About Us
The Story of “A Spanish Odyssey”
A Spanish Odyssey sets sails from Marta’s own experience of learning foreign languages.
There came a time when she realized three significant things:
1. Not everyone learns in the same way or at the same pace
2. but everyone learns better when in relaxed places, where they feel comfortable
3. and exposing yourself to a foreign language in its real context ensures faster and more effective learning
Marta arrived at these three conclusions while working as a teacher of Spanish in Brisbane, Australia. Reflecting on her own experience a a non-native speaker of English, she gradually abandoned the different school’s methodologies where she was teaching for the fulfilling and efficient one-on-one tutoring sessions. She also started to design and tailor her teaching materials to the particular needs of the students.
One day, Noll, a student who was going to be absent for a while, suggested to Marta that she continue the classes online, and the resulting experience was amazing. Online lessons opened up a wealth of teaching and learning resources. But most importantly, joining the class from a familiar, more comfortable place (home, the office) significantly increased his capacity to learn. Thus they discovered, in what was intended as a makeshift arrangement, a great new learning environment. From that moment on, Marta, who started traveling herself, decided to devote herself to teach online.
But she didn’t stop there. It was clear that lessons in a tailored environment resulted in quick learning progress. But the lessons were tight in time. So she thought then: ”why don’t I try to reproduce this environment but for a longer time and in a more real context? So Marta decided to meet her students in Spain for a language immersion program that would last two weeks. This pilot immersion consisted of morning lessons followed by afternoon sightseeing and leisure activities (visits to museums, drinks at local bars, cooking lessons…) These two weeks in Barcelona and Tarragona, in which they mingled with locals and plunged themselves into Spanish culture, strengthened the students self-confidence and their oral and listening skills boomed.
Our Teachers
Marta Ortells
Your Spanish Teacher
Marta is passionate about languages. She can communicate in Spanish, Catalan, English, French, Italian, Sign Language and Indonesian. After obtaining a BA in Philosophy and a MA in Linguistics, she specialized in teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language.
However, she believes that the best language teachers are the ones who are able to combine expertise and enthusiasm.
And that is exactly what Marta offers in her online lessons and in her language immersions: to give the best of her so that the student not only learns Spanish but also is imbued with her passion for the Spanish language and culture.