Meet our Teachers: Today, from Granada, we present Raquel

Today, we're pleased to launch a new feature on Spanish Teaching: Interviews with the don Quijote teachers! Each week we'll introduce you to a profe at one if the don Quijote schools. We'll publish the interviews in Spanish and English, in a category we'll call Conoce a los profes - Meet Our Teachers, in the English posts.

Today, from Granada, say hello to Raquel Ramos Josa. Raquel's been teaching at don Quijote for 10 years, first at don Quijote Barcelona, and for the last 7 years, in Granada. She's got some good book recommendations for students of Spanish…wait, we'll let Raquel speak for herself:

Meet Raquel Ramos Josa - don Quijote Granada

How long have you been a Spanish teacher, Raquel?
I've been a Spanish teacher for 10 years (2 in don Quijote Barcelona and 7 1/2 in Granada.

What do you like best about being a teacher?
What I like best that that the work is never routine because the people (students) always change. But I also like being in contact and getting to know so many different people, of different ages, from different cultures.

What do you like to do when you aren't teaching?
That changes from winter to summer. With the heat, you go out more, go to the beach on the weekends….enjoy the terrazas. In winter, I read more, go to the gym, to the cinema. I also do a lot of gardening and a little bit of crafts, arts and crafts.

Have you ever studied a foreign language? In a foreign country? Did you find it difficult?
I studied English in England. It seemed difficult at the beginning. You feel like you'll never learn it all, but when you are living there you have all kinds of stimuli and you see your progress…

What makes your city the ideal place for a Spanish course?
Granada is an adopted city for me, but in my opinion it's the ideal size, neither too large nor too small. Plus it's beautitul, every agrees, and it offers lots and lots of cultural possibilities, entertainment, things to do in your "off" time, and sports. One of Granada's advantages is that in only 20 minutes by car or bus, you can be in the countryside and you have all these natural spaces just waiting for you.

What advice would you give to people who want to learn Spanish?
That they keep this in mind: Nobody learns a language in three weeks!

Don't lose hope. Also it's very important to try to meet Spaniards. You have to leave the tourist areas every so often to get to know Spaniards (and in Granada, Spanish university students.)

Will you tell us your favorite teacher's anecdote?
A teacher runs into so many amusing situations, many of them mistakes in the language. What happens to me every so often is that the students think I am another don Quijote student (I don't appear very Spanish, I suppose) and they ask me where I am from, etc….

What book do you recommend to students of Spanish (at an intermediate level, for example) who want to read their first novel (or just their first book) in Spanish?
La Plaza del Diamante by Mercé Rododera, or El Cartero de Neruda (originally Ardiente Paciencia), by Antonio Skarmeta. Very entertaining novels that you'll want to keep reading.