Our Faculty

Our professional faculty members are all University of Miami instructors with the dedication and experience necessary to immerse you into a Spanish-speaking world. Our instructors are native Spanish speakers, or have native proficiency, and come from Spanish speaking countries around the globe. That variety gives you the opportunity to learn about Hispanic cultures and acquaint yourself with special varieties of Spanish.

Germán Pavía
Germán A. Pavía received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN with a major in Latin American economics, political science, sociology, geography, and history. He earned his M.A. at Vanderbilt in History with minors in Spanish and Education. Mr. Pavia taught at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY, but returned to Nashville to become the first male to teach at the prestigious private girls’ school, The Harpeth Hall School. He also chaired the Southeastern Private Independent Schools Board for several years during his tenure at Harpeth Hall. In addition, Mr. Pavía was appointed by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville as the dual evaluator of the foreign language program at both Cumberland High School and at the Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA).
Mr. Pavía has studied and evaluated language programs both domestically and internationally.

Mr. Pavía was invited by Consulate General of Spain and a private language teaching organization to travel to Spain to visit a variety of language centers and institutes in Madrid, Alcalá de Linares, Puerto Santa María, Jerez de la Frontera, and Málaga. Born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, he has also traveled extensively throughout the world to regions like Morocco and Germany. Programs throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe have profited from his experience.

Mr. Pavía joined the University of Miami in 1989 and has held the titles of Spanish Coordinator and also Lead Spanish Instructor in the MIBS program (Master of International Business) at the School of Business. He has attended seminars and forums for Business Spanish and attended language workshops on communicative methodology at Dartmouth under the tutelage of professor John Rassias. As Spanish Coordinator, Mr. Pavía engaged the adult student community by bringing speakers from the Hispanic business world and diplomatic corps to the University of Miami campus. He has also led Spanish language and methodology workshops for such private institutions as Saint Thomas Episcopal Parrish School and Miami Country Day School.

Marta I. Bret
Marta I. Bret received an A.B.D. in French and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of California, Davis, and an M.S. in TESOL from Florida International University. She taught French and Spanish at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and French at Southwest Missouri State University, and Concordia College, where she even used fencing as a means of learning French in the Concordia Language Villages.

After arriving in Miami, Ms. Bret became Executive Director of the Council for International Visitors and then taught English as a Second Language for Miami Dade College. As Executive Director, she wrote and obtained the NCIV Incentive Grant. She has also participated in several other grants at MDC such as the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), the Quality Enhancement Project (QEP), and the e-Reach project for online instruction.

Ms. Bret has given numerous workshops and presentations on innovative methodology in ESL instruction, such as Strategies for Conducting Interactive Synchronous Distance Classes Online, Confident English Communication Through Civics, and Integrating Community Service into the Curriculum. She has organized and led field trips to Tallahassee and Washington D.C. so that ESL students could meet with representatives and directly experience the workings of the U.S. government.

Born in India of Czech parents, Ms. Bret has studied at the Sorbonne, the American University in Paris, the Universidad Menendez Pelayo, the Universidad de Guanajuato, and the University of Munich.