Evelyn Cetz Marrufo joined the Na’atik team as our newest Spanish teacher in July of this year, bringing her enthusiasm and innovation to teaching children and adults online. Evelyn is from Chetumal, our capital city of Quintana Roo, which is two hours south of Carrillo bordering Belize. We are happy to have you get to know her this month through her Pay de Rajas recipe as well as in this month’s Q&A.

Q. Where are you from? What do you like the most about your hometown? What makes it unique?

A. I’m from Chetumal, a small city in the southeast of Mexico. And I love my city for being quiet, and because it’s not that complicated to live here. I also believe, the closeness to nature makes it unique. You can drive along the boulevard and have a relaxing time watching the trees and the bay.

Q. Like many of our teachers, you studied English at the Universidad de Quintana Roo; what inspired you to pursue teaching?

A. My mom is a preschool teacher, and since I was a child I always wanted to be a teacher because I observed my mom, how her students liked her lessons, so I wanted to do that as well. Then through time, I started to like English and I saw the opportunity in the UQroo, and I took it.

Q. When we first met, you were teaching English to children; how did you learn about Na’atik, and what made you decide to jump over to teaching Spanish?

A. I have a friend, Adrian, who was teaching Spanish [at Na’atik], so we talked about it, and I felt it was a good opportunity to get a new experience. What made me decide to jump over to Spanish was the challenge to do something different and to try to take advantage of my capabilities.

Q. What do you enjoy most about teaching Na’atik students?

A. I really enjoy exchanging cultures and comparing both languages. We most of the time look for the equivalences in both languages, what fits better, what things does [one] language have that the other language doesn’t have, and so on.

Q. Has a Na’atik student taught you something memorable since you’ve been teaching with us?

A. I’d say in general, I learned that it’s not necessary to follow my lesson plan all the time. We sometimes talk about other things, but at the same time we’re having a rich lesson because we are learning things that come out from nowhere, which makes the language acquisition more significant

Q. What do you like to do in your free time?

A. Oh god, I do a lot of things, but I like to dance Mexican folklore, and to watch Korean dramas. Those things relax me a lot.

Q. What’s your biggest piece of advice for parents who want to support their child’s language learning?

A. Never put the lessons aside. Sometimes we give priority to only doing school activities and homework, and less importance to language lessons. So, they have to give them the same importance or more because knowing a second language means that you know and understand other cultures, and it also gives you a lot of opportunities such as new jobs or just traveling.

Are you interested in taking online classes with us? Check out our program and we’re here if you have any questions!