Olga Maria Herrero Asuncion

I have over 15 years of experience as a Private Tutor and as a Modern Foreign Languages Teacher in Secondary Education (Spanish up to A-Level included and French KS3) achieving 100% results at the last GCSE examinations, as well as at College and helping university students with their tasks and learning.
I am currently teaching at College and private tutoring Spanish.
I completed a PG Diploma in Education, CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and self preparation for DELE Qualifications.
As a native speaker of Spanish, I not only have a secure knowledge of the subject but a real passion for my culture. I strongly believe that teaching a language is all about bringing it to life and taking it beyond the learning of grammar and vocabulary. The role of a language teacher is to raise pupils’ awareness about other cultures and in this sense I think I can bring a “Spanish touch” to the lessons.
One of my strengths is positivism and, at the same time, realism which I believe are crucial for supporting students with different personal life circumstances. I also consider myself a resourceful and adaptable person and I believe these skills will play an important role around students who might need different approaches and variable daily needs.
One of the main areas I find extremely important when teaching a language is students’ motivation. I am always trying to innovate in my lessons by using real resources and examples of culture whenever possible. By making lessons more appealing to students and by showing my genuine motivation for teaching the language, I aim to inspire students learning languages. I have taught students with a wide range of abilities and I reflect this in my lesson planning and classroom techniques. I find being in the classroom both extremely enjoyable and rewarding on a personal level. Seeing pupils progress in the subject and finding successful teaching methods are constant reminders of why I wanted to teach.
I believe that successful assessment for learning plays a crucial role for students’ progress. I have also used different ways to assess students’ learning on a daily basis so I could track their progress.
I believe in team work, companionship and hard work. These attributes are essential to deliver outstanding success within the department and within the organisation. The first time I realised this and adopted these attributes was during my 12 years as a semi professional basketball player. As I strive to continually improve myself as a person I have also developed in confidence, improved my interpersonal skills and I realise the importance of a positive mental attitude. I always endeavour to seek feedback as, in my view, it is the only way to learn new things and improve as a professional individual.
I played basketball at a semi-professional level and was a Spanish national squad member for 9 years. I coached basketball at different secondary schools for four years and I played tennis for 3 years at recreational level.