Mariana Vaccaiani

Dear all,

My name is Mariana, and I am going to be one of the Spanish FLAs for the 2021/22 academic year. I am 24 years old and I am from Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

I graduated as an English <> Spanish Sworn Translator in 2018 and as an English Language Teacher in 2019 at Universidad del Salvador. I have been teaching English since I was 17 years old, filling my heart with both: the joy of kids and teenagers and the curiosity towards English that adults showed me. Now, I am delighted to have the opportunity to teach my mother tongue at the College of the Holy Cross. 

Being a member of a School of English, I had the chance to meet some English Foreign Language Assistants. Not only did we have fun outside the School learning from each other’s traditions, but also we all broadened our vocabulary and improved our pronunciation.  I travelled to England for a two week English course at an International English School too. Even though the course was short, I loved and enjoyed sharing the classes with students from other countries as well as understanding their reasons for learning a new language. 

Besides languages, I also love open-air activities like travelling, reading in the sun and doing huge jigsaw puzzles. I really enjoy cooking, so maybe you will even get the chance to taste some home-made Argentine traditional dishes. 

Although I have been in the U.S. on holidays, this will be my first time living abroad during a long period of time. I am sure it will be a fulfilling experience in which I will be able to share my homeland culture and, of course, learn from yours!

Ultimately, 2020 … What a year! It has been a tough year and life might have felt like a test we did not study for. But I am sure it allowed us to learn a lot about ourselves and taught us how to be more resilient and patient. When we feel that life is going a bit hard, we should remember trees lose their leaves every year, and still, they stand tall and wait for better days to come. 

I am looking forward to meeting all of you in class soon!

¡Nos vemos pronto! 

Mariana