Spanish committed to the establishment of the AATS. He was the President of the AATSP in 1918-1920 and 1927. He also served as Vice President from 1921-1926. In addition to his service to the AATS, Wilkins served as assistant principal of DeWitt Clinton High School, and he ultimately became the Director of the NYC Board of Education's Bureau of Foreign Languages. He also wrote fourteen books on the teaching of Spanish. Wilkins certainly demonstrated a love for Spanish and showed great foresight with the creation of the Association.