Irma Changmarín Isaza
Irma Changmarín, an industrial engineer that discovered that teaching was her vocation. She had 5 years of experience teaching Spanish as a foreign language in Panama City when she went to Sevilla and took the renowned course for teaching Spanish as a foreign language at the famous institution CLIC IH Sevilla in Spain. After that we hired her. Irma trained several of our current teachers in the Communicative method for language teaching and together with the rest of our teachers she set the foundations to design and built our initial level system and course syllabus.
- Joined Habla Ya in 2006 for 1 year
- Engineering in Industrial Engineering
- Masters in Business Administration
- Diploma for teaching Spanish as a foreign language in Spain
Lucía Alvarado Cantero
Lucía joined Habla Ya on a temporal contract during 3 months to do the training of our first teachers. Our first teachers had Spanish degrees from local universities but no previous experience in teaching Spanish to foreigners.
- Joined Habla Ya in 2005 during 3 months.
- Degree in philology in 2003 from Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro de Montes de Oca, San José.
- Previous experience at Costa Rican Language Academy, Forester Instituto Internacional and WAYRA Instituto de Español.
School Director - Lorena Pitti | Boquete
- Habla Ya Member: 2005 - 2015
- Civil Status: Single, 1 child
- Hometown: Boquete
- Languages Spoken: Spanish and English
- University Degrees: Bachelor Degree in English
- Interests & Hobbies: Spend time with her son, taking him out all she can
- Place in Panama you can't miss: The Panama Canal
- Favorite Food: Fried Chicken and Sancocho
- Recommended Activity in Panama: Horseback Riding & Hot Springs
- Spanish Learning Advice: Be patient, don't give up and persevere
- Panamanian Tradition or Party you can't miss: The Flower and Coffee Festival in Boquete
Academic Director - Janeth Martinez | Boquete
- Habla Ya Member: 2007 - 2014
- Civil Status: Married, 2 children
- Hometown: Los Algarrobos
- Languages Spoken: Spanish and English
- University Degrees: Bachelor Degree in Spanish
- Interests & Hobbies: Rock Climbing, Exercising, Reading, Hiking
- Place in Panama you can't miss: Boquete
- Favorite Food: Mexican
- Recommended Activity in Panama: Rock Climbing
- Spanish Learning Advice: Be Constant, Work Hard and Don't be Afraid to Practice
- Panamanian Tradition or Party you can't miss: November 28th
Academic Coordinator - Ericka Tapia | Boquete
- Habla Ya Member: 2005 - 2021
- Civil Status: Married, 1 children
- Hometown: Volcán
- Languages Spoken: Spanish
- University Degrees: Bachelor Degree in Spanish
- Interests & Hobbies: Hiking and Cooking
- Place in Panama you can't miss: Boquete
- Favorite Food: Italian
- Recommended Activity in Panama: Hike & Camp to the Volcán Barú
- Spanish Learning Advice: Be Patient and Persevere
- Panamanian Tradition or Party you can't miss: Carnivals