Last Updated on August 24, 2023
Connect with Andrea
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Andrea Alegre is a Spanish teacher from Barcelona who creates fun videos to help and inspire people from all over the world to learn Spanish.
You can buy and book Spanish lessons on Andrea’s site, alegrespanish.com, and also sign up for challenges that will help you gain confident in speaking Spanish while teaching you about the culture.
Additionally, you can follow Andrea on Instagram and YouTube for Spanish language tips, facts and more.
You started teaching Spanish in New Zealand in 2018, was there a specific incident that shifted your interest to teaching Spanish?
Well, yes and no. I started teaching Spanish professionally in New Zealand because I got my Spanish teacher certification right before I moved there. But unofficially, I started many years before that. Let me explain.
When I was younger, I struggled so much to learn English, and the way that teachers taught us English at school didn’t work for me. I learned how to say hello, how are you, and basic sentences like that. But after so many years having English as a school subject, I still wasn’t able to speak.
So what I did, since I was 18 or so, was that I started having language exchanges with English speakers, and I used to meet up with strangers and have conversations in English and Spanish. And doing this is how I started to improve my English and become more confident. And at the same time, I fell in love with teaching my own language.
And these people I was doing language exchange with, they started telling me, “Hey, Andrea, you are very good at teaching. You should consider becoming a Spanish teacher.” And a few years later, I decided to study to be a teacher of Spanish as a second language.
And then, right after I got my certification, I moved to New Zealand, and that’s where my teaching career began. I started with individual face-to-face tutoring. And very soon, I started teaching online because I realized that I could teach anyone from anywhere, from any country, and they didn’t necessarily have to be in my city. So it was good because when I returned to Spain, I was able to continue teaching, and I already had students, so I didn’t have to start over again.
What prompted you to join the world of social media?
Well, actually, my partner and my friends almost forced me to do it. I didn’t feel ready to promote my personal brand as a Spanish teacher on social media. I was following other teachers, and I found their content really inspiring, but I just wasn’t confident enough to show up and make videos or create content. And I remember once, I was watching other creators’ videos with my boyfriend, and he was like, “Come on, Andrea. You can do it much better than that.” And I was like, “I don’t know, I’m too shy.”
And it took me a while to make the decision to start an Instagram account, and now I regret not to have done it before. Because it’s so fun, and it’s rewarding, and people engage with the content. They answer the questions I ask, they inspire me to create more content, and I also learn from my followers every day. They even correct my English mistakes, which is very helpful because I’m still learning as well.
And it took me a while to make the decision to start an Instagram account, and now I regret not to have done it before. Because it’s so fun, and it’s rewarding, and people engage with the content. They answer the questions I ask, they inspire me to create more content, and I also learn from my followers every day. They even correct my English mistakes, which is very helpful because I’m still learning as well.
What do you love most about working with students online?
So as I said before, working with students online gives me the opportunity to teach anyone from any country, and they don’t need to be in the same city as me. Besides, I get to know other cultures and other places just by talking to my students, so it almost feels like traveling without leaving my office. And another thing is that my lessons are quite informal, and sometimes I am having a class with a student, and their cat jumps on the desk, or the delivery person rings the doorbell. And we have these situations that sometimes interfere with the lesson, but they give us an excuse to talk about that, to learn new words, so the learning process feels much more natural than doing it in a conventional classroom. That’s what I love.
Out of all the different types of content: the long-form videos, grid posts, reels, what’s your favorite type of content to produce?
I love creating short videos that teach how to say common phrases and expressions in Spanish. I love to create reels because when you’re learning a language, they teach you a lot of grammar and vocabulary, but then when you try to speak, sometimes, you want to say a common expression that you normally use in your native language, and you just don’t know how to say it. And then you ask yourself, how do I say this in Spanish? So these are the videos I love to make. And I also like to create short story videos.
For example, going to a restaurant or doing grocery shopping in Spanish. And I like those kind of videos because I have to go outside in order to record them, and I have fun while making them.
Where do you see your business going in the next few years? What are some of the goals that you have?
So in the coming years, I would love to continue with my teaching and hopefully be able to help more people learning Spanish. And nowadays, I have some barriers that I need to overcome, such as time zone differences. There are some students who would like to have lessons with me, but it’s not possible due to time difference, so that’s why I’m currently doing Spanish tutoring through WhatsApp as well. And this is a great way to help my students speak Spanish confidently and fluently.
And what I do is I give them a small speaking challenge every day, and they have to respond with an audio recording. And this way, they can practice their listening and speaking skills every day. And with this consistency, they find that they start to get better and better.
So using this method, I also create themed challenges. For example, next week, I’m starting a Christmas challenge with a group of students who love Christmas and the Spanish language. And we are going to talk about Spanish Christmas traditions, traditional food, Christmas movies, and all kinds of topics. I’m very excited about this, and I’m also working on creating my first self-paced online Spanish course, which will launch in 2023.
And this is where I see my business going in the years to come, finding new ways to help English speakers learn Spanish.
Note: Influencer Spotlight interviews are edited for time and clarity.
Andrew is the Head of Client Services for Intellifluence and has a background in communications. He is committed to helping brands get the most out of their campaigns and is the co-host of the Influencer Spotlight series.
