Teachers and staff
Ana Ruiz González holds a 5-year Spanish Philology degree (equivalent to a Masters Degree), majoring in Spanish Linguistics and Literature, University of Alcalá, Madrid; a Diploma of Education, University Complutense, Madrid, and a Post-Graduate Certificate, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London.
Ana has worked since 1990 in various Universities – Charles University, Prague and Palackého University, Olomouc, both in the Czech Republic; the University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain; La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Monash University, Melbourne.
In Prague, she was a member of the DELE examination Tribunal for four years.
Ana established El Patio with Toni Edwards in 2001, and is the academic coordinator of all courses. She has a methodological approach which pursues the skill of the student in different situations and communicative contexts taking into account the formal study of grammatical rules as well as non systematic learning based on the student’s own experience.
Raquel Ramos Josa comes from Astorga (León), a small town in the Northwest of Spain.
She gained a degree in Spanish Philology at the University of Salamanca and then a Diploma of Education from Barcelona University, where she lived for 12 years. There she specialised in teaching Spanish as a second language, which she has been doing for nearly 15 years. After Barcelona she lived for nine years in Granada working in a very busy and well known school, three of them as Head of Studies. She also specialised in the preparation of the DELE exams, being a member of the Tribunal on several occasions.
Raquel moved to Australia in 2008. After having lived in a number of old and magnificent towns (Astorga, Salamanca, Barcelona, Granada) she considers Melbourne a great place to live because it has personality and that most important thing, human warmth.
Isabel Arenales Aylagas was born in Castilla y Leon, Spain, in a 500 year old village protected by a castle shaped like a ship. She completed her six-year degree in Spanish Philology in 2005, during which time she spent a year in Italy teaching and translating Spanish at the Cervantes Institute, Padua.
Moving to England, Isabel worked for local Brighton company “Buenos Dias”, running both adult and toddler classes. After a quick stint living on the west coast of Ireland – where she still managed to give private tuition to Spanish language students – Isabel recently moved to Australia, which, as far as her mother is concerned, is quite possibly on the moon. Nonetheless, Isabel has quickly established herself at El Patio with her passion for her native language and her enthusiasm in teaching it.
Isabel’s excellent standard of English allows her to communicate with her students at an advanced level to enhance their learning. Having also learnt Italian to a fluent level, Isabel understands the process of learning another language. As a lover of Spanish cuisine, it is with some regret she has noticed that Australia has not yet widely discovered the delights of tortilla de patata and jamon iberico but does appreciate that the coffee is just as good.
Lorena Belmonte Fresneda is originally from Spain. She holds a BA in Educational Psychology (Malaga University) and a Post Graduate Certificate of Education for LOTE in Secondary Education which she studied at Canterbury Christ Church College in England.
She has been teaching languages since 1998; In Spain for 3 years, then she worked in England for six years teaching Spanish in an Adult Education Centre as well as a Secondary School.
She is a very enthusiastic teacher who enjoys sharing her knowledge of languages and culture. She especially likes adding cultural aspects to her lessons as she believes it is a key part of learning a foreign language. She has developed a visual and communicative approach to language teaching. She also likes to create a relaxed atmosphere where students can feel comfortable and not afraid of “having a go”, something that is not always easy in the foreign language learning process.
Craig Baron Burgess has been part of the Spanish-speaking world since 1999 and has lived and worked in Mexico and Spain. He has also travelled extensively in Hispanic America and the Peninsula as well as many other parts of the planet.
Craig completed the BA (Languages) at Monash University in 2003 with Honours in Hispanic Studies and Linguistics. The main focus of his investigation was immigration and Spanish identity. He has studied in Mexico and at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain and holds the DELE certification at the highest level.
During 2004 and 2005 Craig taught at Monash University and coordinated and ran the off-campus Open Learning Australia program for Spanish.
Craig's classes at El Patio are fun, and they often delve into relevant social, historical, political, environmental and culinary realms inspired by the students' interests.
The development of cohesion within the student group and the satisfaction of the inquisitive mind are features of Craig's teaching style. Craig's classes thrive on the blend of his energetic attitude, the students' enthusiasm for learning and the quality teaching environment provided at El Patio.
Rocío Jiménez Espino is from the south of Spain, Sevilla, a city with a rich cultural heritage.
She obtained her degree in English Philology at the Universidad de Sevilla, as well as a course in teaching Spanish as a foreign language. After completing her studies in 2004, she gained a two-year teaching fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA). There, Rocío taught and coordinated beginner levels and conducted some meetings of the “Tertulia” chatting group. She also volunteered in an elementary school to help bilingual children develop reading skills in English and Spanish. Back in Spain, Rocío continued teaching Spanish at the Instituto San Fernando, a private academy for learning Spanish. After that, she gained a position as a teacher in a high school in South Carolina, USA, where she worked with both regular and IB students.
Nowadays, Rocío is a teacher at El Patio and a tutor at the University of Melbourne. She enjoys teaching and tries her best to make her students have fun, learn, understand and discover everything that learning Spanish implies: language, culture, gestures... She likes her classes to be active and communicative by making her students feel comfortable and confident, even if it is the first time they are learning Spanish.
Toni Edwards established El Patio with Ana Ruiz in 2001. Her experience in creating and managing a business was gained from the Black Cat Café in Fitzroy, Melbourne, which she co-established and operated for 20 years until 2002.
At El Patio Toni wears many hats including those of head administrator, business manager, designer, IT manager, webmistress, and she enjoys all of them immensely.
She holds a BA in Music and Languages, La Trobe University and an Introductory Cert. in Teaching English as a Second Language to Adults, Massey University, NZ. She also holds the Spanish Diploma DELE (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera), Nivel Superior (proficiency level). Essentially Toni is an autodidact who likes to learn hard things on an as-needs basis, and enjoys exercising a variety of skills in the running of an organisation.
As an enthusiastic language learner since her teen years (she's currently studying Thai), Toni's motivation and hope for El Patio is to offer students the encouragement to pursue multilinguilism as well as the facilities, ambience, resources and openness that she would ideally enjoy in her own studies. She hopes that her love of systems, manuals, charts and tables provides effortless and efficient back-end administration and support.
Sophia Sourris graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Creative Industries (Drama) with a distinction from the Queensland University of Technology. She has travelled to every continent except Antarctica and is passionate about travel. She began her love of Spanish when visiting Buenos Aires and realised that she wanted to immerse herself in the culture more by learning the language.
In 2005, Sophia decided to live and work in Mexico and found employment teaching fourth grade curriculum in Mexico at a Bilingual primary school. She also has experience teaching English to adults at the Insituto de Comunicación Internacional de México. From 2006 – 2008 she returned to Australia and taught film production at the Southbank Institute in Brisbane and acted as the Course Co-ordinator in 2007. In 2008, Sophia completed an internship overseas with SJRTV, a television station in Guadalajara directing and production managing cultural programs.
Recently Sophia performed the role of Assistant Coordinator at La Mirada Film Festival combining her love of film and Spanish culture. Sophia is thrilled to be working with El Patio to encourage Australians to learn Spanish as she believes it is an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Head of School
Teachers
- Raquel Ramos Josa
- Isabel Arenales Aylagas
- Lorena Belmonte Fresneda
- Craig Baron Burgess
- Rocío Jiménez Espino