Spanish in the Summer: Part 4

Keep your Spanish going over the summer!

This summer, don’t leave Spanish behind in the classroom. If you’re interested in improving, there are plenty of ways you can keep enriching your understanding of the language during the holidays, without it feeling too much like schoolwork. 

Listening

If you’ve spent some time practising reading and writing Spanish, here are some ideas for how to improve another vital skill: understanding spoken Spanish. This is essential for conducting conversations in Spanish, but also allows you to enjoy Spanish music, television, films, theatre and much more.

Music

As well as traditional music like classical guitar and Flamenco, Spanish-speaking countries boast a wealth of popular music, with well-known musicians including Shakira, Julio and Enrique Iglesias, Manuel Carrasco, and Malú. Listening to music in a foreign language can boost your skills enormously.

Try listening to a few of their songs online and seeing how many of the lyrics you can understand. Then look up the words and listen again, until you start to get a feel for the song. You’ll pick up a lot of naturalistic Spanish, and get a real taste for Spanish culture. Only problem is, you may have a Spanish song stuck in your head for the rest of the summer holidays…

Podcasts

What most interests you? News, comedy, sport, celebrity gossip? Podcasts on all of these topics are available to download in Spanish, just as they are in English. How about choosing one or two and listening to them once a week?

You’ll pick up a lot of vocabulary related to specific themes, and fine tune your ear to understanding spoken Spanish. And maybe you’ll find your new favourite way to while away long afternoons on the beach. Give it a go!

Join us next Friday for the next part of our Spanish in Summer series!