Hola! Me llamo Sarah!
I love watching my students advance and I love watching them enjoy what they are learning. I feel passionate about the Spanish language.
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It is so amazing to be able to communicate with other people in their native language. People appreciate it more, and it gives you the opportunity to learn much more about the culture of each country.
I have spent many years mastering Spanish grammar. I make even the most difficult concepts easy to understand. For me, teaching Spanish is not "just a job", it is something I enjoy with all my heart, and I enjoy even more seeing my students improve with each class and finally seeing them become confident and fluent.
After graduating from the University of GA and Georgia State University, I was excited to begin teaching Spanish! I had a BA in Spanish Language and a BA in World Languages Teaching. I got a job teaching high school near Atlanta, GA. I was so excited! Soon, I was one of those High School Spanish teachers that taught 125 students a day. I felt helpless and frustrated. They made me teach only grammar, vocabulary, and culture. No conversational skills at all. Yes, grammar and vocabulary are very important in learning a language, but MOST important are speaking and listening to native Spanish speakers.
I have taught and tutored all levels of Spanish for over 20 years. My current roster of students ranges from a 10-year-old boy to an 80-year-old retired CEO of international banks. My bachelor’s degrees in Spanish Language and World Languages Education included a year abroad in Segovia, Spain. I have traveled extensively through over a dozen Spanish-speaking countries in the world, and have lived in several, including Costa Rica for 8 years and 2 years in Mexico.
I help students build their confidence in learning the language by tapping into their learning styles and by my personable and encouraging approach. I am very patient and I customize each lesson to meet your needs. Everybody has different learning styles, and I will work with you in proven approaches to give you the most success!
I do not have a “one curriculum fits all” approach to teaching Spanish. Everybody is different. I subscribe to a very innovative program called Voces Digital. This program opens up a world of virtual real-life Spanish situations while practicing grammar and vocabulary, and listening to authentic Spanish speakers from each of the 22 Spanish-speaking countries in the world. After getting to know you or your child, I will know which approach will work best. You will have several resources at your disposal to learn grammar and vocabulary, to listen, and to speak Spanish. I also create interactive, individual Quizlets to help make learning vocabulary easy and fun. I also subscribe to Yabla. Yabla has over 2000 interesting Spanish learning level-appropriate videos to practice listening to native speakers worldwide. I will give you access to each of these programs. Another approach I use to teach reading, listening, and speaking Spanish is Story Telling. We will read stories together, translate them, listen to them from native Spanish speakers, and then discuss them in Spanish. During each class, we’ll be talking back and forth practicing conversations about what we are working on that week.
Please feel free to ask me any questions at all! Have a wonderful day!
Sarah
