¡¡Hola - Bienvenidos a mi página de Verbling!!
My name is Elena and I'm from Badajoz, a small town in the south of Spain. For the past 5 years I have been living and studying in different parts of the world. I love travelling and languages, so I decided to study International Relations with French and Portuguese in England. After I finished university I got my diploma on Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language from International House.
I also did one year at the Universidade Federal in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, and I have done volunteering programmes in Vietnam and Finland, and trips to places like Colombia, Morocco, Italy, France, Hungary and many more!
I love keeping active so I practise Yoga and Capoeira, and I sometimes try to play instruments like the tambourine and the ukelele.
There are 3 main characteristics that I consider essential for a teacher:
1. Being PATIENT
2. Having EMPATHY
3. Being PASSIONATE
As a teacher I see myself as your guide to help YOU learn, know your rhythm and learning styles, and work on your personal needs. Working on individual needs means that I negotiate the content of the lessons with every student to see what and how they want to learn, what their motivations are, and what they are looking for.
I plan all my lessons beforehand, and I use the "communicative approach". This means that we will be speaking Spanish from day 1 - no matter what your level is, you will be able to use in the class with me. The idea of this is that you learn the language with its use in real life.
This approach is very focused on the oral skills, but in the class we also work on listening, reading, and writing skills [Writing is mostly done as homework].
Because learning is practical, as Confucius said:
"I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand."
«Me lo contaron y lo olvidé;
lo vi y lo entendí;
lo hice y lo aprendí».