A goldmine for Spanish learners

Spanish language learning blog

2009-06-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

My new Spanish language learning blog can be found at spanish-bites.com

This new blog brings you my podcasts and videocasts from my Spanish for Beginners course, as well as free lessons, music videos, language learning product reviews, articles on how to learn Spanish, etc.

Free Spanish lessons for kids

2008-06-09T02:49:00.000-07:00

Lately I’ve been working on a new Spanish language course which I’ve entitled ‘Spanish for Kids’. You can download Lessons 1 and 2 for free from Spanish Bookworld.

I’ve called the course ‘Spanish for Kid’ but it can be used by adults as well. The lessons are easy to follow and you get plenty of chances to talk (each lesson has a speaking game with twelve questions). You also get plenty of listening practise.

If you want to develop your conversation skills fast, this course will help you a long way.

On this video you can see a free demo of how the course works:

Harry Potter books, movies and audiobooks

2008-05-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks I've been working on a new section at my site Language Bookworld and I have now launched it. It's a section dedicated exclusively to Harry Potter books, movies and audiobooks.

There you will find all seven novels in a vast variety of editions. You will find all the children and adult editions, hard covers, difficult to find editions, collector's editions, as well as all the published audiobooks, dvds and videos.

With such a wide range of products you'll find books, audiobooks and dvds for all budgets. To find out more about the Harry Potter product you're interested in, click on its title and you'll see detailed product information, shipping costs and times, and more.

Spanish phrase book on podcast

2008-03-11T04:18:00.001-07:00

Following the success of my Spanish Podcasts for Beginners, I’ve now launched a new series called Spanish Phrasebook on Podcast. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have purchased, and are still purchasing, my podcasts and pdfs. A big thanks!

The 17-minute unit 1 podcast focuses on eating out. Apart from learning dozens of useful words related to food and restaurants, you’ll also hear common questions and answers that’ll help you communicate with waiters.

At Spanish Bookworld you can download the free podcast, and you can also get the interactive multimedia transcript in pdf that comes with it.

Future podcasts will talk about transport, accommodation, sightseeing, traveling with children and the disable, car hire, changing money, and all other topics that can help you have a more enjoyable vacation.

If you have any queries, suggestions, complaints or feedback related to my podcasts, please leave a comment on this blog and I’ll reply to you very soon.

Listen to my Spanish podcast lesson 6

2008-03-03T04:35:00.000-08:00

My new Spanish Podcasts for Beginners lesson 6 can be downloaded from Spanish Bookworld and from iTunes.

This latest lesson lasts 21 minutes and, like all the others, comes with an interactive multimedia transcript in pdf. In this lesson you will hear a dialog at a Spanish bar, the list of new words and phrases in both English and Spanish, a grammar unit on how to put together nouns and describing words, and you’ll also learn a new set of numbers (30 – 39).

To practise speaking and listening, there are exercises after each section. Throughout this podcast you will also get the change to review what you learned in lessons 1 to 5.

With the interactive multimedia transcript in pdf you can practise not only listening and speaking, but also reading and writing. You can listen to the dialogs, new words, phrases and numbers at your own pace. All you need to do is click on them to hear the Spanish. You can also see the solutions to all the exercises, fill in your answers, and type in your own notes and save them for future reference.

All the podcast in this series and their pdfs have been written and recorded by me, Maria Fernandez, a native Spanish speaker and an experienced Spanish teacher. All the other voices you hear in the dialogs are also those of native Spanish speakers.

New Spanish TV channel – online and totally free

2008-02-15T03:37:00.000-08:00

This is awesome news for all of you interested in the Spanish language and culture!

The Instituto Cervantes has just launched a new online Spanish TV channel that will offer daily cultural bulletins, documentaries, interviews and much more.

Topics will cover language, literature, theater, music, dance, cinema, poetry, philosophy, art exhibitions, biographical documentaries, and all other aspects of Spanish and Latin American culture.

You can listen to it from wherever you are, anywhere in the world, and it’s completely free to everyone. This is a great week for the Spanish culture and those who love it!

How to hit someone in Spanish – free Spanish lesson

2008-02-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

Spanish has dozens of words to say whether you’re hitting someone or something with your elbow, a glove, a bottle, an umbrella, a broom, or even a frying pan.

