“Language is best taught when it is being used to transmit messages, not when it is explicitly taught for conscious learning.”
I am a passionate Spanish teacher with over 7 years of teaching experience.
I taught grades K-12 before coming to the Co-op. Now I teach grades 4th-8th grade.
I completed my Bachelors in Spanish and Translation and a minor in Psychology at Montclair State University. I recently completed my Masters at the University of Salamanca in Spain and studied Cultura y Lenguas Españolas. Part of my thesis research is focusing on the motivational impact of teaching languages through comprehensible input and TPRS.
The students at the Coop are exceptional and bring so much joy and motivation to my daily work. I want them to not only feel confident when they speak the language, but also proud of their progress even if it means being able to say a few phrases when they go home each day.
I teach through acquisition driven instruction and I learned about this method in a workshop I attended back in 2020 for language teachers. This motivated me to learn new methods to teach in my class. Since I started I have seen changes in the way I deliver my lessons and my students’ excitement and motivation for languages. This is a continuous and never ending work for me as a teacher. I continue to learn about my practices, challenge myself, improve myself to continue to gain more knowledge and growth as well in my professional life.
The students get excited when they can take part in activities and topics that are attractive to them, and they learn words and expressions that are pertinent to their own interests and circumstances. In my class children acquire language rather than learn it through a focus on speech and conversation. Besides teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family and my cat, walking in nature, listening to podcasts, reading, dancing, singing and traveling.
When students come into Spanish Class they have to say the “password”, a word or a phrase related to the story or the lesson we are learning in Spanish before entering the classroom.
