language Three months ago, Julia Illarramendi celebrated with her classmates of the III Promotion of the Master's Degree in teaching of Spanish as a Foreign Language (MELE) the closing ceremony of the course. Thanks to the training received at the high school de language y Cultura Españolas (ILCE) of the School de Philosophy y Letras of the University of Navarra, a few weeks later she began working as a Spanish teacher at the Barcelona branch of the IESE Business School.

The opportunity arose in December, when Carlos Schmidt, director of the Business Spanish Program of the business school, and Professor Iolanda Nieves de la Vega came to Pamplona to teach the subject of development Professional and Teaching Competences, at framework of the MELE. "They both encouraged me to investigate leadership at classroom and from my conversations with them came my work de Fin de Master's Degree, which Carlos agreed to direct. Finally, due to the coronavirus, we switched topic. When I handed in my dissertation, Carlos proposed that I work with them at IESE during the intensive they offer in August. Without a minute's hesitation, I said yes," Julia explains.

During this time, she has taught Spanish in two entry-level courses: "IESE's Spanish for Business program is impressive: they work on language from small cases and 'difficult conversations' in the business environment. In addition to teaching, I have also prepared and designed activities for classroom, as well as the assessmentexams. At that time, the face-to-face teaching had not yet been resumed, "so we opted to open the computers, connect to Zoom and teach our students in a digital environment". In this sense, he points out that "the opportunity to teach online, in a context as unique as IESE, has allowed me to recognize and appreciate the abilities that students and professors have to adapt, even when faced with such a big challenge as learning and teaching in a new context." "There is no greater satisfaction than seeing your students learn and improve, despite the changes and difficulties," he adds.

He states that, during this time, "I have had many opportunities to put the knowledge I have acquired at internship on Master's Degree. ILCE teachers have a very rich vision of teaching and learning. Also, once you are a teacher, you see life in a different way; for example, you are walking down the street and you think of activities to take to classroom. That's one of the beautiful things about this profession".

Among his future plans, he says that in the short term deadline he would like to go to Japan and do research at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies with Montserrat Sanz, visiting professor at high school of language and Spanish Culture (ILCE). "Let's hope the coronavirus doesn't stop me," she concludes.