I arranged private Spanish lessons with Silvina on the glowing recommendation of a friend.  I was in Buenos Aires for 7 weeks and knew no Spanish.  My goal was to be able to communicate with locals and especially with my tango teachers who spoke little English.

I expected that learning Spanish would be hard going but what a pleasant surprise!  Silvina structured the 2 hour lessons to suit my own style of learning and they were always fun.  The lessons became lively discussions which integrated the Spanish language and its relevance to life in Buenos Aires.  The 2 hours really flew and I was disappointed when each lesson came to and end. 

As I learned more about the language, Silvina taught me lots about Buenos Aires and Argentina – the people, history, culture, social conventions, places to go and the language of tango.  My expanding local knowledge and insights into life in this amazing city motivated me to further improve my Spanish.

Silvina radiates enthusiasm and professionalism.  She has a keen appreciation of how people learn and she manages to achieve much progress in a short time.  Her excellent teaching and communications skills and her energy make learning a real pleasure.   She is totally dedicated to achieving the best results for her students.  I recommend Silvina most highly and will ask her for further lessons when I return to BsAs in spring!!!

Hasta pronto

Tony Pepper

Western Australia

As a teacher, she is fantastic.  Silvina is methodical in her approach, teaches to her student's level (she evaluated my abilities before we started class) and is responsive to her students' needs (she taught me legal vocabulary).  She uses the right mixture of conversation and instruction time, which guarantees that I don't just know all the tenses, for example, but could also use them in day-to-day life. 

As a person, she's an interesting and fun.  Please don't under estimate the importance of learning español from someone who isn't rara.  In short, the learning environment is pleasant and professional, the cookies, coffee, and tea are delicious, and the class is entirely worthwhile.  If you have more specific questions, you can email me at bldougherty@gmail.com.
 

¡Thanks Silvina!

Brian Dougherty- Chicago

By “talking” I mean we stumbled around with the bad Spanish we remembered from ancient classes in high school and other journeys in Latin America.  People were gracious, even amused by our efforts, but we weren’t going to make friends with such limited skills. Porteño Spanish, like the city it reflects, is idiosyncratic and passionate, and we wanted to speak like locals. 

We met Silvina after looking at her website, and agreed to a three month, four day a week intensive study plan. Like a good teacher, she was always well prepared and clear about the rules and structure of the language.  But like a good friend, she openly and enthusiastically expressed her ideas, sharing the subtle nuances of her language and culture.  Classes “unfolded” and no two sessions were alike.  Grammar became absorbed into the fabric of a conversation. As we talked-- always in Spanish--the more confident I became about how the language worked.  So, out in the “real world” of the street, I became increasingly confident to speak Porteño Spanish.   

Leaving Buenos Aires was difficult.   We fell completely in love with the city—its parks, grand, tree-lined boulevards, fabulously crumbling turn-of-the-century French and Spanish architecture, beef and Malbec –a match made in heaven-- but it was the spirit of the effusive, passionate, generous Porteños that was so hard to leave behind.  

Silvina lives and reflects that Porteña spirit.  She is an extraordinarily gifted teacher and I cannot more highly recommend a decision to study with her.  Not only will you learn Spanish, but you’ll gain an insight into the soul of Buenos Aires from a woman who cares deeply, and critically, about her roots.  

Pamela & Graham

Canada

Mainly because of Silvina’s teaching skills I succeeded in doing both; In a relatively short period of time my Spanish has improved to a level that provides me with the possibility to do interviews and actually understand what the interviewee is saying. An important reason for this great progress was that Silvina adjusted the classes to my individual needs.

That way I was able to learn exactly what I wanted to learn. Furthermore, not only were her classes very effective because of Silvina’s teaching experience and great knowledge of the language but also because they were great fun. I really enjoyed going to class because Silvina is not only an energetic and dedicated teacher, but also a warm interesting and intelligent woman. This way I was learning Spanish and having interesting conversations and discussions at the same time.

Silvina I want to thank you for all the interesting meetings we had, for all your help outside class, for all the fun we had and for all your interesting insights on Argentinean society, politics and cartoneros in particular.

Besos,

Bas

The Netherlands

Siana and Ros