Tuitor in Global Spanish Experiences - Education and Work

I began learning Spanish a long time ago, when I was an Erasmus student at the University of Barcelona; while I was living there I got a part-time job as a motorbike messenger, which was a) very dangerous and b) required me to learn vernacular Spanish quickly! I began my PhD at Loughborough University, looking at the political economy of microcredit in Latin America, and subsequently did my fieldwork for 15 months in Nicaragua. It was a spectacular experience and allowed me to travel throughout Central America, experiencing the different versions of Spanish spoken in each country. I subsequently returned to Central America in a variety of roles, as an international observer in the Nicaraguan elections, setting up renewable energy workshops in Guatemala and Nicaragua and working with the Leicester link group with partners across the region. As my teaching and research experience expanded, I was involved in a widening range of different projects - EU-funded research projects on renewable energy and investigating the credit markets in South America, in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico, for example My experience of Hispanic languages ranges across a variety of countries and experiences, not just as an academic but in paid work and living in there. I worked as a motorbike messenger during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, toured plantations on the edge of the remaining forests in the North of Nicaragua and gave presentations and speeches at the MasterCard Latin American Leadership forum in Rio de Janeiro. I try very hard to ensure my teaching gives a full flavour of these experiences..