Testimonials

SPANISH

Ana Bayat was the Spanish teacher of a small Spanish study group that I set up a few years ago. Ana brought years of experience as a linguist, translator, and teacher to our study group. 

Ana's teaching skills are exceptional and highly effective: She follows a methodology, is well prepared, always leads with patience, encouragement, creativity, and the perfect mix of discipline and fun.

I cannot recommend Ana enough to anyone who wants to learn a new language. Ana's passion for languages is contagious!"

Britt Huber (Global Human Resources)

Ana is a great teacher who has a phenomenal gift for languages.  She keeps sessions interactive, high energy, and full of humor using her theatre training and her overall personality.  This really helps students put their knowledge into practice.  She was also great at tailoring sessions to my specific needs, as I was preparing for a language exam."

Amy Corbin (Professor of Film Studies at Muhlenberg College)  

For two years, Ana worked with me as a Spanish teacher/tutor and also as a translator for a journalism project (Spanish-English). As a teacher, Ana brought great custom-tailored curricula to our lessons, filled with fun themes that were relevant to my life and creative techniques for me to grasp what I most needed. Her approach was key to motivating my interest in learning. I also very quickly saw Ana's great talent for languages and culture come through in her subtle understanding and interpretation of words, meaning and context. She truly has the skill of a native speaker in all of her languages—and of a native citizen in all of the related cultures—and this has set her expertise apart. Ten years after working together, I am happy to call Ana a friend. Any project is lucky to have her as an asset."

Roz Dzelzitis (Director, Cause Marketing & Communications, Washington, DC)

 PERSIAN

After two trips to Iran, in 2002 I was determined to learn Farsi, the Persian language. Because as an attorney and businessman my free time is limited, I began to search for a teacher who could come to me.  I found immediately such a person in Ana Bayat.  She would come to our offices several times a week.  She began to expose me to her very effective ways of teaching such a non-Roman language with a different alphabet.  Our lessons continued for several years during which time my respect for her and her language teaching abilities continue to grow. 

She is/was excellent and I have the highest respect for her and for her teaching methods.  I continued to watch her grow during her period of teaching at the School for the Arts. And then later for the past several years while she taught at the SF Bay School.  Going to that school to visit different student activities, guided and directed by her, my respect grew even greater.

By any standards, she is a devoted and effective teacher."

   E.G.Rick Stokes esq. (Attorney at Law)

I studied Farsi with Ana Bayat for over three years. As any serious student of a foreign language knows, an inspiring and patient teacher is very important. Studying with Ana was both rewarding and enjoyable. Her systematic, yet varied, approach to teaching grammar, reading, writing and conversation was very effective, and she tailored her lessons to my interests, which included Persian poetry and music. 

In addition to being an excellent language teacher, Ana is also a skilled and poetic translator. I highly recommend Ana as both a teacher and professional translator." 

Larry Klein (Scientist and Musician) 

I took private Persian (Farsi) lessons from Ana for two years.  It was a great experience.  It was fun.  I learned a tremendous amount.  A few years later I traveled to Iran and was able to get by on my own.  She was able to pace the lesson exactly as I needed to maximize my learning and keep it interesting while not overwhelming.  She challenged me but her expectations were reasonable.   I have studied other languages and have had many language teachers.  Ana is among the best of the best.  She was also able to tailor the content to my interests by drawing on materials from her considerable repertoire across many languages. And the experience was infused with her passion for language and learning as well as insights derived from her deep knowledge of so many languages I highly recommend working with Ana if you are serious about learning a new language or deepening your fluency in one you already know." 

Michael Goldbach (PhD, Manager at Microsoft)