Learning Spanish has been very important to me since my adolescence. After finishing high school, I attended the University of Alabama with several scholastic scholarships to continue my studies in Spanish. There, I dedicated myself to courses in literature, Spanish phonology and phonetics, and anthropological linguistics. In 2003, I was a part of a new university program of involvement in the Hispanic community. In this program, students work as volunteers translating and interpreting in several places around the city, including clinics, schools, offices and churches. During a semester, I worked in a secondary school giving Spanish language support to the students who were recent immigrants learning English. I helped them with tasks and homework by translating concepts and vocabulary, and I also provided English lessons. During college, I also had the opportunity to study in Spain through a study abroad program. I went to the University of Alcalá de Henares to study Spanish civilization and literature in the summer of 2002. After a few weeks of getting to know the city and the culture, I became accustomed to Spanish life and have recently returned to Spain to continue my studies towards a Master's Degree at the University of Salamanca. Currently, I am in my eighth year as a teacher, and I work in a private secondary school. Additionally, I taught English as a Second Language in public schools and as a private language instructor for adults. I had much training in college working with international students, which has helped me tremendously in my work at present. For me, the acquisition of a foreign language is extremely important and essential in this world of full of different cultures and a great necessity for communication.
My main motivation for teaching a foreign language is to help prepare students for higher education and interaction on a more global scale. I believe in priming students for post-secondary instruction by modeling a good work ethic and using learner-centered lessons and teaching strategies appropriate for their level and abilities. My goal is to provide an effective manner of second language acquisition in order to promote life-long learning of the language.
I feel that my skill as a teacher/tutor lies in providing students with a comfortable environment for learning in which they can be themselves and start to facilitate their own education in a productive way. I bring a lot of energy and vivacity to my lessons. My approach to learning a foreign language comes from my own experience as a student, and I try to give students hands-on opportunities to gain that experience and to apply the skills we develop step by step as the language is acquired. I also use technology as much as I can to help foster interest in language study by using internet and other applications the students of today are so familiar with, and by showing them resources that are available.
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