Sara de Leiva

Why do you like teaching Spanish?
Through teaching Spanish, I am sharing with my student about my country, Guatemala and especially about Quetzaltenango where it is known as "the cradle of culture" in and out of Guatemala. Its fame about kind-hearted people, customs and traditional lives go beyond the border and I love guiding my student into this unique world filled with mysticism. In other words, this beautiful experience of cultural exchange is what I live for.

What are the challenges of being a Spanish instructor?
One of my main teaching objective is to have my student learn the correct usage of Spanish in which my student can later arrange it depending on context. Colloquial expresssions and cultural tidbits are useful but without strong foundation in basic grammar, a student will have difficult time in expressing him/herself. I am always trying to build my student's grammatical foundation with lots of practice and interactive teaching methods.

How do you make your class interesting?
I think the best feature of the immersion learning environment is that my student can be introduced to new grammar and cultural knowledge and put them to use without becoming aware of that he/she is actually learning something new. In other words, my student is often having fun while the learning is taking place semi-unconsciously. We could be talking / writing / listening / reading about what my student is passionate about, historical aspect of Quetzaltenango, or whatever the topic may be and I can guide my student into a learning experience.

What do you do to grow as a professional and person?
During weekdays, I'm teaching Spanish and in weekends, I'm working toward a degree in Business Administration at the Rafael Landivar University. In my personal life, God gave me the opportunity to give life to a beautiful boy which fills me every day with great happiness as he is growing up.

What is the best of Guatemala?
Guatemala has lots of must-see features. Let me point out a few of them: Its warm and kind people with unique customs and traditions with international reputation. Its touristic attractions with historical arquitectures and great range of natural beauties. Its multicultural / multilinguistic society with four different ethnic groups (Mayans, Xincas, Garifunas and Ladinos) and 24 different languages spoken throughout our country.

What would you do if you have only one more week of life?
I will try to correct all my wrong-doings because as an imperfect person, I have made many wrong decisions. Finally, I will give away everything that I have to those in need.

What were you doing 15 years ago?
I was still in an elementary school 15 years ago. I often used to be an honor student and I really enjoyed playing around with all my friends.

What will you be doing in 15 years down the road?
In 15 years, hopefully, I have started my own business and growing up as a person and as a professional so that I can improve the life of my family and Guatemala.

Who is/was the most influential person in your life?
My parents are very special people to me because they are the ones who gave me my wonderful life as it is. My family and especially my son is a really precious person for me because he teaches me about life every single day.

What is the Guatemala's biggest social issue? What do you propose to solve those problems?
Unfotunately, Guatemala has many social issues such as racial, economic and gender discriminations. Among them, the most serious and the one in need of most attention is the discrimination agaist women. As women, we have all been victim of the problem sometimes in our lives. We must stop this and I have faith in that the situation will improve. In order to achieve this, we must be strong to voice our opinion and take a stand so that we won't fall as victims of the discrimination.

 

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