I am a native of Madrid, Spain, and the Director of Ana Lomba Early Languages LLC (formerly Sueños de colores LLC), a company which offers language learning materials for young children, consulting, training, and instruction since 1999.

I am also the proud mom of three young children. My two oldest are already bilingual, and I’m teaching them to read and write in Spanish. They will learn Mandarin Chinese in school too!

My third is a special child with severe developmental delays (William’s Syndrome and more). She is teaching us that learning is a mix of nature, a facilitating environment, and persistence. In her case, lot’s of persistence. Her therapists are guiding us through the intricate craft of learning. My husband and I speak to her in both English and Spanish.

In turn, I bring all these personal experiences to my own program and lesson materials. My goal is to help teachers and parents create the most facilitating and fun environment for their children to learn languages.

Teaching my children and my students, I’ve learned to be more conscious of young kid’s learning needs. I’ve learned to be more patient too: sometimes you need to change activities and teaching materials several times before you reach the best solution. Even tiny modifications to the instruction can make a big difference.

My Experience Learning Languages

I started studying English in Spain, when I was in preschool. The classes were taught the old fashion way: lot’s of grammar and academic language, very little interaction. Translation was used all the time, so we didn’t need to make the effort to understand (and, therefore, we didn’t learn!).

However, I had a significant interest in learning a second language, as I wanted to study abroad (I didn’t know where or how, but I knew I wanted to travel and live in another country for a while). Therefore, I asked my parents to put me in after school English classes. I continued studying English all the way to the university.

While studying English in Madrid, I met several British and American students who had come to study Spanish in Spain through their universities. This gave me a great opportunity to practice my English in my own country, while helping them with their Spanish. (One of them eventually became my husband)

When I graduated, I finally saw my dreams come true when I was accepted to a Masters Degree program at Binghamton University, in upper New York state. Upon my graduation, I went to Princeton University to get another degree in Spanish and Latin American literature.

During the years I also studied beginning courses of French, German, Latin and ancient Greek, but I can only claim to be fluent in two languages today (English and Spanish). Hopefully this will change soon, as I am taking French again and I plan on adding other languages in the future.

My Experience Teaching Languages

I taught Spanish to undergraduates while at Binghamton and Princeton University as part of my fellowship. Most of the students in the classes had only taken Spanish in high school. What a shame! Had they started studying in childhood, we could have been exploring Spanish literature, culture, business or other aspects of the Spanish world!

A few years later (in 1999) I decided that it was time to try something new. By that time I had two kids and I was very interested in raising them in two languages. This triggered my interest in teaching young children Spanish. Sueños de colores LLC, (today called Ana Lomba Early Languages, LLC) started in the tiny back room of a children’s bookstore.

At the beginning I only taught parent-child groups for toddlers and preschool age children in the bookstore. With time I rented my own space. I also added customized services, allowing parents to form groups in their own houses and teaching enrichment classes in schools.

When my youngest child was born, I decided to change gears once again and focus on publishing my classroom materials. This allowed me to stay at home and attend to her needs, while at the same time continue working in a field that I love. While I’m no longer teaching, I feel that my learning path is only at a starting point. I’m excited about the new challenge!

Education

• Law degree from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1989.
• Master of Arts degree in Peninsular and Latin American literature from Binghamton University, 1992.
• Master of Arts degree in Peninsular and Latin American literature from Princeton University, 1997.
• Beginning in 2007, enrolled for an Advanced Certificate in Bilingual Education at New York University.

Professional Accomplishments

• "Best in Conference 2002" at the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey annual conference.
• "Best of New Jersey" at the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 2003.
• Co-presenter with Marcela Summerville of the first workshop geared to preschool teachers at the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). "Addressing the Void: How to Teach Languages in Preschool," 2004.
• Co-author with Marcela Summerville (Director of Spanish Workshop for Children) of the books-and-CDs Play and Learn Spanish and Play and Learn French, Parents’ Choice Approved Award Winners, 2005. Published by McGraw-Hill.
• Other learning materials published: Easy Spanish Storybook and Easy French Storybook series (2006); Hop, Skip and Sing Spanish and French (2006); Spanish for Preschoolers E-Guide (2006).

Leadership in World Languages Organizations

• 2004-2006 Co-Chair Language Learning for Children Special Interest group. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL).
• 2004 forward. New Jersey Representative. National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL).
• 2005 forward. Executive Board Member for Public Relations. Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey (FLENJ).
• 2006 forward. Political Action and Advocacy Chair. National Network for Early Language Learning.