I am a native Spanish speaker

Olga J.

I am a native Spanish speaker, born and raised in Spain, and a certified Spanish teacher in the state of Georgia. I hold a Master of Arts in Teaching in Foreign Language Education (Spanish) from Valdosta State University, which I completed in December 2023, along with an ESOL endorsement. I also earned a Medical and Legal Interpreter certificate from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Phoenix. This combination gives my students authentic native fluency together with formal, graduate-level training in how languages are learned and taught.

I have taught Spanish in Georgia public schools since 2018. I currently teach students in grades six through eight at a public middle school, where I have worked since 2020, and I previously taught Spanish I, Spanish II, and Honors Spanish to high school students in grades nine through twelve. I began my career in education as a bilingual ESOL paraprofessional, supporting English learners one on one and in small groups. Before entering the classroom, I spent nearly thirteen years as a hospital interpreter and translator, explaining complex medical information to families in both languages. I have also taught children and adults as a volunteer instructor at my church for more than nineteen years, so I am comfortable teaching every age.

In my teaching I emphasize real communication from the very first session. I use comprehensible input, conversation built around each student's interests, and plenty of encouragement, and I differentiate instruction so that beginners, heritage speakers, and advanced students all feel challenged and supported. In one-on-one tutoring I tailor every session to the student's goals, whether that means classroom support, exam preparation, conversational fluency, or confidence speaking with Spanish-speaking family members. My students learn Spanish as a living language, taught with the warmth and patience of someone who loves sharing her native culture.