Hi, I'm Cristina!
Cristina is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she studies Spanish Contemporary Literature and Languages.
Cristina attended the University of California, Davis where she earned a double BA degree in Spanish and in International Relations, and had the opportunity to study abroad in Madrid, Spain. This was a forever life-changing experience, which only propelled her excitement and enthusiasm for the teaching and learning of language and culture.
While abroad, she studied at the Complutense University of Madrid and at the University of Granada, enrolling in Spanish language and literature courses, as well as her second focus of studies, Interpersonal communication.
She loves people, and the aspect of studying how cultures interact, speak, laugh, play, travel and simply, exist.
About Cristina
After graduating, Cristina moved back to Los Angeles and worked as a Special Education paraprofessional at Duarte High School. As a teaching assistant, she continued to fuel her passion for education, by providing academic intervention, enrichment, recreation, and homework support to students. She loved the aspect of helping students understand the essential value of education and to value their own capabilities to accomplish their goals.
In Fall 2017, Cristina started her M.A. in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Davis where she graduated with honors. In 2019, she continued her Ph.D. under the mentorship of her advisor, Dr. Maite Zubiaurre. She was awarded a first-year Provost Fellowship and is working towards a PhD in Spanish Literature and has completed the Designated Emphasis in Second Language Acquisition as well as the Urban Humanities Graduate Certificate.
Cristina is also very active in related extracurricular activities which promote the teaching and learning of Spanish, and languages in general. She has previously held the positions of Co-chair for the Cluster on Language Research at UC Davis and Co-Graduate student advisor for the Spanish Club at UC Davis. She has also worked on a computer assisted language learning (CALL) project providing curriculum and user experience support in the development of an open-source, digital vocabulary program.
Cristina has taught both Spanish and English in a variety of contexts and age groups for the past 6 years, both in-person and online. She embraces challenges as a teacher and a learner, with creativity, innovation, and a smile. Long term, Cristina is excited about working in education, both as a university professor and researcher, with a focus on educational technologies, as well as in the discipline of curriculum design and language science for mobile language learning applications.
At UCLA, Cristina also actively holds other relevant roles, such as Managing Editor for Méster, a graduate academic journal and as peer reviewer for the Spanish and Portuguese Review, the graduate student journal for AATSP. Being a life-long learner and language advocate, Cristina also studied Italian and Portuguese and holds both language certification from UCLA.
Outside work and school, Cristina enjoys embroidery, crafting, horseback riding, drinking tea and coffee and, traveling around the world!
What they say
Staying Calm
Elizabeth’s lessons have helped us tremendously. Staying calm while working with our child through her struggle on regulating her emotions has been tough. In reviewing these videos and remembering that saying calm and providing praise constantly has made a huge difference. Thank you Elizabeth for your support!
Useful Advise
The videos are very clear and helpful. Elizabeth explains the techniques in a calm and precise way. As a former teacher I can see how her suggestions would be very helpful. It is hard to stay calm and consistent but it works. Her techniques can work with toddlers as well as primary students. I would imagine her techniques would really be helpful with special needs children.
