Online language teacher Nelly Cruz offers both Spanish and English classes
Nelly Cruz had been teaching for many years before she started working with BiCortex Languages in 2020.
Nelly works as an online language teacher for both private and corporate clients, adapting her classes to their individual needs. To date she has worked on 19 projects, including individual language lessons and group language lessons. She is bilingual and able to offer both Spanish and English classes.
Life in Mexico City and beyond
Born in one of the world’s megalopolises, Mexico City, which has some 20 million or so inhabitants, Spanish and English teacher Nelly Cruz subsequently decided to move to the smaller town of Cuautla in Morelos in search of some peace and quiet.
‘The reason I moved was because of the pollution and all of the craziness in the city,’ she says, and she likes the international feel of her new home and the opportunity for language and cultural exchange. ‘Here it is very relaxing and there are a lot of people from other countries – Canada and Germany, for example.’ She describes Mexico City as demanding a lot of the people who live there, ‘It’s a large city, very stressful, with a lot of people.’ But she still misses her hometown at times, ‘you can find museums, all entertainment you want, the most important universities.’
Journey to become an online language teacher
It was in the universities that Nelly first taught gastronomy and tourism students English. She then used her gained extensive experience to teach other professionals foreign languages too. It all began for her teaching young women who wanted to become bilingual secretaries. Nelly worked to obtain her obtaining a TESL (teaching English as a second language) from the Canadian Mexican School. This combined with her experience working as a secretary at a major Mexican bank worked as a great combination. She taught the future secretaries 10 different subjects, not just English but also shorthand and typing.
Her focus then moved to just language training, doing a Spanish teaching certificate allowing her to teach both English and Spanish. She has continued to learn and update her training in order to stay current. The most recent change was moving from face to face teaching to online teaching. This challenge allowed Nelly to use her existing skills and experience in a new way.
What motivates Nelly to teach
We asked Nelly why she likes to teach: ‘What I like the most is that I can transform a life through helping a student learn a foreign language,’ she says. ‘If my Mexican students learn English then they can have a different professional position, or they can move abroad. In Spanish I enjoy transmitting knowledge about my culture, Mexican food or the Aztecs.’ This allows people to integrate into their new culture be a temporary or permanent move.
‘As a teacher you have to be open to learn. Every student is different, if you want to meet their expectations you need to learn from them. I try to get to know my students, what they want to learn.’
Alongside Spanish and English, Nelly, speaks some French and would like to perfect this one day. In her spare time she prefers to do things where she ‘can learn something new’, preferring documentaries over fictional films. ‘I Like doing handcrafts when I’m stressed – decorating boxes, canvasses, I like to recycle a lot – otherwise doing something with my mind.’
More about BiCortex Languages
BiCortex Languages offers private and group language classes with online language teachers and also face to face teachers. Classes are adapted to the students to meet their language goals and learning needs. Classes are offered from beginners to advanced levels and are available for both adults and children.
BiCortex Translations also offer a fast reliable service for all your translation and relocation needs including sworn and certified translations.