Ana.P

Ana.P Tutor Interview

Q. Hi, Ana.P! please introduce yourself!

A. Hi! My name is Ana and I’m from Galicia, a beautiful region in the Northwest of Spain. In Galicia we speak Galician language along with Spanish, there is a complete different culture there famous for its gastronomy and legends. It’s kind of a magic region with an amazing nature and people and I welcome you all to learn about it!

Q. I want to know where you live. Could you please tell us about your current city?

A. I’m living in Madrid, the capital city of Spain. I’ve been living here for 9 years now.I really enjoy the culture and there are plenty of activities you can do when you live in a city like this. Here you can go to the theatre, great cinemas, as well as concerts and exhibitions.In Madrid you can find a very cosmopolitan atmosphere and great places to go for tapas, this very Spanish tradition I enjoy very much doing with my friends. Though I love living in Madrid I’m looking forward to coming back to my home town in Vigo (one of Galician’s biggest cities). One of the reasons is food: there’s no better food than Galician food! -0k! we can have a little debate on this topic! – But if you like shellfish… you should definitely visit my hometown!And the other reason is…of course… living by the sea! Making sports in the sea is one of my favorite hobbies. In fact, when you grow up near the coast it’s very difficult to live without the sea. I’m kind of adapted to Madrid but I know I will come back to Vigo for living surrounded by a beautiful landscape with the ocean and the mountains.

Q. How do you spend your days off? Is there anything you’ve gotten into lately?

A. I’m a very curious and extrovert person. I love spending time with my friends going for tapas or concerts but I also like to have time for myself and for practicing different creative activities, such as photography.I’m very into design, photography and cinema and I use these skills in my language classes. I really enjoy outdoors activities as well, going out in nature and making sports. I love volleyball and I really want to learn surfing.Lately, because of one of my job projects as Food Blogger I’ve started to be very interested in Gastronomy. Recipes from different countries and how you can culture taste so differently. I think you can travel through food in a very tasty and delicious way! In fact, I’m very interested in Japanese food, I really enjoy when my Japanese’s students tell me about their traditions and food culture.

Q. Have you studied a foreign language before? Do you think it’s hard to adapt to a different culture without learning its language?

A. I’ve studied English and French at University, as I studied Translation and Interpretation, but the place where I learnt the most was my year studying abroad in Denmark.That was an amazing experience, not only for learning a new language, but for all the things I learnt about living in a complete different culture.I understood how important it’s to try to immerse yourself in the culture you are living and learning the language is key for that. I really think every language is like a new song, a song that tells you how the heart of their people beats, their language is a way to connect with them and communicate. It’s a way to better understand the new culture you are living in…So YES! Learning their language is very important!!I started learning a little Danish, though a lot of people spoke in English as well. There I gave my first Spanish lessons. Danish people really love Spanish culture and language!I could understand Scandinavian countries much better thanks to try to learn their language. My year in Denmark gave me a lot of perspective thanks to the intercultural background, and it also gave me the skills for start teaching languages.

Q. Please tell us about the main feature of your lessons.

A. My lessons are very focus on conversation and confidence. I think one of the most important things when starting to learn a new language is to lose fear and shame.My lessons are very creative, as I use Cinema, Theatre and Photography to improve my language methods. I think each student is different and I try to adapt my classes to their needs, objectives and more important, to their hobbies. I try to make my classes a very relaxed and fun place where students can enjoy the process of learning, so I try to understand them and learn about their interests and hobbies. In the end it’s all about patience, a lot of listening and speaking! And a little grammar…YES! Grammar can always help you in the beginning, and I give a structured method as well, but as a way to help my students. The focus of my classes is really on conversation.One of the other feature of my classes is that I encourage my students to travel and visit different countries. The first of them Spain, of course! That’s the best way to learn, so my classes are like a little tourist guide to Spain, and more specifically to GALICIA! ; ) I really like to recommend places, books written by Spanish authors, movies and as many Spanish cultural background to my students as I can. I think is not only about learning a language but as a way to connect to each other, as a very unique kind of friendship between us.

Q. What are you most careful of when you teach your students?

A. Being a Beginner in a learning process is sometimes kind of difficult when we think all we do is making mistakes. But the great thing about learning languages is that it helps us working on this skill, we can learn to overcome failure. When we understand that, making mistakes becomes our very best friend and this is also very helpful for many other things in life. I think confidence in the process is key for having a great lesson! As I learnt other languages myself, I really understand the process and what methods are more effective. It’s very important to be patient when learning a new language and working step by step, as well as remembering that this is a process that needs time and effort but it can also be very fun. So, it is very important that my students feel that I understand the process they are in, that I really appreciate they are interested in learning and that they are giving me the opportunity to help them. To me this is always a two-way path where we both, teacher and student are learning from each other. The key is not to give up and be persistent, once that we understand this, we can really enjoy the learning process with a much more relaxed attitude.

Q. Finally, would you like to leave a message for our students?

A. Learning a new language can be a great adventure where you can travel just dealing through a lot of new words and sounds you’ve never heard before. The best part of it all, is that learning is all about different people and places, learning about their cultures as you explore their way to communicate with each other. Living is about connection, and learning a language is the primary way to connect. Learning a new language gives you many new skills and a brand new perspective to perform life and work much better.I encourage everyone to follow this adventure of learning a new language and if it’s together…much better!

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Ana.P

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