Learning those words is often quite easy. Most of them end in ‘azo’, like ‘el botellazo’ (from ‘la botella’, the bottle), and are masculine. Here are twenty-four Spanish words, all of which involve some form of hitting. Do you know what they mean? Also, do you know which object or part of the body is being used is the hitting?

If you want to find out, you can see the solutions here.

How to hit someone in Spanish
el balazo	?	el bastonazo	?
el bolsazo	?	el botellazo	?
el cabezazo	?	el carterazo	?
el codazo	?	el escobazo	?
el flechazo	?	el ladrillazo	?
el latigazo	?	el manotazo	?
el martillazo	?	el palazo	?
el paraguazo	?	la patada	?
el pelotazo	?	el pisotón	?
el puñetazo	?	el puntapié	?
el raquetazo	?	el rodillazo	?
el guantazo	?	el sartenazo	?

If you’re looking for Spanish language courses, you can find a wide range, at the best prices, at Spanish Bookworld.

Spanish lessons - quizzes

2008-01-17T01:40:00.001-08:00

If you’re looking for free Spanish lessons, you can find them on this blog. Here’s a gender quiz where you’re asked whether the words you see are masculine or feminine. You can get the solutions to this quiz here.

In future posts we’ll practise verb forms, word order, prepositions, useful phrases, pronunciation, numbers, vocabulary, pronouns, articles, and all other aspects of grammar.

You can find more of my free Spanish lessons at Spanish Bookworld. There you’ll get free lessons from my publication Learn Spanish At Your Own Pace and from my Spanish podcasts.

Spanish gender quiz:

Can you tell me the gender of these twenty Spanish words? See the solutions.

El or la?
.......... pan	the bread	.......... leche	the milk
.......... agua	the water	.......... arroz	the rice
.......... carne	the meat	.......... pescado	the fish
.......... tomate	the tomato	.......... sal	the salt
.......... vinagre	the vinegar	.......... alcohol	the alcohol
.......... aceite	the oil	.......... puré	the puree
.......... chocolate	the chocolate	.......... cereal	the cereal
.......... té	the tea	.......... infusión	the herbal tea
.......... café	the coffee	.......... melocotón	the peach
.......... albaricoque	the apricot	.......... coliflor	the cauliflower

How to jump from intermediate to advanced Spanish fast and easily

2008-01-14T20:23:00.000-08:00

In the almost twenty years I’ve been teaching Spanish, I’ve come across very few products that can really help you become proficient in Spanish. The main problem is that most products claiming to get you from intermediate to advanced, simply take you from lower intermediate to higher intermediate. There’s one product, though, that works well. I often use with my students. It’s the Puerta del Sol audio magazine. I like it because of a number of reasons.

It’s a course aimed at developing your speaking and listening skills fast, and it does so successfully. Each issue has a 1-hour long cd fully recorded by native speakers which you can listen to over and over. It also has exercises, drills and audio flashcards on cd to help you practise speaking.

You learn a lot just listening to the cd. You don’t have to sit down in a quiet room with pen and paper in order to make progress. You can listen to the audio magazine wherever you are, and become familiar with hundreds of new Spanish words. You can practise listening and speaking while doing other things, at any time.

It introduces you to a vast number of useful Spanish words and expressions, many more than any other course I’ve come across. It does so by covering a wide range of topics such as everyday life in Spain and Latin America, interviews, music, current affairs, cinema, books, food, sports, history, etc.

You can use it just for a few minutes at a time, or for many hours if you want. Each issue is divided into several magazine-style articles lasting a few minutes each. You can focus on an article while commuting, cooking, walking, bathing, etc., or you can listen to the whole cd in one go.

Every word you hear on the cd is also in the printed magazine you get along with each cd. Unlike many other courses that only give you a glossary, the Puerta del Sol audio magazine gives both a comprehensive glossary and the full transcript of the audio material. This means you don’t need to use a dictionary, which saves you a lot of time.

The topics covered are entertaining, engaging, informative and up-to-date. If you’re interested in the Spanish-speaking world, this Spanish audio magazine talks about the latest current affairs and social issues, sports events, book and movie releases, the latest fashion trends, new artists, etc.

The recordings are of a very high quality. The presenters are professional broadcasters. They speak naturally and clearly, at a normal conversation speed.

You can see and hear the Puerta del Sol Spanish audio magazine in this interactive product demonstration.

If you need more details or have any questions about this Spanish audio magazine, please post a comment here and I'll get back to you very soon.