Emily's Tutoring Blog

So many students have trouble with the past tense: preterite vs. imperfect.

Here is an English example:
While I was walking the dog, it started to rain.

Verbs: was walking, started

Imperfect verb: was walking (estaba)
Preterite verb: started (empezo)

Mientras estaba paseando con el pero, empezo a llover.

I had so much fun in college when I lived in Miami, Florida and taught English to young school children.

I worked for an organization called Amigos Together For Kids, founded by a young Cuban entrepreneur named Jorge. We organized toy drives at Christmas, helped foster families, and ran an after school tutoring program at Jose Marti Park. The kids at the camp always needed help with their homework, and I loved teaching them, many of whom were children of immigrant families from Cuba (native language, Spanish).

One day, I was at a table with five little 1st-graders, and one of them started...