Between March 7-10, four of our SPO lecturers attended the Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) convention in Boston, MA. Following the order of the conference, Anais Holgado Lage presented on March 9th at the roundtable "Bridging the Distance: Meaningful Integration and Authentic Learning" with the talk "Underrepresented communities in the L2 classroom: hearing their voices through authentic materials". Later the same day, Raquel Mattson-Prieto co-organized the roundtable "Embracing Surplus: Heritage, Language and Real-World Integration", where she also presented with the talk "Spanish as a Heritage Language across Spanish Language Programs: Boon or Disadvantage?" On March 10th, Flor Chiaramonte participated in the roundtable "Queer (languages) Pedagogies" with the talk "A Call to Intervene the Syllabi Without Asking for Permission". And, immediately after, Amina Shabani participated in the roundtable "Decolonizing the Curriculum: Recognizing the Diversity of Latine Cultural Production", with the talk "Highlighting Afro-Latine Voices and Contributions in the Spanish Language Class".

The convention’s theme invited scholars to explore “surplus” as a nuanced concept through interdisciplinary dialogues and critical inquiries. By fostering dialogue and collaboration, this convention illuminated the path towards a more equitable and inclusive future in language teaching.