The team

FERNANDO

Fernando is a writer, translator and cultural critic from Argentina. He studied art history at Goldsmiths, University of London, and holds a master in Latin American Cultural Studies and a PhD in Latin American Studies, both from Birkbeck, University of London, where he teaches language, literature and film. He has lived in London since the early 2000s and has taught Spanish privately and at universities since 2002. He is Hackney Spanish’s founder and director.

JULIO

Julio is a PhD student and lecturer in History at SOAS, University of London. He has taught languages and humanities in The Netherlands, Jordan, Spain, and London. He also speaks Italian, Arabic, Hebrew and Turkish; and in the past he studied Dutch, Swedish, and French.

VANE

Vane qualified as a Spanish teacher with Roehampton University and Instituto Cervantes and has many years of experience; she holds two BAs, in Journalism and History of Art. She speaks Spanish, Galician, English and Italian. Her interest in Spanish and South-American cultural life and current affairs are supported by a background in Journalism and Art, which means art, culture and news are often included in her lessons.

DAVID

David is a former Philosophy student at University of Zaragoza, Spain. He also spent one of his years of apprenticeship at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. He speaks Spanish, English and French.  He did his Bachelor's thesis on Schopenhauer's Ethics and loves a language approach through Culture, Music, Literature and Cinema.

JUANA

Juana worked for seven years as a Foreign Language teacher in Argentina before she moved to London. She is currently coordinating a series of Creative Writing workshops online, which are taught in both Spanish and English. She is passionate about languages and likes her lessons to be centred around music, arts and culture.

LUCÍA

Lucía is a singer-songwriter and artist from Spain. She holds an MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins, London, a BA in Fine Art from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and studied at École Supérieure des Arts Saint Luc-Liége. Lucía has lived in London since 2009 and has been teaching Spanish privately for over ten years. She holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from Universidad de Oviedo and has Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).

MARÍA

María holds a MA in Contemporary Photography; Practices and Philosophies from Central Saint Martins, London and a BA in Fine Arts from University of Valencia (UPV), Spain. She also qualified as a Spanish teacher from Roehampton University and Instituto Cervantes. Maria has lived in the UK since 2011 and has extensive experience teaching Spanish for individuals and groups. She combines her work as a teacher with her artistic practice in which she also runs workshops in the field of contemporary art. She is passionate and curious and her interest in literature, cinema and the arts, with a special focus on Spain and Latin America, is reflected in her lessons.

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth is a language teacher, translator, and interpreter from Cuba, with over three years of experience as an English and Spanish lecturer at the University of Havana. She holds a Chevening Scholarship and recently completed her MA in Intercultural Communication at UCL. She is also the Founder and Director of “Seeds of Change”, a community project dedicated to advancing language education for children from marginalised backgrounds in Havana. She is fluent in Spanish, English, Italian, and French, and is enthusiastic about sharing her love for languages, and culture.