Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures

Anneliese M. Thomae Elías is a Second Language Spanish instructor at Appalachian State University (ASU). They were born and raised in Guatemala City, where they graduated from Communication and Literature at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. In 2015, they published the children’s book “De cómo me fui a todas partes” about the history of the Spanish language. They studied their master degree at Universidad de Salamanca in Spain. They began teaching at ASU in 2019, in Boone, North Carolina. Since then, they have been part of organizations that seek to protect the dignity of immigrants and migrants, such as the Immigrant Justice Coalition. Their passion is the practice of language justice, in which everyone can use the language and languages they feel more comfortable with.