Not a “school person” herself, Emily struggled with the intellectual approach and impractical nature with the way language is taught in the school system. Rote memorization, tests, reading antiquated texts and getting lost in large group classes is not ideal when trying to learn how to speak naturally in a second language. She became frustrated with the significant gap between her “head knowledge” learned in school and her conversational abilities “in real life”. After graduating from Harding University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and a license to teach, Emily D. was determined to bridge that gap for herself. She moved to Honduras for a year in 2008 to immerse herself in the language!

Between her higher education, experience of teaching English to 2nd graders at a bilingual school in Gracias Lempira, Honduras (who were the best Spanish teachers she has ever had), teaching herself incessantly in every spare hour and practicing with native speakers (which includes being laughed at), Emily became proficient and confident in her Spanish skills by the time she returned home to live in the United States.

The Spanish Lessons with Emily D program is inspired by her own frustrating experience learning Spanish in the classroom setting combined with her transformative experience teaching English to 2nd graders at a bilingual school in Honduras and witnessing their extraordinary results from a language immersion approach. Her students in Honduras seemed to have better results in 10 months than she did after 4 years of high school and 4 years in college.

Upon returning from Honduras, Emily D. chose an unexpected alternative path for her career. Instead of teaching in a school, she bootstrapped her own business with the mission and passion to design a unique curriculum and creative program to teach people in a way that she wished she had been taught. With a knack and love for working with adults, Emily wholeheartedly believes and has witnessed that anyone can learn no matter their age or learning style. With a sense of humor and down to earth practical approach, her program is applicable, personal, effective, experiential and fun!

Emily D. is constantly improving, updating and reshaping her methods as she seeks to find the most effective and efficient approach to learning Spanish! Her program gets the student learning in a way that they will remember, not just simply memorize like something for a test in school. She teaches with the purpose of using language as a tool to communicate and interact with other people.

In 2018 to 2019, she took a major step back from her business to pursue other interests and passions. She began learning the guitar, the craft of songwriting and went on a 2 month cross country trip from Nashville to California and back with her husband in a 1963 Airstream that they fixed up together. After recovering from a lot of stress and a whole other backstory, Emily D. sold the business she originally built (from 2011-2020) to a new owner. That company continues to run under a different name here in Nashville using her original curriculum and teacher training program. She learned a great deal and is proud of all that was built over many years and she wishes them all the best and lots of success!

Being fiercely committed to providing the best possible student and teacher experience, Emily D. took everything she has learned since 2011 and saw a lot of room for improvement in her first curriculum and also noted what it does well. The Spanish Lessons with Emily D. program has returned with a newly developed conversational Spanish program that guides students every step of the way. We are focused on the progress, satisfaction and results of our students!

Emily D. is delighted to get back to her passion of teaching private and corporate Spanish lessons to a very limited handful students, managing a smaller team of highly experienced and teachers trained in her Spanish immersion style curriculum and program and always striving to improve her program as she discovers the most effective and efficient ways for an adult to learn Spanish.

Emily D. is a firm believer that building skills, investing, growing and developing oneself is absolutely invaluable and leads to magical and unexpected things.