Sara Roberts

I lived for three years in South America and travelled widely in Latin America, before living for four years in Spain and one year in Portugal. I am from the UK and have also lived in Plymouth, London and Oxford. My level of fluency in Spanish is proficient and I really like to do lots of conversation practice in Spanish in my lessons, as in my experience speaking is one of the main areas students struggle with.

I like to start my lessons with a warm-up activity, perhaps a game or a quick quiz to test the vocabulary we learnt together in our last lesson, to recap and reinforce that learning. We then will usually move on to a reading activity, a speaking activity, and a short writing activity. Sometimes we might watch a short video clip or listen to some audio so that my students are exposed to listening to authentic native Spanish speakers other than myself.

I do think it's very important to tailor lessons to my students' individual needs, however, especially if it is a one-to-one lesson. So I will always ask them at the beginning what are the areas they want to focus on and what outcomes they want to achieve over what sort of timeframe. If a student only wants to do speaking, or mainly wants to focus on grammar and vocab, or just wants to prepare for a specific exam, we will do that.

Ultimately I want my students to look forward to their lessons and have fun, so I try and keep lessons light and enjoyable, as well as interesting and informative, as I think that is the best way to learn - when a student is highly motivated and wants to be there!