You can choose where you wish the class to take place. I can come to your house, or we can meet at my house in Morningside, but any other suggestions are welcome.
Whether you are a single student or a small group (up to three people with very similar language levels), I will design the lessons to suit your needs.
Classes will be tailored to suit you, whether you are an absolute beginner or more advanced. Don’t worry if you are not sure about your level - I will check it during our first class.
Lessons will be adapted to each student’s own particular needs.
My classes always emphasise on speaking the language and practising real conversations using what we’ve learnt in different situations in order to strengthen understanding and to develop a wide vocabulary.
Some grammar and vocabulary will be included in each lesson, with slightly more focus on grammar for older students and adults. But I always teach from a practical point of view, because we only truly understand a language when we can use it.
Paying on the same day of the lesson is absolutely fine but you can also buy a pack of lessons at a discount rate via bank transfer or PayPal. If you are a frequent student who has lessons regularly, payment at the end of the month is also accepted.
Of course, but unless it is an emergency I would be grateful if you could let me know with 24 hours notice.
This depends on my schedule and on how late you are. If it’s not too late we can recuperate the time at the end of the lesson, but if I have already something else arranged we’ll have to try to make it up another time. However this will only be organised on exceptional occasions.
Unless there´s an emergency, not showing up means I will charge you half the price of the class.
It depends on you, but I would advise no less than an hour and a half a week. To truly learn the language you have to commit to memory what you’ve learnt and for that you need to practice it frequently - otherwise the beginning of each new lesson will be dedicated to going over what was already learnt and your progress will be very slow.
In another life I did a degree in law in Madrid (Universidad Complutense) and spent four years of my life living in Germany specialising in European law while teaching Spanish to earn a living.
After accepting that law was not for me, I went back to Spain and obtained my degree in Translation and Interpretation in German and English (Universidad de Granada) with a special focus in linguistic, becoming a certified translator and working as a freelancer both teaching languages and translating.
Lately I’ve moved with my husband and our two cats to Edinburgh where we very happily live in the Morningside area.
I’ve always loved languages; the different sounds and how words are built. I even like the hateful tricks of grammar! I went to a private school until I was 18 where a big part of my education was in English, and I guess I missed languages so much during my university years in Madrid that’s why I decided to go to Germany and improve (or actually, learn) my German.
In Germany I was studying, but I was 21 and wanted to earn some money so I started to teach Spanish to some kids (having already some experience helping my little cousins with their homework). With time my lessons became more popular and I ended up teaching at the Akademisches Auslandsamt of the University of Hannover. There I taught different levels of Spanish to university students.
When I went back to Spain to specialise in languages, I already had caught the education bug and was fascinated about how people learn a language, both as babies acquiring our first language and as adults learning a foreign one. Even though I studied translation, I took several classes on this subject and I never stopped teaching. As I had just arrived from Germany I did some tutoring for students who wanted to access the university and had to pass the admission levels. Even when I started my work as a freelance translator, I kept teaching my old students, because I enjoy teaching so much and it’s always so gratifying to see how people you’re teaching learn and improve their knowledge.