Albino Núñez Domínguez
Encyclopedia
Galician people
The Galicians are an ethnic group, a nationality whose historical homeland is Galicia in north-western Spain. Most Galicians are bilingual, speaking both their historic language, Galician, and Castilian Spanish.-Political and administrative divisions:...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
.
Life
He was born in San Pedro da Mezquita, A MercaA Merca
A Merca is a municipality in Ourense in the Galicia region of north-west Spain. It is located in the western central part of the province....
, Ourense
Ourense
Ourense is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the province of the same name in Galicia. Its population of 108,674 accounts for 30% of the population of the province and makes it the third largest city of Galicia.-Population:...
, Galicia, a region of northwest Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. He wrote in both Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
and Castilian
Castilian Spanish
Castilian Spanish is a term related to the Spanish language, but its exact meaning can vary even in that language. In English Castilian Spanish usually refers to the variety of European Spanish spoken in north and central Spain or as the language standard for radio and TV speakers...
, and worked as a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
in the areas of Amoroce and Maceda
Maceda
Maceda is a municipality in Ourense in the Galicia region of north-west Spain.-See also:*A Agualada, Coristanco*Costoya...
(Ourense). In the impoverished Galician village atmosphere, a love-affair with pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
began, which would be the great passion of his life.
In 1932 he was the director of a pedagogical magazine Escuela del Trabajo (School of Work), published by A.T.E.O. (Ourense Teachers Association), of which he was president. The magazine had a successful two year run, with twenty-six published editions, and caused an authentic revolution within the education system, which was anchored in the old methods of the time. Nuñez imposed on this system a distinctively technical and pedagogical character, rejecting the old methods of memorisation and excessive intellectualism completely. He introduced methods from the new school, based on the latest pedagogical doctrines, and worked tentatively, yet steadily towards their establishment. It was the beginning of the introduction of new pedagogical techniques to schools in Ourense, and Nuñez was the central figure in this change (Montessori, Kerschensteiner, Ovide Decroly
Ovide Decroly
Jean-Ovide Decroly was a Belgian teacher and psychologist.He studied medicine at the University of Ghent, with half a year at the University of Berlin where he studied the action of toxins and antitoxins on general nutrition in 1898...
, Dewey
Dewey
-Places:*Dewey, Arizona*Dewey, Illinois*Dewey, Oklahoma*Dewey, Utah*Dewey Square, Boston, Massachusetts*Dewey, Wisconsin , multiple places*Dewey Beach, Delaware*Dewey County, Oklahoma*Dewey County, South Dakota*Dewey Marsh, Wisconsin...
, Cousinet, etc...).
Headmaster at «Concepción Arenal» school, in La Coruña, he continued developing the new scholastic techniques, establishing "new aims" of the education and orienting the social work of the school towards those aims. But The Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
truncated his humanitarian aspirations. From 1936 on he became dedicated to deprived education, first in Lugo
Lugo
Lugo is a city in northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. It is the capital of the province of Lugo. The municipality had a population of 97,635 in 2010, which makes is the fourth most populated city in Galicia.-Population:...
, and later in Orense, where he founded, in 1949 the center for the study of "Estudios Galicia". The interest of this center was mainly the special attention dedicated to the formation of teachers who would soon take the new techniques of education to their classrooms.
In August 1959 he was reinstated, first as a teacher and soon after as school headmaster, holding his last position in A Estrada
A Estrada
A Estrada is a municipality of the Pontevedra province in Galicia in northwestern Spain. It is located some 15 miles southeast of Santiago de Compostela. A Estrada is the chief town of a densely-populated mountainous district; its industries are agriculture, stockbreeding, and the manufacture of...
(Pontevedra
Pontevedra
Pontevedra is a city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the comarca and province of Pontevedra, in Galicia . It is also the capital of its own municipality which is, in fact, often considered as an extension of the actual city...
). The primary school of Casardomato (Ourense) was named after him by city council agreement (1980).
Works
Although most of the work of Albino Núñez Domínguez remains unpublished, some interesting works can be mentioned:- Parnaso Galaico (1956)
- Musa Galega (1957)
- A nosa fala (1958)
- Maruxa ou a femineidade (1958)
- Grandezas e miserias da nosa terra (1959)
- Nin lendas negras nin historias brancas (1962)
- Toponimia galaica (1965)
- Romance de Castrelo de Miño
He also wrote the book Temas de pedagogía (Ourense, 1963), where his educative ideals are gathered, based on his personal experiences and deep readings of the most important pedagogy experts of the time. He defended active and functional schooling, respect and freedom of pupils and advocated the heuristic-socratic method as the most suitable to achieve scientific knowledge.
AsAside from his educative work, Núñez Domínguez made geographic studies, research into toponymy and literature, collaborated assiduously with the press -La Región, La Voz de Galicia
La Voz de Galicia
La Voz de Galicia is a Spanish daily newspaper owned by the Corporación Voz de Galicia. La Voz is the most sold newspaper in Galicia and the sixth of Spain...
, Faro de Vigo
Faro de Vigo
Faro de Vigo is a Galician newspaper from Vigo. It is the oldest Spanish newspaper still in circulation. Its headquarters are located in Chapela, Redondela...
, La Noche, Lar, Vieiros, ABC, El Pueblo Gallego, Irmandade (Caracas) ...- and translated poems by Antonio Machado to Galician.