I completed a degree in Philosophy and Hispanic Literature at the University of Guanajuato (UG), Mexico, where my experience teaching at higher education began as tutor of both English and Spanish as foreign languages. In 2008 I was awarded a PhD in Applied Linguistics by the University of Southampton for my thesis The Development of Criticality amongst Students of Spanish, in which I looked at the different components of Modern Languages degree programmes at higher education (e.g. language classes, content classes, the Year Abroad) and the impact of these elements on the intellectual growth of undergraduate students of languages.