Learn Dominican Spanish and Culture

I have been taking lessons with Jelisa for one year. I started taking lessons because I am half-Dominican (mother is born and raised Dominican) but I wasn’t raised to speak Spanish or taught much about Dominican culture. I picked Jelisa because I wanted a teacher who could also teach me the current slang/different ways Dominicans speak Spanish. Jelisa is incredibly warm and friendly making it easy to learn and uses good materials for practice. Through my regular lessons I have learned about cultural things such as the Carnival Celebration, the Dominican Baseball League and the passion that each fanbase has for their team, and I have also learned about day-to-day things such as Dominican real estate, the types of cars people drive, etc. I am now more invested in my Mom’s culture than ever before, and have grown substantially more comfortable to now have basic conversations with Spanish speakers instead of having to say “I don’t speak Spanish”. I even shocked my Canadian friends when they watched me have a 20 minutes conversation entirely in Spanish with an uber driver.

I highly recommend Jelisa as a Spanish tutor. She is patient, knowledgeable, fun, and her approach to teaching Spanish is both effective and enjoyable. I saw significant improvement in my language skills in a short period of time and over the course of our time together I am conversational fluent in Spanish. I have been learning with Jelisa for over 2 years! The time flies!  Another aspect that makes Jelisa stand out was their flexibility in tailoring the lessons to meet my specific needs. She took the time to understand my learning style and goals.  This approach not only helped me learn Spanish more effectively, but it also made the lessons more enjoyable and relevant to my personal and professional life.

I have been taking Jelisa’s classes for over a year. Above all I wanted to improve my communication, but also to learn verb tenses and other grammar topics and learn a lot about Dominican culture. I can only highly recommend Jelisa, she is a cheerful and fun teacher. She teaches her Spanish in a playful way that is fun. In addition, she has always selected good materials that she provides and with which it is a pleasure to work. I was able to learn a lot from her about the Dominican culture, how people live together and the country from her. Online but also personally on site. I am very grateful, she helped me more, try it. She is just great. Have fun and thank you dear Jelisa.

Jelisa has been my tutor for almost a year now! I decided to learn with Jelisa since she is Dominican, and so is my husband and his family. I wanted to be able to have conversations with my in-laws and make sure I understand everything. Most importantly, I wanted to learn more about Dominican culture. When I first started my lesson, I was so nervous to speak in Spanish because I thought I sounded silly. However, Jelisa helps me feel comfortable and pushes me to be confident when I speak. She knows that my favorite word to use in every lesson is «otra vez,» and she will repeat the words until I get it. Jelisa is so patient with me and very understanding. I love that we can talk about the things that we experienced growing up and can relate on a lot of things. Most of the time, I feel like I am talking to a friend and not a teacher. I had the chance to visit La Republica Dominicana in December 2022 and was able to use what Jelisa taught me! It felt so good to be able to communicate and use what I’ve learned. Also, everything Jelisa taught me about how people travel in the country, I got to see with my own eyes! I took so many pictures so that I could show Jelisa. I am so glad that I chose Jelisa to be my teacher. I will recommend her to ANYONE who wants to learn Spanish because she makes it fun.

I have been learning Spanish with Jelisa since April and it has been only but an amazing experience! Jelisa is such a patient, considerate, encouraging, and engaging teacher. I love that she meets you where you are and paces the class just right so you feel challenged but not overwhelmed. I grew up in a Spanish home, but wasn’t formally taught Spanish. So, my Spanish comprehension was at a moderate level, however, my speaking was nowhere at the same level. But after working with Jelisa, I went from beginner conversations to holding far more advanced conversations. My grammar, pronunciation, reading and writing skills have improved drastically as well. So, if you’re looking into improving your Spanish at any level, I would HIGHLY recommend working with Jelisa.