Retired instructor of Portuguese and Spanish gives lessons in both languages in Pinellas county, FL.

Methodology

I am a retired Master's degree teacher. I have taught all levels of Spanish from grades 7 through 12 in Vermont and Massachusetts, and have taught at the college and university levels as well. More recently, I taught Brazilian Portuguese at Cape Cod Community College from fall semester 2002 to spring semester 2014.

I focus on the four skills of language learning which include speaking, listening, reading, and writing. I also focus on phonetics, especially when teaching Brazilian Portuguese. My goal for my students is for them to be able to produce coherent statements and communication in the target language by teaching them vocabulary that includes all parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjective, adverbs, prepositions, etc. The goal is to be able to simply communicate!

Background

I first started teaching Spanish after coming home from a Peace Corps mission in Paraguay which has continued for 30+ years. After living in Brazil for 2 years, I began teaching Portuguese at the community college on Cape Cod, MA.
I have taught many students of all ages and all backgrounds. A few of my high school students wound up going abroad to pursue further studies, and actually get degrees in Spanish. I have had Portuguese students write me letters from Brazil, telling me that my language classes really helped them get a great start in learning to speak Brazilian Portuguese! As a teacher, it is always wonderful to get letters like that!

Rates

Rate for 5 hours of lessons : $25

Rate for 10 hours of lessons : $25

Lessons offered by Mary Ellen

Individual

In group

The lessons will be held

at her home

at your home

Taught subjects

ESL
Spanish
Brazilian Portuguese

Levels

College
ILR Level 0
ILR Level 1
ILR Level 2
ILR Level 3
ILR Level 4
ILR Level 5
Other
Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced

Mary Ellen's resume

I received my BA in Spanish from California State University at Long Beach which included living my junior year abroad in Mexico City, a Certificate in Latin American studies and Portuguese language, which also included a scholarship to the Intensive Study of Portuguese at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
I received a Spanish teaching certificate in Vermont, and a Spanish teaching certificate in Massachusetts after completing education coursework from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth and Bridgewater State College.
I completed my MA at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT which included a Peace Corps mission to Paraguay. Upon returning home and completing my MA degree, I received a job offer to teach ESL in Brazil where I lived for 2 years.
Since that time, I studied and received 2 Medical Interpreter Certificates, one in Spanish, and one in Portuguese from Cape Cod Community College, where I also taught Brazilian Portuguese for 12 years!
All of these studies gave me the opportunity to teach 10+ years of Spanish at the junior high and high school levels in VT and MA, in addition to 2 years at the University of MA, Dartmouth.

Superprof Private lessons ESL lessons spanish lessons brazilian portuguese lessons

Masterclasses by Mary Ellen

Retired Portuguese and Spanish teacher gives...

I am a Master's level teacher, and I have taught Portuguese and Spanish to students in middle school, high school, college and university levels. I...

Seminole

$320 per person

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