When learning a language, we not only deal with our lessons, grammar exercises or lists of vocabulary. One of the things I tell my students is that they have to read, watch or listen to Spanish media. In the Internet age we have plenty of material that can help us learning Spanish in a fun way: we can listen to the radio while cooking, we can read newspapers articles during the break at job and listen to music while surfing the Internet.
The idea for this column is to do a review of the different sites and resources we can use to improve our Spanish. So, here it comes the first one!
The BBC gives us the opportunity to learn Spanish through a lot of useful tools. Note that not all of them are available outside the UK, but most of them are.
You have a , where you can learn important facts about the Spanish language around the world. For example: did you know that Spanish is spoken in Africa, in Equatorial Guinea? Or that the Ñ in “España” comes from a small “n” that scribes in medieval ages wrote above a bigger “n” when a word had “nn”?
So, you can find different tips and facts, but the most important and the one that gets our attention here is the video drama, “”.
“Mi vida loca” is, as described in the site, “an interactive video drama and Spanish course. Mi Vida Loca takes you on an intrigue mystery adventure to Madrid and beyond in 22 episodes, ca 10 min each, covering basic learning points for Spanish absolute beginners. A learning section complements each episode.”
In the you arrive to Madrid to visit your friend Teresa, but… well, it’s better if you watch the complete episode. You’ll learn how to greet someone, how to say where you go in the taxi…
The difference with other videos teaching Spanish is that you have an assistant that will explain the language and the communicative elements present in each episode. The key words, phrases and grammar points will be explained in each episode in the “Learning Section” and the students are encouraged to practice with the different characters they find through the action.
Of course, you also have a , and students completing the course will get a certificate.
Because is short, fun and simple. You’ll watch people speaking real Spanish at their own speed, but you won’t get lost. The subtitles and the talking phrasebook will help you understand what you’re watching. And, you can always stop and go back if you want to watch again.
Sure! I’m planning to add this course to my regular lessons, so students can practice after the lessons and learn more vocabulary. We teachers also have a lot of tips about how to use “Mi vida loca” with our students.
Hope you like this review for our first Spanish tool. More to come soon!
See you!