Beginning Spanish

Stage 1 Fluency

Lesson 1

1. First, watch The Best Way to Begin
   Before you actually start learning Spanish, you need to understand a little bit about how language learning works. This video will teach you the big picture of the process you will follow to become fluent in Spanish.
   


2. Start listening to Spanish for at least ten minutes every day. Watch Exposed to Spanish and decide which resources are best for you. Explore online resources at Spanish Exposure. Listen to as much Spanish as you can every day. You probably will understand almost nothing at first, but it is important to get as much daily exposure as possible. Just be patient. Listen multiple times per day if you can.
   


3. Next, watch How to Learn Sight Words and find out why at first you should NOT use "sight" while you are learning your first Spanish sight words. Stage 1 is all about LISTENING. Focus on hearing Spanish sounds and deriving meaning from Spanish sounds. Do NOT to read in Spanish yet. If you read now, you will practice incorrectly because your brain automatically thinks English sounds. We need to get the sounds of Spanish into your mind, and make Spanish sounds AUTOMATIC for you when you think in Spanish. Your brain will learn to expect to hear Spanish language sounds. Get as much listening practice as possible, especially with your eyes closed so that your mind doesn't play English speaking tricks on you!



4. Now you're ready to learn Spanish! Watch Sight Words List 1 and only read the English words. LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN with your eyes closed. Do NOT read the Spanish translations at the end of the video. (You will use the Spanish translations in a different lesson.) This is a very small number of words. It's essential for you to perfect a small number of sounds and sound-meanings. You are developing a solid foundation from which you will eventually acquire huge amounts of vocabulary. It is VERY IMPORTANT for you to establish a good foundation. This is the same process you followed to learn English as a baby (and obviously you were successful!). So take your time and do your very best on these initial lessons. If you follow this process to learn Spanish, you will become fluent in Spanish :)


5. After you can understand all of the words while listening with your eyes closed, then begin to listen and repeat. Try to sound exactly like the instructor. First practice repeating with your eyes closed until you can reproduce the sounds. Then watch the video and reproduce the sounds. (But don't watch the translations at the end of the video. We will read the Spanish words in another lesson.)


6. When you can reproduce the sounds while listening with your eyes closed, make English flashcards. Write the English word on one side of the card and leave the back of each flashcard blank. (Do not write the Spanish word on the back of the card - wait until we do this in a different lesson.) Practice looking at the English word and saying the Spanish word. Mix up the flashcards so that you can automatically say the Spanish words in any order.



CONGRATULATIONS!!!  You have completed your first Spanish lesson!

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