¡BIENVENIDOS!
Dear Student,
You are about to begin an exciting and valuable experience. Over the
coming months, you will learn to communicate in Spanish with your
instructor, with your classmates, and with Spanish speakers.
Communication in a foreign language requires the receiving and sending
of messages (either oral or written) in ways that avoid misunderstandings.
Therefore, the most important task ahead of you is NOT that of
accumulating a large quantity of knowledge about the grammatical rules
that underlie the language, but rather that of using the grammar and vocabulary to create messages as clearly and creatively as possible. In learning to do this, you will make the kinds of errors that are necessary for language learning. Don't be afraid to make mistakes! The errors are, in fact, positive steps toward effective communication. They don't hold you back; rather, they advance your efforts. Learning a language is hard work, but the rewards that await you make it an enriching experience. We are living in an age when one can no longer afford to be uninformed of the languages and cultures of other peoples. Knowing Spanish and understanding the Spanish—speaking, including the US Latino / Hispanic, cultures will alter the way in which you view the world, for it will allow you to experience different ways of living, thinking, and seeing. In fact, it will allow you to see the world through different angles and with different eyes.
Many of you will have the opportunity to visit a Spanish- speaking country or work with the Spanish speaking community in the United States. Your experiences will be all the richer if you can use your Spanish to enter into those cultures and interact with their people.
¡Buena Suerte y Saludos!
Jose Barriga
Founder / Spanish Instructor
Greater Boston Spanish Group
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FACULTY
Marisol Padilla
Marisol is a seasoned Spanish instructor with over seven years of experience. She holds a Ph.D in Literature from Universidad Catolica de Chile. Marisol is also a cross-cultural trainer. with over a decade of experience working in Chile and the US.
Margo Schefler
GBSG Manager, ESL Instructor, Margo is fully bilingual in English and Spanish, attended MIT as an undergrad and has live in Mexico for over 15 years, and taught ESL in Mexico and South Korea for four years.
Jose Barriga
Spanish Instructor & Cross-Cultural trainer. Jose has been teaching Spanish to adults since 2001 and is fully bilingual. He holds a BA in Psychology from URP (Lima-Peru) and has done grad coursework in communications (UCLA) and Regulatory for Drugs and Medical devices (Northeastern University). He is also a seasoned cross-cultural trainer, a healthcare communications consultant and a Medical Interpreter, Since 2016 Jose has been working seasonally with the Joslin Diabetes Clinic, a Harvard University-affiliated hospital in language communications, helping healthcare providers to access this demographic. In 2014 he started the Spanish Medical classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed. Later in 2015, he taught the same courses at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Jose is also a serial entrepreneur; he is the founder of GBSG, Vice Versa Communications -a Latino communications firm that specializes in the pharma industry- and Founder / Director (2001-2015) of the Boston Latino International Film Festival (BLIFF), one of the largest and oldest Latino / Hispanic cultural events of Greater Boston. He also founded and runs the Cambridge Food Lab Project, an organization that brings healthy cooking classes to immigrant communities in MA. Before coming to Boston in the 90s, he was a Network TV Producer in Los Angeles area. Currently Jose is enrolled at an MBA at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University
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Juan Casillas Álvarez
Spanish Instructor, Juan is a seasoned Spanish teacher with over thirty years of teaching experience at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, he retired in 2019. He is a native of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico and attended the University of Puerto Rico and at the Center for Advanced Studies on Puerto Rico & the Caribbean where he studied history and literature. He also attended the MA program in comparative history at the University of Connecticut and did coursework in education at Harvard University. He is also a published author; the International Poetry Review, University of North Carolina and participated in many recitals in the States United. "Profane Place" (2015) is his first poetry published book. He has also finished his first novel: "Renaida" which is about Hermaphrodism.
Margarita Gonzales
Spanish Instructor. Margarita is originally from Mexico City, Has attended UNAM, and has been teaching Spanish for the last seven years in San Francisco and Boston.