Behind the Scenes: A Day in the Life of My English and Spanish Students

I thought it'd be fun to share a behind the scenes look at what it's like to be an English or Spanish student with me. Take a look!

First off, students get assessed before we start our first lesson. It's not difficult and, in fact, it goes by pretty quickly! We have a short conversation in their target language, talking about themselves. If they're more advanced speakers, the student may tell me about something special that happened when they were a kid.

Here I am assessing an English student at his office.

That way I get a good idea of their speaking fluency, listening comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, and much more. You wouldn't believe how much I can get to know about student both personally and professionally in such a short time. And it's a painless and easy way for the student to start to feel comfortable in only a few minutes!

After giving the student feedback about their level of English or Spanish, we start the lesson. With Spanish students, I start them off with getting comfortable speaking an entire conversation with me. Usually we go over greetings, introductions, and goodbyes. My students always leave feeling more confident about their abilities to speak!

Spanish student Walter works on how to describe what people look like.

Lisa and La Shawn practice speaking during a Spanish lesson

With English students, we delve into their grammar mistakes, giving them an overview of what we'll be working on in future lessons. Almost everyone who comes to me wanting to learn English is already at the intermediate level, having learned in their native country. So when they get to me, they want to improve their pronunciation, better their grammar, and just feel more confident when speaking with native American English speakers.

Johana and Soccoro work on an exercise during their English lesson

English students Debhorah and Daniela work together on a grammar exercise.

Sometimes students aren't able to meet in person, so we have online lessons. These are convenient because they can be anywhere in the world and have a lesson with me. For instance, students have been in San Francisco, Atlanta, Richmond, Boston, DC, Houston, Nashville, Barcelona, Spain; Lima, Peru; Tijuana, Mexico; among many other places around the world. I myself have even been traveling in LA and Peru while teaching my students lessons online!

Here's Lulu in Boston, Massachussetts taking an English lesson online with me while I'm at my home office in Chula Vista, CA.

My Spanish students all have lessons outside the class where they have to communicate with other native Spanish speakers in practical situations.

Denia asks questions in Spanish to the baker at a local Mexican market during a practical Spanish lesson.

For instance, students go to a market to ask the employees questions in Spanish about food items. And they also go to a restaurant to order food in Spanish.

That's just the class portion. What about the super fun stuff, like trips and parties?!

Our trips to Mexico are terrific opportunities for students to immerse themselves in Spanish. They have to order their lunch in Spanish, pay for items at the market in Spanish, and much more.

These Spanish students just ordered lunch for themselves in Spanish at the Telefonica Gastropark in Tijuana.

We also go to fun cultural events where students get to learn more about art, dance, food, and music from various Latin American countries.

With my Spanish student Sheri at a Peruvian Independence Day celebration in Balboa Park.

And we have parties at my house with special themes! We've had a posada with Peruvian and Mexican food over the Christmas holidays, Cuban-themed dinner parties, and many graduation celebrations!

With my Spanish student Barbara at my annual posada while coincidentally wearing matching llama Christmas sweaters.

Doreen proudly displays her certification for graduating from the Basic Spanish Conversation course.

My English students Issy, Amanda, and Valeria enjoy a Christmas potluck during their English lesson.

With my Spanish student Joe and Manita after a Cuban dinner party.

But that's not all! I've been lucky enough to get to become friends with many of my students through the years. So we do a lot together outside our lessons, too!

Hanging out with my English student Anyghie and her baby boy after we went swimming together.

My generous English student Maggie came over my house to do my makeup for my birthday.

I was with my English student Hugo at a 10k race.

With my English student Patti at a party.

My student Aaron surprised me with a box planter for Christmas. How I love gifts from students!

I went with my English student Kayla while she took her driver's license exam and passed!

But don't let me tell you everything about what it's like to take English and Spanish lessons with me. Let my students tell you for themselves!

Want to see what even more students are doing? Check out my Facebook and Instagram pages for daily updates! And sign up for updates on classes, events, and special offers for English students and Spanish students. I've got tons more fun events coming!