Our Team
We are a beloved community of Spanish learners and teachers, passionate about teaching Spanish and promoting hispanic-latinamerican culture since 2007.
Our teachers are a team of professional, passionate and dedicated tutors, who will guide you and support you throughout your journey to Spanish fluency. All our teachers have years of experience working in the second language acquisition field. They are native speakers of Spanish: you will hear the language as spoken in their countries of origin!
Our classes are small, so our tutors will get to know you better and understand your motivations to connect with the language, thus giving you the support you need towards your goals. Moreover, we use proven methods and textbooks successful worldwide. Our levels are in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which ensures that learning outcomes are consistent with international standards.
Jan Petersen
Managing Director/Teacher
Jan was born in Venezuela and moved to Australia in 2008 to work as a biologist. He had always been interested in teaching, so shortly after coming to Australia he decided to take an opportunity to teach Spanish in a language school. Through this class, he discovered a passion for languages and fell in love with teaching. He decided to go back to university to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts, majoring in Applied Linguistics from the University of Melbourne.
After completing his degree, Jan moved to Japan for a year to teach English and improve his Japanese. On his return to Melbourne (and to Farolito) he also worked as an English teacher for newly arrived migrants. In December 2019, Jan and his wife Mirvic became the new owners of Farolito Spanish. More recently, he worked in Madrid as an Auxiliar de Conversación, helping high school students improve their English.
But his passion is still teaching languages, so he is still one of the regular teachers at the school!
Some of Jan’s passions are languages, playing the guitar and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
His motto: “always find a connection between what you are learning and your daily life. More real conversations, less drills”
Languages: Spanish (Native), English (C1), Japanese (N4), Italian (A1)
Mirvic Camacho
Managing Director
Mirvic is originally from Venezuela but she has called Australia home since 2008. She currently works full time as a Nutritionist, but in December 2019 Farolito became her most beloved project when she and her husband Jan became the new owners of the school. She is passionate about sharing and promoting the Hispanic-latinamerican culture in Australia through cultural traditions, Latin-dancing (she’s also a Zumba instructor!), and now through the Spanish language.
She also has an educator’s vein with extensive experience developing educational materials and running workshops in Chemistry, Nutrition, ESL and Spanish, both in Venezuela and Australia.
Motto: No matter what language you speak, a smile can express a thousand words 
Languages: Spanish (Native), English (C1)
Samuel Domínguez
Teacher
Samuel was born and raised in the most beautiful place on Earth (Canary Islands, Spain, according to him), but sometimes you have to go far away to appreciate what is your own. That tendency to travel far away started after he finished high school, when he joined the Spanish Army and moved to Madrid.
Literature has many advantages, and one of them is that it is easily transportable. During his years in the army he devoured books in different parts of the world until, one day, in Lebanon, he decided to dedicate his life to Spanish language and literature.
He then left the army and studied Spanish Language and Literature (Complutense University of Madrid). He lived in Buenos Aires to study other varieties of Spanish (University of Buenos Aires), completed a Master’s degree in Creative Writing at his alma mater while training as a teacher of Spanish as a second language (University of Nebrija).
Then, he sought the furthest possible place to begin his personal mission to travel around the world (Australia), inoculating his love for the Spanish language in those who were not fortunate enough to be born speaking it.
His motto: “Trust me, I know some Spanish”.
Languages: Spanish (Native), English (C1), German (A1)
Héctor Arce
Teacher
Héctor was born in Tepic, a small City in the State of Nayarit in México, but he grew up in Mexico City.
He has been passionate about different cultures and all aspects around them since he was in high School. His curiosity led him to start learning languages by himself (English and French) and to study German Culture and Literature in the University, getting a bachelor’s degree as a Germanist.
He has been teaching German since 2011 and started teaching Spanish (his native language) since he arrived in Australia. Here in Melbourne, he found a unique opportunity to be in contact with people from all around the world and to learn from their different ways of thinking and perspectives about life.
He’s also extremely passionate about coffee, which is the other reason he came to Australia.
His Motto: Nobody learns without passion. It’s important to help students find what make them passionate about the language they are learning. This isn’t hard to achieve. Sometimes we don’t need more than to show them why languages are fascinating to us.
Languages: Spanish (Native), English (C1), German (C2)
Sara Cadenas
Teacher
Sara was born in the sunny city of Almería, Andalusia, in the South of Spain. She grew up surrounded by stunning landscapes of beaches, deserts and flamenco music.
She holds a degree in English studies and a Masters Degree in Teaching. Her passion for teaching and languages has taken her to various corners of the world. She has lived in Warsaw (Poland), in the vibrant Basque Country in Northern Spain, and in Lisbon, (Portugal) where she worked as a teacher in different companies and language schools.
Her love for traveling led her to Australia, a country she fell in love with. Sara loves road trips and discovering new places, and that’s why she is loving living in Australia. This is the perfect country for her to indulge in this interest.
She started teaching Spanish eight years ago and has taught her native language to a huge variety of students from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, both in-person and online.
Her motto: “Attitude is everything. I believe that showing passion in teaching can engage and encourage students to feel curious and develop a love for the language and Spanish culture, just as I do.”
Languages: Spanish (Native), English (C1), Portuguese (A2)
Lucía Mondejar
Teacher
Born in Valencia, Spain, Lucía came to Australia in 2019 with two objectives: learning English through a “radical immersion in the language” (her own words) and leaving her comfort zone to have the rewarding experience of living overseas. She is a teacher by heart with a fantastic positive attitude.
Lucia holds a Bachelor’s in primary and early childhood education and extensive experience as an instructor in diverse roles since 2007. She is in love with Australia and likes to get to know foreign cultures, make local friends and learn by having conversations with people from around the world.
She is delighted to work at Farolito and is always finding opportunities to share and teach the beauty of hispanic culture to those who are interested in it!
Her motto: “it’s exciting to see how someone can use my help to progress and evolve. I love seeing my students become proud of their own progress!
Languages: Spanish (native), Valencian (native) and English (B2)