Camp includes up to four language educators. These staff members are experienced teachers and are native speakers from Central and South America. Each instructor excels in creating a comfortable learning environment for language learners of all levels.
2023’s instructors have a combined experience of 100 years of full-time Spanish teaching! Learn more about the instructors below.
My name is Ana Lia. I am from Argentina, but I lived the past 22 years in the US. I have a son who is a teacher, and a daughter about to graduate from college. I am married to Rodolfo. I love reading, hiking, gardening, and spending time with family and friends.
Ana Lia will be leading the Advanced class. The class will focus primarily on oral communication and listening comprehension. 98% of class will be spoken in Spanish.
My name is Cristina. I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where most of my family still
resides. I try to visit regularly, and travel throughout the country while there. Traveling is my passion! I
am a retired educator after more than 30 years teaching Spanish in higher education. During my tenure I
taught Spanish at all levels (from 101 to graduate classes). Elvira and I worked together for many years,
and we had the pleasure to work with Peter for several years as well. Now that I have more free time, I
work part-time as a translator and interpreter for several school districts, score AP Spanish (with Ana
Lía) and of course, Hunt Hill Spanish camp!
Cristina will be leading the Beginner-Intermediate class. This class will review material covered in the Beginner class (see Peter’s profile below), and will also include: estar with conditions and emotions, present progressive, and express future actions. If time, class will also introduce comparisons. The focus will be on communication in the present with about 50% of class spoken in Spanish.
My name is Elvira. I am a native of Spain. I worked at Rock Valley College where, for 19 years, I taught Spanish and several Humanities courses including “Latinos is the United States”, and “Spanish and Latin American Cultural Expression.” Alongside with my colleague and friend, Cristina, I also served as the Coordinator of the Modern Language Department, conducted cultural tours to Spain, Peru, and Argentina, and presented foreign language films to the RVC community 3 times per semester on a volunteer basis. I believe in the full integration of language and culture which, as a native speaker, I can do with relative ease…..teaching Spanish brings me home.
Elvira will be leading the Intermediate-Advanced class. This class will review present, preterite/imperfect, and conditional and subjunctive. The focus will be on communication in the past with about 75% of class spoken in Spanish.
My name is Peter. I grew up trilingual speaking Ukrainian, Spanish and English. My grandparents fled Ukraine and took refuge in Argentina. I have taught Spanish for 29 years at the high school level. In addition I have taught community college level and have also taught adult continuing education classes. While I have visited family and friends in Argentina several times, I have traveled to six different Spanish-speaking countries and love international travel. I love sharing my love of languages with others.
Peter will be leading the Beginner class. This class will focus on greetings, vocabulary, nouns, articles, numbers, subject pronouns, present tense of ser and estar, telling time, verb conjugations: present tense of ar/er/ir verbs, forming questions, descriptive adjectives, and possessive adjectives. About 30% of class will be spoken in Spanish.