Experience Summary
I began studying Spanish in the 7th grade where my educators noticed my aptitude for foreign language. I started a full Spanish course in the eighth grade and continued until my junior year of high school. I was conversationally fluent by Spanish II and began tutoring Spanish V students as a freshman. After ending my high school studies, I studied on my own teaching myself colloquial vocabulary and idioms. I returned to formal classes in college, after which I saved and prepared myself to move to Spain and live there for three months. Living in Spain immersed me not only in the culture of Spain, but also in the various accents used in the country. My understanding and fluency became solidified during my trip and I began to desire teaching and sharing my knowledge of the Spanish language with others. I have knowledge of both Castilian dialects as well as Latin-American dialects and can teach both.
Teaching Style
I prefer to have an immersive teaching experience, using the language as much as possible with little translation. I only do this with more advanced students or students who are open to this type of teaching style. With beginners, I focus primarily on grammar and pronunciation moving into sentence structure, sentence forming, and eventually conversational knowledge. Advancing in Spanish requires continued study of grammatical rules, but also delving into less formal speech and learning how to speak naturally using colloquialisms and idioms.