Your teacher

¡Hola futuro estudiante!

My name is Sergio and I’m from Barcelona (Spain) although I am not living there now.

Actually, I have been living abroad for more than 6 years. All began when I decided to become a Spanish teacher and to teach Spanish around the world.

Do you have time? Sit back and prepare yourself a cup of coffe, I want to tell you a story. Well, actually it is a long story. 

You do not have time? Well, you can take the short way reading my CV.

My first steps

I always liked language and literature, so I decided to study Spanish language and literature. I am a lucky guy: I do not regret it.

However, as the time passed, I started to question myself: What I am going to do when I finish the university?

The economical crisis had exploted and the opportunities for a young graduated were scarced. So I decided to try different things until I found my own way.

After working in several jobs, I finally found something that I really loved: teaching Spanish as a volunteer in a NGO.

 

My first training and work experience as a Spanish teacher

Teaching Spanish as a volunteer was an incredible experience. I realized that I loved teaching but also that I needed training to teach foreign students.

I made my first course as a Spanish teacher and I began to work in several language schools in Barcelona.

I went from one to another for more than 3 years. It was a really unstable job and it seemed that the situation would not change.

I had the idea of leaving my country and taking a chance abroad. I never changed my mind about my profession, but I needed to change something to continue to grow. 

I found myself stuck in a rut. 

But one day I received a letter that changed it all.

 

My first movements

I move to Sweden!

I had been accepted to a Master of Teaching Spanish as a second language in Barcelona! 

I received university formation and I did some research in the field of teaching second languages.

But the best of all was the Master Erasmus scholarship in the last semester. I applied for some european universities and I finally ended up in Stockholm.

That trip was my turning point. I realized that my situation abroad was much better than in Spain, both regarding my profession and my personal growth.

I was determined to continue to live abroad. When the semester in Sweden finished and when I got back to Barcelona, I said to my family and friends: I leave again!

 

I move to Bosnia and Herzegovina!

That summer I was already looking for the job offers for Spanish teachers.

After I applied for some (ok, many) I was accepted in a little language school in Sarajevo. Although I had an idea to be there just for a short period time, I stayed 3 years.

For first time in my career, I had a stable job and I did not have to look for a new one every month. 

But… I felt empty. I was feeling like I had already learned all about teaching Spanish in language schools. And as the time went by I realized I was stuck in a routine.

I needed something new. Something different. I wanted to create something.  Something mine. Something to give to the world. 

 

A new direction

I started a blog two years ago with a purpose of sharing my experience abroad and spreading the knowledge and the learning materials with other colleagues.

The blog grew a lot and I learned that there was a wide community of people who were teaching Spanish in different countries, in different learning contexts, with the same problems and passion for teaching… like me.

Most of them were doing it online. The online Spanish teaching had exploded almost 5 years ago, and I met a lot of teachers who switched to the online world after several years of teaching in traditional language schools.

It was an energic Spanish teaching community of teachers who were launching their own courses and lessons, sharing their online knowledge, changing the way of teaching foreign languages. They were teaching Spanish around the world and they were spreading their understanding of teaching online.

I thought: why I don’t do that? Why I don’t create my own courses and lessons in order to make the world of education a better place? Why I don’t take part in this educational revolution?

I had the knowledge and I had the experience. I noticed that there were a lot of things that had to be changed in the language teaching and the online world provided me a great space to act.

This drastic change made me move again.

And I did it!

I move to France!

As it happened in Sweden, I needed to find a new turning point. A new enviroment, precisely, where I could disconnect from the reality that I was living in for 3 years and where I could begin from scratch.

I founded a little studio of 16m2 in a small town near Paris (Arras, France). It began to snow, it was cold, and all that I did was to work on my teaching project.

I had to make it real.

I learned how to teach online, I updated all my learning materials adjusting them to online format, I read blogs of other Spanish teachers with a large experience teaching online, I promoted my first online lessons…

… and finally I launched my own online platform.

 

Learn Spanish Beginner is born

This is not the end of my journey. Learn Spanish Beginner is just a new platform from where I will continue to work on my educational improvement project. I have been teaching Spanish for more than 6 years now and I will continue to do it.

This new step would be impossible to achieve if I had not gathered the knowledge and the experience during those previous years.

This website and the online lessons that you will find here are the product of my long journey.

This project would not be possible if I had not found my passion for teaching Spanish. It would not be possible if I had not lived abroad. And it would not be possible if I had not felt empty teaching in language schools and if I had not got the chance to create something myself.

Learn Spanish Beginner is connected to my life purpose: I want to help you to take your first steps in Spanish, in order to be able to experience a journey like mine. I hope that this Spanish experience, that you are about to live, helps you to take part in this world, as I did.