In researching for my recent post Free Spanish Lesson Podcasts I sorted through a wide variety of Spanish Education websites. It was actually a pretty daunting task, because there is SO MUCH information on the web about learning Spanish! Like any other topic on the internet, some of the information is great, a lot of it is pretty bad, and many sites are just trying to sell you something, which makes picking out quality Spanish resources an intimidating task.
In my infinite wisdom I have decided to take on this great challenge of finding the best free Spanish learning websites on the net, and even take it one step further by compiling them into one easy-to-follow, Online Spanish Education Program.
The program I have put together is divided into 13 key lessons, and is targeted at the beginner-level Spanish student. Each lesson includes links to written information about a particular grammar topic, indirectly related podcast(s) for listening comprehension, and written exercises for further practice.
The overall goal here is to use available online resources in an organized manner, to develop a solid base of Spanish language. Unfortunately, you won't be speaking fluent Spanish by the end, but you should be in a position to continue your Spanish studies at an intermediate level.
Please feel free to leave feedback about the program in the comments section below, so that I can continue to tweak and improve the lessons.
1 - Pronunciation (60 mins): Our first step will be learning the Spanish Alphabet, and the correct pronunciation of both individual letters and letter combinations
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Written Info:
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1.1 (10 mins)
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Overview: accent rules and written descriptions of the sounds made by all consonants, vowels, and letter combinations
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1.2 (10 mins)
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Single Letters: audio files of single letter sounds
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1.3 (10 mins)
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Letter Combinations: audio files of letter combinations
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Podcast:
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1.4 (20 mins)
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Introduction to Spanish Pronuciation with SpanishSense.com
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Practice:
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1.5 (10 mins)
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Listen and Repeat: practice your pronunciation with these audio files
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2 - Gender / Using the Plural (53 mins): Learn about the gender of nouns, as well as the rules for making words plural in Spanish. These two points of grammar are relatively simple and straightforward, so I included 3 podcasts to further practice pronunciation and get a jumpstart on listening comprehension
3 - Subject Pronouns & Adjectives (40 mins): Learn the subject pronouns (I, you, they, etc.) and the grammatical rules for adjectives in Spanish
4 - Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns (49 mins): my, mine, your, yours, their, theirs, etc...
5 - Ser & Estar (1hr 29mins): Learn and memorize the conjugations of the two verbs, both of which mean "to be". Then learn the different uses of each these two verbs.
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Written Info:
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5.1 (7 mins)
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Introduction to the verb Ser (to be)
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5.2 (7 mins)
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Introduction to the verb Estar (to be)
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5.3 (15 mins)
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Ser vs. Estar: Using the navigation bar on the right, look at "when Ser is obligatory", "when Estar is obligatory", and "comparing Ser and Estar"
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Podcast:
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5.4 (10 mins)
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Spanish Sense: Practice the verb Ser, tell who you are.
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5.5 (10 mins)
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Spanish Sense: More use of Ser, say your name, tell where you are from, basic questions
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Practice:
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5.6 (5 mins)
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Conjugate Ser
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5.7 (5 mins)
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Conjugate Estar
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5.8 (10 mins)
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Distinguish between Ser and Estar
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6 - Present Tense (regular verbs) (40 mins): Learn to conjugate regular verbs in the present tense.
7 - Present Tense (irregular verbs) (1hr 45mins): Learn the rules for conjugating irregular verbs in the present tense.
8 - Direct Object Pronouns (42 mins): Learn to replace nouns with direct object pronouns. In the sentences "I cooked Jim a hamburger. He ate it." The final "it" is the Direct Object Pronoun, it replaces the noun "hamburger".
9 - Indirect Object Pronouns (58 mins): Learn to use indirect object pronouns. In the sentences, "Jenny wanted a car. Bob gave her a car." In the second sentence, "her" is the indirect object pronoun.
10 - Preterite (2hrs 6mins): The "preterite" is the past tense in Spanish. Here you will learn to talk about things that happened in the past. This lessons will require a lot of memorization and practice, so take your time with it.
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Written Info:
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10.1 (15 mins)
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Introduction to the Preterite Tense and its conjugations
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10.2 (7 mins)
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More Preterite Basics
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10.3 (10 mins)
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Irregular verbs in the preterite, Ser (to be), Ir (to go), Dar (to give), Hacer (to do)
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10.4 (7 mins)
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Stem changing verbs in the preterite
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10.5 (10 mins)
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"Yo" form stem changing verbs in the preterite
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10.6 (10 mins)
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Irregular verbs Decir (to say), Traer (to bring), Ver (to see)
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10.7 (10 mins)
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Other stem changing verbs in the preterite
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Podcast:
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10.8 (15 mins)
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Coffee Break Spanish: talk about what you like to do in your spare time
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Practice:
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10.9 (7 mins)
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Practice regular preterite
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10.10 (7 mins)
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Practice Ser, Ir, and Dar in the preterite
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10.11 (7 mins)
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Practice conjugating verbs in the preterite, that stem change in the present tense. (Remember, they DO NOT stem change in the preterite).
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10.12 (7 mins)
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Practice "Yo" form stem changin verbs in the preterite
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10.13 (7 mins)
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More irregular preterite verbs
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10.14 (7 mins)
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Even more irregular preterite verbs
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11 - Imperfect (59 mins): The imperfect tense is also used to express the past tense. How it is used, and how it differs from the preterite tense will be explained in 11.2 and more in lesson 12.
12 - Preterite vs. Imperfect (1hr 39mins): Learn the differences between these two expressions of the past tense, and how to use each one correctly.
13 - Future (44 mins): In Spanish there are two ways to talk about the future, using the "future tense" and with the structure "ir + a".
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Written Info:
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13.1 (10 mins)
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Introduction to the Future in Spanish
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Podcast: (10 mins)
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13.2 (10 mins)
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SpanishSense.com: talk about what you are going to do this weekend, "ir + a"
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Practice:
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13.3 (7 mins)
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Practice the future tense
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13.4 (7 mins)
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Practice talking about what you are doing in the future with "ir + a"
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Great post and thank you
Wow, this is a very well put together compilation, from the content to the presentation. And thanks for dropping in one of my podcasts in there. We just added another one introducing the indirect object pronoun as well as practice with other irregular verb forms in the present tense, so if you were to review it I'd be honored.
Again, great idea and well executed!
Big Time Spanish - Thanks
Big Time Spanish - Thanks for your kind words! I will definitely look over any new materials that you guys come up with and will gladly pass my reviews on to our readers.
Thank YOU for your efforts in putting together Free Spanish Learning Tools for the general public, I know a great many people out there really appreciate your hard work!
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