Happy teacher appreciation week!We would like to formally introduce you to our Rype coaches who are truly the heart and spirit of Rype itself.Language learning shouldn’t be limited to just grammar and vocabulary memorization. Learning Spanish should be an immersive experience that allows you to form meaningful relationships, whether it be with your Rype coach, or all the native speakers you meet in while backpacking through South America!All of our coaches are incredibly passionate about languages and cultures. We are often asked if Rype has a specific curriculum for students, but we don’t. Both our teachers and our students come from all over the world and have different Spanish learning or teaching backgrounds. We trust our teachers at Rype and give them the freedom to use their experience and intuition to teach you in the most engaging way possible.This article was a collaborative piece, allowing all Rype team members to participate, but the purpose of it is to share with you the passion that our coaches bring to the table everyday, and to express our appreciation towards them.Without further ado, please meet…

Ana

Q. Where are you from?Guatemala City, Central America. Between Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El SalvadorQ. What is your favorite Spanish movie?"La Vaca" is a Guatemalan movie, really funny!Q. What makes you so passionate about teaching Spanish? I love languages! More than that, it is not only about teaching for me, it is about sharing my culture.Q. What is your favorite past teaching experience? As a former science teacher, it was wonderful to watch my students enjoy the experiments I had planned for them and through those experiences, become passionate about science.Q. Can you tell us a story about a student who touched your life in some way? I once grew so close to a student that she told me that she thinks of me as an older sister and that our relationship helped her enjoy the class more. This experience taught me that it isn’t necessary to be rude or aggressive with students to help them understand a subject and that trust is key.Q. What is your favorite Spanish quote? "Dicen que cada molécula de nuestro cuerpo perteneció alguna vez a una estrella. Quizá no me este yendo. Quizá este volviendo a casa" Gattaca.

Katie

Q. Where are you from?I was born in California but have lived all around the western United States. I have lived in Texas for over 25 years.Q. What is your favorite Spanish book or author?I love Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Juan Rulfo, Rubén Darío and Gabriel García MárquezQ. What makes you so passionate about teaching Spanish?I truly love when people make the connections and can start expressing themselves in another language. I don’t care how old you are or what your experience is, anyone can do this and I would love to help! I also believe that we as a society should be, at least, bilingual. It opens doors for people when they can speak more than one language, and allows them to fully appreciate the culture and history of another country.Q. Can you tell us a story about a student who touched your life in some way?I have been teaching for 17 years and I have had many non-native Spanish speaking students go on and travel abroad, become Spanish teachers and just use the language in general. I love building relationships and getting to know them as people, and this experience has touched my life.Q. What is your favorite method of teaching?I love to integrate technology and have students work in groups. I love oral projects and I do love literature!Q. What is your favorite Spanish quote?¡Sí se puede! (Yes you can!)

Mariel

Q. Where are you from?Even though I was born in Brazil, I spent my whole life in Buenos Aires, Argentina and my family is from here too. So in my heart, I am Argentinean.Q. Your favorite Spanish movie?Un cuento chino (A Chinese story). In this movie, the character tries to communicate with a Chinese even when he doesn't speak Spanish at all.Q. What makes you so passionate about teaching Spanish?What could be better than teaching my own language? By teaching Spanish, I can teach my language as well as my culture. I love students to be inspired by stories told by Spanish speakers. Languages are a means of communication and humanity, so I believe that students will be more motivated to learn through people who can actually inspire them. If they feel well and are happy when learning, I will be too.Q. Your favorite past teaching experience? I wouldn't be able to mention just one. I always love students who are willing to learn, aren’t afraid to ask questions, and challenge me to learn even more about my own language.Q. A story about a student who touched your life in some way?Samantha arrived to Buenos Aires without speaking any Spanish at all. Once she joined my lessons, I began to see her progress little by little. At that time, I wasn't working over Skype, but face-to-face. She is a vegan chef and during each lesson, I taught her new food related vocabulary and grammar. After some time, she was the one teaching me about vegan food and vegetarian philosophy. Now that I think about it, I actually believe I was the student!Q. What have you learned from your students?I learned to be patient and to value my language. I learned about different cultures, countries and perspectives of the world.Q. What is your favorite teaching method?I usually use the pre-teaching technique. I send the subject vocabulary or context before working with a text or video that includes it. This way, the student will already know the vocabulary or grammar before putting it to use.Q. What is your favorite Spanish quote? “Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar”, de Antonio Machado. (Walker, there is no fixed way, you make your way as you walk)

