“Our classes feel like more than language learning but also a cultural exchange.”
-JEANNA GRIMES, SPANISH STUDENT
Jeanna Grimes is Senior Associate Director of Virtual Philanthropy in the Office of Engagement at the University of Virginia. An avid traveler who has explored Spanish-speaking countries with her family for the past several years, she decided to pursue fluency in Spanish both as a personal goal and to better connect with UVA’s Hispanic and Latino/e alumni community. In this interview, she shares her experience learning with Speak! and her teacher Franco, including how their personalized lessons prepared her for a recent family trip to Panama.
Her experience in her words:
My name is Jeanna Grimes, and I’m the Senior Associate Director of Virtual Philanthropy in the Office of Engagement at UVA. My team connects with donors and offers them multiple ways to get engaged with UVA and give back to the institution we love. I’m an avid traveler and, luckily, my husband shares this passion with me. We spent part of our honeymoon in Spain, and we’ve traveled to a Spanish-speaking country with our kids (Hazel, 6, and Asa, 9) in each of the past four years.
My husband, Jeffrey, is conversational in Spanish, so I’ve leaned on him a lot when we travel. My Spanish courses in college enabled me to understand a lot, but the struggle for me has always been speaking Spanish. Becoming fluent in Spanish has always been on my “bucket list,” so when a colleague mentioned that she signed up for classes with Speak!, I figured this was my sign to go for it as well.
I was also inspired after a recent conversation with an alum I was helping get better plugged into UVA’s Hispanic and Latino/e community because I want to be able to better connect with Spanish-speaking alums.
Jeanna and her Spanish teacher Franco together in Panama
Franco has been an amazing teacher and the fact that he’s a native speaker is priceless. He takes the time to make sure my pronunciation is accurate and has given me tips to sound more like a native speaker. Our classes feel like more than language learning but also a cultural exchange. He indulges my random questions while being engaging and patient as I progress. Even better, this summer
I traveled to Panama with my family and we were able to meet up with Franco in person! It turns out he was traveling there as well. He prepared me for a much better trip than I would have had before taking classes. Franco took the time before my trip to tailor my lessons to common scenarios I may encounter. He helped increase my confidence and I had a much better experience testing out my skills than I have traveling in the past, thanks to my personalized lessons with Franco. I can’t say enough good things about the program, thank you Franco and Speak!
Jeffrey, Jeanna and Franco at a Panamanian restaurant
I was able to meet Jeanna and her family in Panama during my trip, it was beautiful to connect in person after several classes online. This was definetely a great opportunity to know more about each other and also share our experiences with languages and travel. We had lots of fun!
-Franco Perez, Spanish teacher.
