Free 15-minute Spanish Study - Comprehensible Input #1
My Method - Part 2:
Hola chicos, ¿qué tal?
Today’s post will detail my simple (and free) 15-minute-per-day Spanish learning method that helps boost listening, reading, vocab, and speaking.
You may have seen similar Comprehensible Input techniques out there in the wider language-learning community, but this is my own version of it.
It’s an easy but thorough method (be warned!).
Step 1: Listen and read a short passage in Spanish.
By short, I mean a maximum of 300 words.
The text should be pitched at the right level for you. I choose texts where I will already have 60%-80% comprehension.
I find that it’s good to have both the audio and the written text so that you can listen and read simultaneously.
Ideally, the audio recording is of a native speaker. Though, in honesty, the audio for Google Translate is getting pretty good, so even if that’s all you have access to, it will be sufficient for this exercise.
To start, I listen and read to the end of the piece without stopping, looking to ascertain how much I understood.
Step 2: Listen and read the same passage again.
This time, I will pause the audio if I hear a word I don’t know and can’t guess through context.
I highlight the word or note it down.
Step 3: Listen to the same passage a third time, reading an English translation.
This time, I will read an English translation at the same pace as the audio recording.
This helps me to associate the Spanish words with their English counterparts.
Usually, if I have chosen a text that is at the right level for me, I should have understood most of it during the first two plays, but if not, this third repetition helps me to clarify anything that was hazy.
Step 4: Listen and read, pausing to speak each sentence.
This time, I replay the audio and reread the text, but I will stop the audio after every sentence (I told you it was thorough!) and speak the passage out loud, trying to replicate the accent and tone of the person on the audio.
Sometimes I repeat a sentence two or three times, especially when I’m struggling to wrap my tongue around a new word.
Step 5: Make flashcards of any new words.
I add these words into a deck and practise them.
I will try to drill these a few times after I’ve finished going through the full text.
Step 6: Wait a day, then listen again.
The following day, I will revisit the same passage one more time.
This time, I listen to the audio but don’t read the text.
The hope is that I can now understand it well enough to get everything solely from the audio.
And that’s it.
I’ve called it a Free 15-minute Spanish Study because people love alliteration and because that’s about how long I spend on each section of Comprehensible Input each day. But if you have time, try to do two or three texts daily, and you should see more rapid progress.
Can it be laborious? Sure. Do I sometimes get lazy and skip the flashcard stage? Frequently. However, when I do follow every step of this method, it’s an effective way of improving listening and reading comprehension AND spoken Spanish.
Give it a try, and let me know how you get on.
¡Hasta la próxima vez!
Where do you recommend getting the Spanish readings?
I love this because it considers my learning style – which surprisingly is more audio-based than visual, but if it happens to be audiovisual, then we're on to a winner. Here's a helpful quiz to learn what your learning style is! http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml