Testimonial 4

Two friends and I recently started taking private Spanish lessons with Cristian. I had never before taken a Spanish class. Cristian is an excellent teacher. He is charismatic, enthusiastic, patient, and encouraging. I really appreciate his willingness to accommodate my learning pace and busy work schedule. Cristian keeps the material challenging, but never overwhelming, and is always happy to helpfully review foundational concepts. Cristian is clearly a knowledgable linguist. He teaches in a fun, conversational way, but will also dive into technical grammatical explanations if the situation calls for it, or if it aids the lesson.

We’ve made great progress quickly! I now look for opportunities to practice speaking, and I also eagerly anticipate my next visit to a Spanish-speaking country!
I continue to enthusiastically recommended Cristian to friends and coworkers who are interested in learning to speak Spanish.
Tim, Technical Supervisor, Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville

Cristian has been my Spanish teacher for almost 6 months now. We do classes every other week for an hour and a half where he comes to my work (he has been very flexible to move times and dates based on our schedules which is highly appreciated). My previous experience with Spanish went back to high school and so I was essentially starting from scratch. Being that my wife is latin, I thought I was long overdue to learn the language.

Languages are very difficult for me to pickup, but Cristian makes it very approachable through his passion and enthusiasm. You can’t help but want to speak with him and learn more to continue going deeper. Soon enough, much of the class is fully in Spanish before you even realize.

I enjoy the topics we cover in class, from history, current events, to the mundane things that happened in our day. I particularly enjoy how we practice a lot of structure to build sentences as that has given a great base in which to converse. The class is very dynamic, and if questions or topics from the previous week need more explanation he is not rigid to stick to a set plan and will dig more deeply into those concepts. In this sense Cristian has been an excellent tutor that tailors his teaching to the people in his class. I am finally able to follow the conversation of my in laws even chiming in with small conversations which has been incredibly rewarding.

Jonathan Pytko, Technical Supervisor, Pixar Animation Studios

Alongside two of my colleagues, I have been studying Spanish with Cristian for the past several months.
Cristian has been wonderful about structuring our lessons around the needs of our group. He tailors our meetings so we spend more or less time on subjects based on how difficult they are for the three of us.
With demanding work schedules, my colleagues and I often don’t have as much time to keep up with homework between lessons. Cristian always makes sure we feel welcome and is happy to pick up wherever we need to each week.
Cristian brings a warm sense of humor and upbeat energy to class each week. His anecdotes are fun and relevant and keep us engaged with the class material.
I’ve had a great time studying with Cristian and would highly recommend him to anyone looking for an experienced, knowledgeable, flexible and fun tutor!
~ Lisa, Production Manager, Emeryville