Roots Up Languages

Celebrando el día Internacional de la Comunidad Indígena 🧡 These photos hold such a beautiful memories for me of meeting the local community in Puerto Nariño in the Colombian Amazon back in 2017. They welcomed us with open arms wherever we went, whether that be teaching us how to fish pirañas or their mother tongue Ticuna, showing us the beauty of their home by boat and chatting (literally by clicking their teeth) with pink dolphins and the paintings they had drawn of Pachamama (Mother Nature). The most important thing I learnt from these amazing people was that they felt like nature was part of them and so treated it with the same love as they would treat a family member - we have a lot to learn still from these communities and they deserve to be heard 🙌

🧡 Feel so grateful to have met so many amazing people over the past 5 months at our Conversación y Comunidad nights! Gracias to everyone who has come so far and to mi amiga for being the best co-host (eres la mejor 🥰). We are taking a pause for August but will be back running events from September including a salsa and conversation night and film screening too 🤞🏼 nos vemos en septiembre!

Calling all Spanish and Portuguese speakers and learners🌻Would love to see you at our Summer Party Picnic in Brockwell Park next Thursday 20th! We will be sat on the grass next to the lido from 6.30pm. We’ll provide some snacks and soft drinks but please bring whatever else you’d like to eat and drink / share with the group 🙌 send me a message here or email [email protected] to be added to our group WhatsApp chat for more información 💫

🇧🇷 🇬🇧 Rafaela from Brazil came up to us after last week’s Conversation & Community night and said how happy she was to have chatted with James and learnt more about ‘British culture’ and slang ! Rafaela de Brasil nos falou que estava muita contenta por ter podido falar com James sobre a cultura britânica e gírias e expressões novas😍 Join us next Thursday 22nd at in Brixton for the next event - link in bio!

From Bahia 🇧🇷 to Bolivia 🇧🇴 Last week’s Conversation & Community crew. We chatted about our favourite music from a song about a gerkin in Brazilian Portuguese (“A dança do maxixe” 😂) to Colombian folk (vallenato). If you want to practice your English, Spanish or Portuguese and meet some amazing new people in London, join us next Thursday 8th June at for our next event 🙏🏼 ticket link in bio!

3 trucos para mejorar tu español y hablar de una forma más natural 🙌🏼

😍 If you’re based in London and looking for a Thursday night plan, come along to in Brixton and join our community of English, Spanish and Portuguese native speakers and learners for our second ‘Conversation and Community’ night 🙌🏼 All language levels are welcome 😍 link to sign up in my bio!

👀 Having that first conversation with someone can be daunting but once you master it, you’ll feel so much more at ease! Save this for the next time you wanna introduce yourself in Portuguese 🙌🏼 and if you need more support, I’m so excited to be running my first in person Beginners Portuguese course starting in 2 weeks!! Join our group on Tuesday 18th April by following the link in my bio 💫 or send me a message to find out more

Throwing it back to March 2014 during Fallas in Valencia🇪🇸 As part of my year abroad for uni, I studied at the Uni of Valencia and met some amazing amig@s I’m still friends with now! These photos were taken during the week celebrating Fallas, where locals build and then burn ninots (huge satirical sculptures), fireworks are set off in broad daylight at 2pm everyday at La Mascleta 🤣 and there are verbenas (street parties) and buñuelos (pumpkin fritters) on every corner…

2 weeks left to sign up for my February Spanish & Portuguese courses!💫 These are 12 weeks long, can fit around your lunch break or after work, are made to help you fit language learning into your schedule and be held accountable by our community of language learners and speakers 🙌🏼

Spots available on :

Beginners Spanish (Level 1)
Spanish on a Plate (Level 2)
Intermediate Spanish (Level 3)

Beginners Portuguese (Level 1)

Link to sign up in bio or DM for more información!

Fancy upping your Spanish speaking game? When we chat in another language, it´s easy to start sounding like Siri as we form sentences one by one in our heads. It can be a struggle to maintain a natural pace, tone and keep things flowing… but it doesn´t have to be 👀⁠
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Over the next week, I'll be sharing with you 3 tricks to help you sound like a native en español and boost your confidence when chatting in real-life scenarios... Lesson 1 is all about connectives... Challenge: write a short text about your weekend and try to use some of these linking words to get it flowing! And if you want to up your skills in a small group, join my next intermediate Spanish intake - spots available for Feb (link in bio 🙌🏼)

🪩 💃🏿 Want to feel confident chatting in Spanish or Portuguese, make new friends, have a laugh and do something for you for the next 12 weeks? Join la fiesta this Feb! This weekend is the last chance to save your spot for my 1st February course intake. 😍⁠
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Spots available on: ⁠
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Beginners Spanish (Level 1)⁠
Spanish on a Plate (Level 2)⁠
Intermediate Spanish (Level 3)⁠
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Beginners Portuguese (Level 1)⁠
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Book your place with the link in my bio!