Meet Maria, your English teacher

Hi, I’m Maria Fernandez. I’m a native Spanish speaker and I’ve learnt most of the English I know as an adult.

I used to have the same problems you’re having today with English pronunciation. To improve my accent, I had to train myself to distinguish and produce the 45 English sounds.

Through personal practice, I’ve created a technique that will help you improve your English accent fast and to the highest level.

I use that technique in all my English courses and 1-to-1 lessons.

11 things about Maria

1. I’ve been learning foreign languages on a daily basis since I was a child. Regardless of how busy I am, I always study for at least two hours a day. So far, these are my levels: Spanish: native speaker. English: near native. French: C2+. German: C1. Italian: C1 (C2+ in listening comprehension). Portuguese: B1 (B2 in listening comprehension). Japanese: B1 (500 kanji).
2. I’ve studied British and American English pronunciation for more than twenty years. I strongly believe that, with the right lessons, you can improve your accent fast. I’ve written about my English learning journey in several articles. Here’s one: Confessions of a language lover: my journey to English fluency.
3. I’ve been teaching languages for over two decades. To date, I’ve got more than 5000 hours of language teaching experience.
4. I have a degree in History from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain). In my spare time, I love learning History in different languages: English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.
5. I have a master’s in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. Literature is my biggest passion.
6. I live in Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) with my husband, Simon King, a Professor in the Linguistics department at the University of Edinburgh. He gives me great advice for my English lessons.
7. I’ve written and published this Spanish learning course.
8. I’ve written and published this other book: Fluent in Spanish. I’ve also translated the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia – Un escándalo en Bohemia, and a guide to the Book of Kells, El libro de Kells. (Disclosure: some links lead to Amazon & I may get a commission for sales, at no extra cost to you.)
9. When I’m not studying or teaching languages, I’m often riding a bike or hillwalking. You can follow my adventures on my travel blog.
10. I love reading, cooking, listening to audiobooks, cycling, travelling, and music. For thirty minutes a day, I practise the piano. I’ve got a long way to go, but I love it. Playing an instrument has always been one of my dreams.
11. In both my private and professional life I stick to a magical principle: I don’t believe in the word “impossible”. This is how you pronounce it, although hopefully you’ll never need it:

impossible
/ɪmˈpɒsəbᵊl/

nothing’s impossible
/ˈnʌθɪŋz ɪmˈpɒsəbᵊl/

In the next topic I show you how to make the most of this English pronunciation course.