Bio

Who’s behind Musicuentos?

Sara-Elizabeth Cottrell
B.S. Spanish Education / English Education
M.A. Linguistics (Second Language Acquisition)

I owe much of who I am and what I do to an amazing father who inspired me to think innovatively. I knew when I was 12 that I would be a teacher, and when I was 14, I fell in love with teaching language, especially English to speakers of other languages (TESOL).

In my undergrad Spanish Ed program, I learned a lot about being a good teacher and almost nothing about teaching language.  So, I fumbled through textbook teaching for 3 years before getting my master’s degree in the theory behind the practice.

As a result, my students and I embarked on a textbookless, web-based language experience that rocked with Latin music and authentic materials. We quit homework, abandoned multiple choice questions, and banned words like “conjugation” from our classroom. We talked and struggled and explored and watched where our journey took us. Many amazing language educators around the world helped us along the way, too, by sharing their learning with me.

In 2008, my husband sat next to me while I exclaimed over all the things I was learning about how to improve my classroom and said, “You should start a blog.”  Musicuentos was born.

Why Musicuentos?  The two strategies that most transformed my Spanish teaching from a boring grammar class to an interactive, acquisition-rich environment were música and cuentos (stories).  On a personal note, I have been married to my best friend since 2007 and we have three amazing children. We enjoy spending time outdoors, reading, and growing in our faith in God.  We’re thankful for our life, family, talents, and opportunities and enjoy sharing what we’ve learned with others and learning from their journey as well.

What’s Sara-Elizabeth up to?

Once upon a time, I went places to try to add to the conversation. From 2019 to 2024 I withdrew from many of my professional commitments for medical and family reasons.

And now? I’m back to generally exploring how to connect communities across language barriers. I work with learners of all ages, especially newcomers in our country who need English to thrive. I’d love to meet you down a bend in the road.

Want to be part of the conversation? Let’s work together.

To get in touch, send me an email. For Spanish teachers, I highly recommend you join my Facebook group Musicuentos Tools, Tips, and Talk for Spanish Teachers.   You can also sign up for Musicuentos Musings, a newsletter I send out just a few times a year with a quick run-down of resources, ideas, blog posts, and whatever else I see that I think might interest you.

Welcome to the conversation, amigos.