I was born and raised a trilingual in Tehran (Iran). I love teaching Farsi, English, and Spanish to people who are interested in them. I have studied and I can speak various languages (Farsi, English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Catalan, Korean, Japanese, and Dutch among others) throughout my life and I can easily say I know how different languages work and what makes them “tick” which makes me a unique teacher.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Spanish Philology from Tehran University and a master’s in Applied Linguistics and Language Acquisition in Multilingual Contexts from Universitat de Barcelona (MA thesis). Currently, I’m doing a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science and Language (in the area of Applied Linguistics and Language Acquisition) and carrying out my own research on Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP). I am also a proud member of ITAP (International Association for Teaching Pragmatics). I got my CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) in 2014 and I learned new methods international teachers are using around the world. I also have a Teacher Training Certificate of ELE (Español como Lengua Extranjera) and I have a DELE (Diploma de Español como Lengua Estranjera) B2. I am a very sociable person and my students have mostly found it easy to communicate with me which makes me a perfect teacher for discussion and conversation classes.
Me as a Teacher:
I’ve been teaching Farsi, English, and Spanish since 2009. After teaching different students and trying various methods, I have come to believe everyone learns in their own unique way. Therefore, I would love to take the time to understand how my students learn and to use that knowledge to expedite their improvement. I am a very sociable person and my students have mostly found it easy to communicate with me which makes me a perfect teacher for discussion and conversation classes.
My Lessons and Teaching Styles:
In my classes, we will focus on your speaking skills first. I will help you build your confidence and create a proper vocabulary base. There will be naturalistic conversations where we will extract the grammar points and use them to make sentences. In Farsi classes, for example, you don’t have to start learning how to write using the Persian alphabet from the get-go if you don’t want to, we can use the transliteration! I will also provide you with comprehension tasks where you will read a text and answer questions. Furthermore, you will listen to graded conversations and, when you feel more confident, watch video excerpts from movies! A little bit of everything to make it fun! And of course… SPEAKING SPEAKING and SPEAKING!
Work Experience:
October 2021 – January 2022: Associate Professor – Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and English Studies at Universitat de Barcelona
March 2020 – Present: Online English and Farsi Teacher at Global Lingua
March 2019 – Present: Freelance English Teacher & Client Manager at Elite Business English
February 2016 – Present: Online English, Spanish, and Farsi Teacher on iTalki and Verbling
September 2014 – June 2015: Spanish Teacher at University of Tehran Language Center
March 2014 – June 2015: English and Spanish Teacher at Cavendish College Iran
January 2010 – June 2015: English, and Spanish Teacher; Member of the Academic Circle at Pine Academy
Presentations and Publications:
January 2021 – When Watching is not Enough: The Effects of Captions on L2 Pragmatics Acquisition and Awareness. RAEL 19(2), 2020 (Yashar Khazdouzian, Dr. M.Luz Celaya & Dr. Júlia Barón)
May 2019 – Learners’ Experience with Pragmatics while Watching TV Series (Yashar Khazdouzian, Dr. Júlia Barón & Dr. M. Luz Celaya
Research Update on Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Contexts – Universitat Internacional de Catalunya – Barcelona
December 2018 – The Effects of TV Series on Pragmatic Development and Awareness: When Watching is not Enough (Yashar Khazdouzian and Dr. Júlia Barón)
Conference on Multilingualism (COM2018) – Ghent University – Belgium
Conferences:
June 2023 – ITAP Spring Seminar: Teaching the Pragmatics of Emotions
November 2022 – ITAP Fall Seminar: Resources and practical ideas for the teaching of L2 pragmatics
October 2022 – ITAP Session: Introducing film analysis for the teaching of pragmatics
June 2021 – International Association for Teaching Pragmatics (ITAP) Workshop: New Advances in L2 Pragmatics and Technology
February 2021 – TELLSI Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis SIG Webinar
December 2020 – International Webinar on Pragmatic Awareness and Multilingual Classroom Discourse
May 2020 – TESOL Spain online conference
February 2020 – English Language Teaching (ELT)
October 2019 – Maximizing L2 Exposure and Interaction in the Classroom and Beyond Workshop
April 2019 – ELT Research in Action (ELTRIA)
January 2019 – Study Abroad Research in European Perspective Workshop (SAREP)
April 2017 – Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) in Barcelona: Tasks in Context
You can also find me on:
Elite Business English
iTalki
Global Lingua
Verbling
Tus Clases Particulares
SuperProf
Researchgate
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Twitter
So enough about me! Want to start your classes? Book a class now!
Or you can contact me for more information!