Your Online Spanish Course Tutor
About Eduardo
I became interested in second languages due to my circumstances moving me into foreign lands. I was 21 at the time and my dream was to travel the world. To achieve this, I realised that I needed to be fluent in English.
Consequently, I immersed myself in the language, but this time with the incentive of improving my communicative skills. Shortly afterwards I left my country, Argentina, and set off for Europe.
For the next five years I travelled through Europe, the Middle East and the USA– farming in Greece, living on a kibbutz in Israel, travelling in Egypt, working as a bike messenger in Manhattan, and finally ending up in rural Cumbria, England. Here I served fuel at the local garage by day, pints in the pub at night and also played in their local football team.
During those years my acquisition of English became essential, as my livelihood depended upon it, interacting with people from different cultures giving me the opportunity to travel and find work.
This experience encouraged me to take a TEFL course at International House in London in 1990. The following year I moved to Buenos Aires with my English wife and baby son and, for the next seven years, worked as an English teacher in the corporate field helping executives and employees to improve their level of English.
In 1997 we moved to Spain with our two children. Here, I began teaching Spanish to the large resident foreign community, and also English to children and teenagers. Soon I was running a language school, facilitating courses, training teachers and developing teaching material. Twelve years later, I moved into focusing my attention in teaching only Spanish as a second language.
Presently I am running online Spanish courses from beginners to advanced students, teaching in small groups for maximum efficiency. From my own experience, I recognise it is essential to create a sympathetic and interactive atmosphere where natural language emerges in a creative, practical and truly communicative way.
“When I began learning Spanish just over two years ago (in 2000) I quickly became frustrated at the methodical way I was taught. The classes I was attending in Malaga concentrated heavily on verbs and grammar, to the extent that I rarely got much enjoyment out of learning the language. I was on the point of giving up, when someone told me about the natural approach and I was put in touch with Eduardo Fernandez Lalanne, who ran courses in Orgiva, south of the Sierra Nevada (Granada).
Using the natural approach he helped students become familiar with, and gradually more confident in Spanish through conversation and role plays. The grammar was woven in and suddenly I started to speak. I couldn’t get over it. I was able to go out and talk to the locals and actually understand them! Much of the learning in my courses was done through practical assignments, which required the co-operation of villagers, few of whom spoke any English.
After each lesson with Eduardo we were given the assignment related to the contents of the class, and in this way we were able to practice what we had learnt almost instantaneously. My assignments included, for example, locating a bakery and talking to the owner as well as asking people in the streets about their daily routine, free time activities and memories of their childhoods. And in this way we gained the confidence to hold a conversation … and locals loved to have a good chat!”
Patsy Pilkington (level 9)
