Foreign Languages Faculty

Alfonso Mancheno name image

Alfonso Abad Mancheno in CharlestonB.A., English, 1995, Universidad de Alicante, Spain
M.A., Spanish Applied Linguistics, 1998, Arizona State University
Ph.D., Spanish, 2008, The University of Texas at Austin

My name is Alfonso Abad Mancheño, and I am from Alicante, Spain. I came to Guilford in 2006 to teach Spanish, Foreign Language Teaching Methods and Advanced Grammar and Linguistics courses. I have always been fascinated by languages and how they work. I began my linguistic studies in high school where I studied English and Valencian, a local language from Spain. As an undergraduate in Spain, I continued to study English. In graduate school I studied French as the second language of my specialization.

In 1995 I came to the States and completed my Masters in Spanish Applied Linguistics in Tempe, Ariz. After graduation I taught at community colleges and as an adjunct at Arizona State University. I then enrolled in a Ph. D. program at the University of Texas at Austin where I also taught Spanish. Interestingly enough, I was not totally fluent in English until I spent a year in the U.S., and I did not really learn Valencian until I lived with a native speaker in Austin, Texas. The combination of formal instruction and immersion was what worked for me and it led me to become a huge advocate for study abroad programs.

I enjoy traveling with students abroad and I am helping expand the possibilities for Guilford students. I felt really accepted at Guilford from the very beginning. The foreign languages department is a community; a close team where everybody participates and students and faculty work together. North Carolina also provides me with venues where I can develop my other passions. On the weekends you can find me riding my bike or playing guitar at local open mikes.

Alfonso teaches:

  • SPAN 201: Intermediate Spanish
  • SPAN 202: Intermediate Conversation and Composition
  • SPAN 211: Intermediate Spanish for Business I
  • SPAN 212: Intermediate Spanish for Business II
  • SPAN 220: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Analysis
  • SPAN 221: Advanced Spanish for Business
  • SPAN 310: Contemporary Latin America
  • SPAN 311: Contemporary Spain
  • SPAN 320: Culture and Society: Mexico, Central America and Caribbean
  • SPAN 321: Culture and Society: Golden Age of Spain
  • SPAN 322: Culture and Society: South America
  • SPAN 323: Culture and Society: Beginnings of a Nation (the Integration of Three Cultures)
  • SPAN 340: Film, Life and Literature of Latin America
  • SPAN 342: Latino Culture in the United States

Contact Alfonso at amanchen@guilford.edu.