Victor

I was shy to speak at my first lesson today. Victor recognized this and made me comfortable to reach out and do my best. I got more practice with conversation than I expected. I look forward to my next lesson -- tomorrow.

Victor is an excellent teacher for adults-- I have had SO many lessons with him over the last 2 years!! But, Victor also teaches my 2 kids-- ages 6 and 9. I wanted to provide a detailed review for other italki users about Victor's ability to teach children!!! My kids have been taking classes with Victor for about 3 months now. My kids have made great progress; I am impressed and very pleased! My kids are 6 and 9 years old with no previous experience with Spanish. They enjoy their classes, and we are all working hard to learn Spanish. Victor is very creative with his lessons. He uses games, songs, drawings, pictures, and the skype instant messaging feature in his classes. He uses a mix of English and Spanish with the kids, adding more and more Spanish (and less English) during each class. He never uses drills, tons of repetition, or memorization. Instead, his techniques are fun, engaging, ACTIVE (yes, he gets the kids moving as they learn… not just sitting still), and enthusiastic. Some examples of activities that Victor has done with the kids, both in class and for homework include: playing a “Guess Who” game, playing a “Simon Says” game, youtube videos with songs to support the days lesson, creating super hero characters, doing an interview, creating a comic strip to teach daily routines, creating a schedule to learn verbs, drawing a person to label body parts, drawing a zoo to learn animals, and more. For both adults and kids especially, Victor believes strongly in NOT making learning Spanish boring. If classes are boring or tedious, people won’t like Spanish, he says. In summary, I highly recommend Victor as a teacher for any level of Spanish, and for any age. He has shown himself to be a very capable and effective teacher, and I am happy to continue having more classes with Victor and I move forward on my goal to become fluent. I have a ways to go, but I am sure Victor will help me to get there! Please chose Victor as your teacher!

Today’s lesson with Victor was fun and engaging. He makes learning feel natural and conversational, gives clear examples, and is patient and energetic. I learned a lot without it ever feeling like a formal lesson.

Victor is a great teacher in my opinion. He's smart, articulate, chooses his words wisely to help you understand, and he adapts to your needs if you let him know. I would honestly recommend him to anybody.

Todo bien!!

we just talked and i appreciate that because being able to have a conversation in spanish is my ultimate goal! in high school it was about passing the class and memorizing, but there wasn't an emphasis on actually conversing! Victor emphasized the importance of learning through conversation and practicing! He was very encouraging and reminded me not to be shy or let fear win and to be comfortable asking questions and talking because that's the way to learn! amazing first class!