My Spanish Story
I have a family tree half-rooted in Mexican-American culture and the seed for my love of Spanish came from that tree. I grew up loving my family’s heritage: delicious food; beautiful Christmas traditions; community involvement; a legacy of hard work, faith and deep family ties. But I didn’t grow up speaking Spanish.
I began studying the language in my freshman year of high school and continued through college, with a few mission trips sprinkled along the way that really helped my Spanish to start blooming. At the University of California, Davis, I earned my degree in Spanish with Honors. Then I completed my California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Spanish at California State University, Sacramento.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve taught preschool, high school, and all grades in between. Now I work with students of all ages in-home, online and at local homeschool learning centers in Loomis, Auburn, Lincoln and nearby areas of Placer County, California. My Spanish just keeps growing as I listen to my favorite podcasts and share my love of the language with others.
How Day By Day Spanish Began
For many years I taught exploratory Spanish classes at a local K-8 elementary school and as a volunteer at the school my children attend. My students and I met only once or twice a week for 30 to 45 minutes. Our classes were fun and full of Spanish, but I wasn’t satisfied with the results. Language learning requires regular (daily is best!) contact with the language, so I began exploring ways to expand this learning opportunity for the families at my school. I began looking for YouTube videos, books, podcasts, and apps that could expand my students’ experience with the Spanish language.
I often meet parents looking for ways to help their kids learn Spanish and many friends have asked for recommendations to help them improve. I wanted to create an easy way to share resources and to encourage others with my own experiences. So Day By Day Spanish was born. Come along! Let’s grow our Spanish together!
Why learn Spanish?
Hablando se entiende la gente.
By talking, people come to understand one another.
Traditional proverb
Learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children.
Michael Gove
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela
DAY BY DAY SPANISH 