Cristina

Q. Where are you from?I’m from Spain. I was born in Granada although I grew up in Málaga. I’m currently living in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, and next year I’ll move to Madrid.Q. What is your favorite Spanish movie?It’s hard to pick just one, but I’d say Mar adentro, by Alejandro Aménabar.Q. What is your favorite Spanish book or author? Another difficult question. A classic book that I’ve always loved is Marianela by Benito Pérez Galdós. If I had to say a modern author I’d say Javier Marias, his writing style is magnificent.Q. What makes you so passionate about teaching Spanish? I’ve always loved my own language so being able to teach it to others makes me feel really happy and motivated.Q. What is your favorite past teaching experience? My best teaching experience is that some of my former students are friends now, so we’ve even met in “real life”.Q. Can you tell us a story about a student who touched your life in some way?I couldn’t say anyone in particular but I’m really delighted every time I have  an “older student”, because I’m really impressed by their motivation to learn and how they do their best to improve their Spanish. I really appreciate the time they spend learning Spanish.Q. What have you learned from your students? That every student is special and different; this is also a premise in my coaching. And every day I learn something new from them. I'm not only referring to language, but also cultural issues, from their perspective, and about how they are. Languages reflect our way of thinking.Q. What is your favorite method of teaching?I like to approach language in different ways, I’m quite eclectic in my life and I do the same when teaching Spanish. We shouldn’t forget that we learn a language to communicate, so this is the goal. But we need a structured method of learning so that we notice we’re improving.  Power is nothing without control. I try to find the balance between grammar, new vocabulary and communication. And, of course, connecting with students in terms of empathy and friendliness.Q. What is your favorite Spanish quote? (Inspirational or funny) Well, I’ll choose one related to education: Haciendo y deshaciendo se aprende.The meaning is that you learn by doing, so start as soon as possible and don’t be afraid of making mistakes as this is part of your learning process.

Santiago

Q. Where are you from?Medellin, Colombia. The city of the eternal spring.Q. What makes you so passionate about teaching Spanish?
Sharing my language and culture means I am able share myself with the world as I learn from other cultures. I love how languages express a different perspective of the world and I'm always happy to me a mentor as well as a coach to encourage all of those pursuing their language dreams.Q. What is your favorite past teaching experience?In a High School in Hungary, all of the people and their families were spectacular with me. I was living with my students, so it was a wonderful way to get to know them and be immersed in the Hungarian culture.Q. Can you tell us a story about a student who touched your life in some way?A hungarian girl who showed me that all you need on your way to success is passion. She was curious about languages and she was already speaking 6 on a very fluent level by the age of 16. We often explored the different cities of Budapest together, and she taught me about the differences in culture. She was young, but showed me how passion can transform your life and make you a beautiful human being.Q. What have you learned from your students?Oh! They've taught me everything!Students are always my reflection, so I constantly can get feedback about how good I am expressing and sharing myself. When a relationship between student and coach becomes more friendly, we not only learn about languages, but learn about life.Q. What is your favorite method of teaching?I love when people smile while singing, so songs are definitely one of my favorites.It's also nice when I perform "little theatre shows" for my students, they laugh a lot when I change my voice to represent situations, when I imitate accents or when I stand up from my chair and bring representations into the class.Q. What is your favorite Spanish quote?O gano, o aprendo, pero nunca pierdo. (I may win, I may learn, but I never lose.)As you can see, no two teachers are alike and yet they all share a common passion for languages, people, and cultures.We deeply appreciate all the teachers, beyond our Rype coaches, out there making the world a more educated and fulfilling place.Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!p.s - If you want to come and join our Rype family as a coach, we're always looking for the best language teachers around the world! Come meet us here.If you're ready to start enjoying 24/7 unlimited private Spanish lessons with the best language coaches online, come learn more about what we offer.