Weekly Word Challenge

Welcome back! This week I will share again my story of how I became a Spanish teacher. It’s fun to look back and see how far I have come. 

Here is my story about how I became a Spanish teacher. Enjoy the read!

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 7 years of running my small business. When I look back at my notes, I see how far I have come. I remember being so scared to get started. For a long time, I felt inadequate to teach Spanish. 

My story begins when I came to Canada at age 7 in 1984 *Okay, now you know how old I am! LOL. 

I was a timid little girl. Our family landed in Montreal. We didn’t stay there long as my parents didn’t speak French. We moved to Ottawa and have been here ever since. I always had an ease and learned the two official languages here in Canada. 

My maternal language is Spanish but since I grew up in Canada, I have spoken English and French a lot more than Spanish.  When I reconnected with my biological father in 2015; I literally had to use a dictionary to talk to him.  My Spanish was that rusty.  We spoke every Saturday and my Spanish started to improve.  I shared with my Dad that when I was a little girl, I used to line up all my teddy bears and teach them. LOL –  I guess it’s always been in my blood.

Fast forward to January 2017, where I was reinventing myself. It had been 7 months since I had resigned from my federal government job. I had the opportunity to substitute for a teacher to teach Spanish. I remember bringing my daughter and we had so much fun. I felt at ease. I posted about this on Facebook and received so many comments asking me where I taught Spanish. It took me back a bit and my initial reaction was shock. I was intimidated. “I don’t have a teaching degree”. “How could I possibly teach Spanish”?  However, people kept asking me to teach them Spanish. 

I spoke to my Dad about this idea and he told me to go for it. He said that I could most definitely teach. So I did.

I opened Spanish 2GO in March of 2017 and went to teach my first client. She worked at a medical clinic off of Bronson. I would go see her once a week to teach her Spanish. She enjoyed the class.  I have a picture somewhere of the first $25 I earned teaching Spanish.  I started getting other requests and started filling up my schedule with new clients. 

Initially, I did go to the client’s place of work or their home. I drove all over from the east end of Ottawa to downtown Ottawa. After a while, I realized that this option was very expensive.

I changed my approach to inviting clients to my home.  I enjoyed that and

I always prepared a nice cup of herbal tea to compliment the lesson. My students enjoyed that. 

I also got hired to teach Spanish at a French primary class.  Oh how I miss those darling children. In January of 2020; I assisted in opening a Saturday Spanish school.  I was the coordinator and we had a lot of fun.

As my teaching journey continued, I took some classes on how to run a business. I love learning and improving. It was recommended to me that I start teaching online. I was terrified with this suggestion. I had used the Zoom platform as a participant but never as a host. YIKES!

Even though I was scared, I went for it. I had an old laptop but it worked. Eventually, I upgraded my laptop, my internet and my Zoom account. I have since fallen in love with the Zoom platform. OMGOSH for someone like me who isn’t tech savvy; the platform was easy to navigate and intuitive.  

I have taught private lessons and group lessons on this platform.  I have truly enjoyed teaching in this way. I have been able to expand my clientele.  A couple of years ago, I started my community class “Canadians Speak Spanish”.  I am very proud of this project.

My current clients come from all over Canada including; Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. COOL eh?!?

 One of my goals is to teach Spanish online in each of the provinces and territories.

Here we are in May of 2024 and it’s been 18 months or so that I have returned to the Federal government.  I am juggling a full time job and my private business.  

As I sit here writing this, I am proud of myself for taking that leap so many years ago.  My Dad taught me that pouring love into our projects makes them successful.  I have certainly had some hard days with this business but overall it’s been amazing to see how many awesome people want to learn Spanish.  

I don’t know where the next years will take me; but I do know that I must continue to teach Spanish. It makes my cells dance and my soul very happy.

Thank you for reading until the end!

With gratitude,

Auramarina

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Going back to the last week’s words and challenge, do you remember what they were? Find out the answers below.

Tenedor: fork

Tercero: 3rd

Here are the fantastic responses that came in. I love the creativity! YOUPPI!

Soy la tercera niña de tres niñas en mi familia. Y todas sabemos usar nuestros tenedores.
I am the third girl of three girls in my family. And we all know how to use a fork.

Mi pizza era tan grande que necesité un tenedor para comer el tercer trozo. Fue muy bueno. Mmmm!!
My pizza was so big that I needed a fork to eat the third slice. It was very good. Mmmm!!

No se puede comer sopa con tenedor porque se derramará todo.
El tercer piso está después del primero y el segundo.
You can’t eat soup with a fork because everything will spill. The third floor is between the first and the second.

Me gusta comer pizza con tenedor.
I like to eat pizza with a fork.

¡Dejé caer mi tercer tenedor hoy!
I dropped my third fork today!

Here are the words for this week!

I would like to challenge those who are thinking about responding to please respond….just try!
Por favor!! Por favor!

P.S. Looking to pronounce a particular word in Spanish? Email me at auramarinasawyer15@gmail.com, and let me know! I always love creating content you want to learn.

¡Que tengas un bonito día!

Auramarina

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