Native Spanish Teacher, 12+ Years' Experience. Master’s in Teaching. Levels A1–C2. Learn Spanish for Travel, Work & Everyday Life. Speak Spanish with confidence!

Find out more about Maria

• Do you speak this language fluently because of your origins or because a teacher inspired you to learn?

  I am a native spanish speaker and I am proud to speak spanish from Mexico because we use a lot of words from our indigenous languages which makes it very rich and beautiful.

• Can you name a living, historical or fictional character that you think is the emblematic representative of the language's culture?

  I believe Frida Khalo is a very powerful figure from Mexican history, she represents resilience and freedom. Her art is filled with emblematic Mexican symbolisms and she was very proud to speak spanish even when she was abroad.

• Is there a typical word, phrase, tradition or behavior in the language that you particularly like?

  “Al que madruga, Dios lo ayuda” it’s a phrase that speaks about starting your day really early (la madrugada) and having satisfaction from achieving a lot by doing so. My mum always tells me that and it stayed with me, because I like to begin my day early too.

• Why does speaking this language matter to you?

  I think by being a language spoken in almost a whole continent, it has a lot of history, traditions and culture involved. I feel part of a large community, and I think spanish speakers we tend to be very friendly and welcoming people.

• What is the main difficulty in learning this language and what can help the process of learning?

  I guess it depends on the first language of the person learning it. In my experience as a teacher, for English speakers is mostly conjugations because it’s very broad compared to English. I think consuming contents in spanish like music, movies, tv shows and books is always a great way to immerse yourself in the language.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your language learning or your days at school.

  It’s no surprise that the pronunciation of the letter “R” it’s a bit of a struggle for some students. However, I’ve been amazed by how good Irish people are at speaking spanish, they pronounce the R’s very naturally. I believe it has to do a lot with their own connection with the sounds from the Irish language.

• How has travel or a specific trip helped you to increase your skill and knowledge of the language?

  Travelling across Mexico, Central America and Spain has helped me discover the connections and origins from my own language and how many people are interested in learning it. And it made me appreciate it even more.

• What makes you a Superprof in language?

  I am not only a native speaker, I have 12 years of experience teaching my language and I have a master degree in education, I have worked in different countries, which in total give me a holistic and human approach for teaching spanish.