What is your teaching philosophy?

As a poet myself, I love language, and teaching Spanish language and literature courses is my honor. I enjoy teaching because I like to learn. I am a learner, and because of that I learned how to teach. In fact, my teaching style and techniques are evolving daily as I learn through professional development, by studying my colleagues, and most importantly by listening to my students. My objective as an educator is to make the learning of Spanish language, literature and culture interesting and meaningful. For this reason, I motivate my students with the expectation of success. I want them to see the usefulness of learning Spanish, not only in terms of professional goals, but also for their own personal growth. In my class, students are immersed in a communicative environment, which helps them see the relevance, purpose, and meaning of language learning. Thus, I give them confidence to use real language by providing a total Spanish immersion experience in the classroom.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

We introduce ourselves and we set goals.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By giving control of the learning process to the student.