Why we’re unique

Hola, soy Amelia!

I consider myself fortunate to have been born in Malaga, in Southern

Spain. I grew up by the sea, under warm, blue, Mediterranean skies.

At the age of four, I started dancing flamenco; a passion I shared

with my father. At secondary school I enrolled at the Conservatorio

Superior de Música to study Classical Spanish Dance.

Soon after I had started at the University, I began to teach

Flamenco, at different schools.

By that time, I had realised that teaching was something that I

loved. Having finished my Masters’ Degree in Spanish, English and Italian, I

obtained a PGCE; and specialised in teaching Spanish as a foreign

Language, at the University of Málaga.

For many years, while I was living in Spain, I organized immersion

courses in the UK for Spanish students, and I fell in love with England.

I taught in a private sixth form school in Spain for eight years and

then spent more than twenty years teaching in London. I was part of

an international company called People to People where I carried

out all the activities for American and German visitors to London.

I then married and had three children, so I took a break from work

but carried on studying. I enrolled at the Open University in London

and completed my Diploma in Translation, passed my proficiency in

English Language and Literature, and attended several Spanish

teaching courses in Germany, Netherlands, Spain and the UK.

I also obtained my QTS.

When it was time to go back to work, I became a visiting lecturer at

St Mary’s University where I taught adult students and

undergraduates in their first year of university. I also worked for

eight years at the Richmond Adult Community College, where I

taught Spanish leisure courses and “A-level” Spanish, to adults.

After that I became an A-level oral examiner.

It was while teaching at the College that I realized that my students

needed more than classroom lessons; they should be immersed in

Spanish culture and that was when I founded “La Puerta Azul

“offering students flamenco workshops, cinema evenings, wine

tastings, and extremely popular “Latin themed” parties.

The Pandemic changed the accepted methods of learning, and we

all had to adapt to the changed circumstances.

So, the online lessons started.

I decided it was time to work on my own; and that is when “Spanish?,

let’s go” was born.

At present, I live between Málaga and Hampton, where I continue to

share my love for languages and culture with “guiris” at home and

abroad.