5 pieces of advice for learning Spanish outside the classroom<

5 pieces of advice for learning Spanish outside the classroom

The objective of any student of Spanish is to try and learn Spanish in all situations and places. The Spanish-language classroom is our primary resource because there are many possibilities of studying Spanish and learning it in an intuitive and easy manner.

I would like to share 5 hints for a trainee, who is spending a few days among us, to help you to continue learning Spanish, even outside of the classroom. Some of these recommendations can be used by any students that are studying Spanish in Bilbao, or in Spain!

Practical pieces of advice to learn Spanish outside of the classroom, starting from very beginner, for anyone spending a period of time in a Spanish-speaking country.

1- Revise your notes from class.
Even if you don’t have homework, try to spend one hour at home studying and revising your notes for every one hour that you spent in class.

It´s much easier to learn vocabulary, expressions and structures as you go and not leave them all to cram into your memory at the last possible moment. In addition, this will ensure that you take better advantage of your next class and in this way, you will drastically speed up your learning.

2. Start a Tandem language exchange.
A great way to meet native people from the country and practicing your Spanish is to start a tandem. A tandem is a relationship established between two people who possess different mother tongues, but who would like to learn the language of the other person. This is a fantastic way of improving your Spanish without having to spend a penny!

You can find Tandem partners online, or by putting up an advert in the library or in a few cafes. Many universities also have bulletin boards for linguistic exchanges for their students.

3. Devour Spanish culture.
Whether it´s watching TV, seeing films, listening to music or reading books, the important thing is to soak up Spanish in any way that interests you. Even if you don´t understand anything at the beginning, you will slowly start to recognize words, structures and you will be absorbing the musicality of the language.

At the beginning, it would probably be a good idea to use subititles in your mother tongue when watching films or TV series, then switch the subtitles to Spanish until you finally reach a moment when you no longer need subtitles of any kind. Perhaps it would be useful to watch a film you have already seen again, because then you´ll recognize the story and it will therefore be easier to understand. The website www.seriesyonkis.com is a great resource for this.

There are different types of books to read; they are classified by different levels and specially written for people learning Spanish. Even if the plot is somewhat simple, Reading these books can help you learn new vocabulary and start introducing you more and more to typical constructions used in the language. An economical way of reading these books is to take them out from a library.

In addition, you could describe the city you live in with help from a visitor´s guide in Spanish. This is another way of practicing the language and being a tourist at the same time.

4. Draw up your own portfolio
Having your own control of the development of your language learning is of utmost importance to make the most of your learning experience. A great way of keeping an eye on your learning rhythm is to write a small diary or portfolio every week in which you write down what you have learnt during the week. You could structure your diary under the following headings: Grammar, Vocabulary, Written Production and Conversation. You don´t need to write much; just write down the key words in a systematic way. This “tracking” will help you be aware of the advances you are making, since you are very often unaware of how much you are learning. For this idea to work, you need to become a better observer of how you personally best learn languages and to what extent your knowledge is increasing.

In addition, it´s good to be aware of the levels that exist whilst you are learning a foreign language. From the European Union, there is a proposed language-learning framework divided into 6 levels. It would be helpful to understand what is involved in each level so that you can define the journey you need to make towards mastering the language.

5. Lose your inhibitions!
To learn and be able to speak a language, it is almost essential that you make mistakes. If you expect to know more in order to be able to say things perfectly, you will learn less since this method actually delays your speech when it comes to producing good-quality Spanish. Just be aware that making mistakes is very common when learning a language, but that it certainly doesn´t impede communication. In the supermarket or on the street are great opportunities to put your Spanish into practice!