There are many easy and interactive ways to make language learning a fun process. Below are some different ways to help you learn Spanish without having to sit at a desk!
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1. Spotify and Spanish podcasts
Spotify doesn’t just have to be a tool for listening to your favorite music artists. Why not listen to podcasts in Spanish? Put the playlist on whilst you are walking to meet a friend or whilst you are cleaning your room. Repetition is key when learning a language, listening to a podcast everyday will improve your listening skills and expose you to more vocabulary and show you grammar structures being used.
I would personally recommend the Español Automatico podcast on Spotify with Karo Matrinez. Her ethos is to learn a language is full immersion; her podcasts discuss typically Spanish phrases and also discuss tricky grammar concepts like the subjunctive case. She also creates transcripts of the podcasts so students also read what is being said.
2. Quizlet
This website and app is ideal for learning new vocabulary. You can create your own study sets using the vocab your Inhispania teachers give you in class, or you can use sets created by other Spanish students. The app helps you to learn new words using a variety of settings: mini-tests, games or flashcards. You can also use it for phrases that you want to learn, like Spanish idioms and colloquialisms. What´s more is that the app is totally free!
3. Keep a diary
Keeping a diary every day is incredibly useful. Not only do you learn new vocabulary through writing about your daily activities, you can also track your progress. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you feel like you are not making any improving, keeping a diary will remind you that you are getting better- slowly but surely! As time goes by, you will find it easier to describe your day, you will be able write more and will make fewer errors. After a couple of months you will look back at your first diary entry and laugh at the little mistakes you used to make.
4. Intercambios! (Language exchange)
Try and find a Spaniard, or someone who is fluent in Spanish to trade speaking with. Meet up and speak half of your time in Spanish and the other half in your mother tongue. This is mutually beneficial. You can both learn how to speak a new language conversationally and you can make a new friend! It is also a good way to get to know Madrid, a local will know the best places to eat and drink. They can show you what it is really like to be a Madrileño!
At Inhispania, every Wednesday at 8pm one of our weekly activities is to visit an Intercambio at Larios Café. Come along and meet new people and practice your Spanish!
We also have an advertisement board in the school for Intercambios, why not make your own advertisement?
5. Netflix
Netflix, as everyone knows it is one of the most popular ways to relax at home. Why not watch Spanish dramas? There are plenty to choose from my personal favourite is Las Chicas del Cable. Other examples include La Casa de Las Flores and La Casa de Papel (the list goes on and on). Everyone learns differently, I am a visual learner so for me having Spanish subtitles with Spanish audio is the best way for me to learn.
If you are a beginner why not try watching a children’s programme in Spanish?
This way you do not need to put on subtitles in your mother tongue (which normally turns into only reading the words on the screen and not actually hearing what is being said at all).
Or watch a series that you know really well (for me it is Friends), but watch it in Spanish with Spanish subtitles, you will know roughly what is being said because it is a familiar programme to you, only this time you will hear how these things are spoken in Spanish. Game of Thrones (Juego de Tronos) is translated into Spanish, as is Friends. See what other series you can find that have a Spanish equivalent!
