PASSION FOR TEACHING
Alicia and Espamundi.
WHO I AM
My name is Alicia and I’m from Salamanca (Spain) and I’ve been living for 5 years in the North of England teaching Spanish to all kinds of students.
Education is something that has always fascinated me. I studied a degree in Pedagogy (theory of education) and it was not until I moved to England when I decided to focus my career into teaching Spanish to adults. To go further, I decided to study a masters degree in teaching Spanish as a second language alongside with specialised courses in the field. Nowadays I keep myself up to date attending to conferences and courses to improve as a teacher.
When I’m not a teacher, I’m a student. I’m constantly working on improving my English and at this moment I’m learning French as well. I can help you in your path with methods and tricks that have worked for me and my students to learn a new language like you never imagined!
STUFF ONLY MY CLOSEST STUDENTS KNOW
· My favourite drink is a good Cola-Cao. It’s a Spanish version of Nesquik, but good ·
· My favourite word in English is Banana. I can’t stop laughing when I hear it ·
· Sometimes I don’t do my English or French homework. That doesn’t mean you can skip your Spanish homework ·
· I love noir novels (Hening Mankells is one of my faves) and murky TV series (One of my faves is Fall, an Irish one) ·
· Everyday I come up with new Spanish words. Like cuchumburrio, pilindrongo, catalítico… it’s my superpower ·
· I’m not going to reveal my real age, but I’m not 15 like many of you think ·
· I’m part of that supposed 3% of the Spanish population that sleeps siesta ·
· When I was a little girl I wanted to be a butcher. #followyourdreams ·
Espamundi goes further
Learning a new language is learning how to communicate all over again. We sometimes learn thousands of words and grammar rules to realise that we’re not able to communicate in the language that we’ve been studying so profoundly.
Everyone is different, with their own learning styles and motivations. For this reason, the methods and activities during lessons are gradually shaped around each student. It’s not about having fun while you learn, it’s about learning because you are having fun!
My main objective is to develope communicative skills where students can practice everything they learn. This reinforces their confidence, put aside their shame and speak Spanish! Trial and error is the best way to learn.
My experience during this last 4 years teaching students from different nationalities has been key to be able to detect their strenghts and weaknesses when learning Spanish. The connections students do with their own languages is one of my focuses to know how they process the information and help them learn Spanish effective and efficiently.