Miss E Mendes

Teacher of Spanish

I was born in a small West African country called Guinea-Bissau and I moved to Almeria, in South Spain, with my family when I was three years old and lived there for 20 years. I grew up acquiring two languages at the same time as well as two cultures, these being Spanish and Mandjaco (dialect spoken in Guinea-Bissau). Later on, I started learning English in primary school and Criollo (co-official language of Guinea-Bissau) at home. It wasn’t long until I realized how keen I was on learning languages, but what excited me the most was the thought of being able to interact and communicate with people in different languages.

My aspiration was always to become a language teacher, in order to achieve this aspiration I did a Bachelor’s Degree in English Studies, and graduated with honours in the University of Almeria in 2018. After that, I completed my studies with a Master’s degree in Spanish Teaching as a Foreign Language in the University of Extremadura in 2019, becoming the first person in the history of my family to graduate from university and achieve a Master’s certificate.

It was during PGDE course with Liverpool John Moores University that I realised that the strongest reason that made me want to teach is the thought of having the power of revealing a new language and culture to people, aspects that will enable them to communicate with people outside their immediate world, as they will acquire language skills that will help them succeed in a multicultural and global society.

As an MFL teacher in King’s Leadership Academy Warrington my vision is setting high expectations for my students, and leading them to achieve their personal aspirations by providing them with a learning environment in which they feel comfortable, yet challenged. I also look forward to transmitting my passion for languages, and the importance of them, in a way that they can be inspired and feel more motivated to keep learning.