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Experience the fun, intellectual challenge, and practical benefits of learning Spanish, one of the world's most useful and beautiful languages. In this brilliantly designed course, you'll get "under the hood" of the language, using an approach your teacher has refined for over 20 years to empower adult learners.

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Episodes

1. Essentials for Success with Spanish

45m

Begin by exploring key principles of effective language learning. Consider a core approach to building comprehension, focusing on linguistic cognates, context, and the use of conjecture. Then, do a spirited review of definite and indefinite articles, singular and plural nouns, and subject pronouns, and look at some new grammar and vocabulary.

2. The Present Tense and Prepositions

45m

To build conversational skill, practice the present tense with verbs ending in "ar," "er," and "ir." Then learn some vital irregular verbs and how to use them. Continue with prepositional pronouns (as in "near me" or "next to her"), and some new prepositions (such as "beneath" and "behind"). Finish with a look at the four-part structure of the course, and how to get the most from it.

3. Indirect Objects and Verbs like Gustar

45m

Here, tackle a variety of new material. Start with a thorough look at indirect object pronouns (as in "to/for you" or "to/for us"), and verbs that use them. Work with a highly useful verb, gustar, which expresses what someone likes or doesn't like, and with other verbs which function similarly. Then explore the geography of the Spanish-speaking world, and adjectives of nationality.

4. Spanish Pronunciation and Reciprocal Verbs

45m

Look at ways to develop excellent pronunciation in Spanish. In particular, practice Spanish consonant sounds that don't exist in English, focusing on the Spanish "r." Investigate reflexive verbs, and how to use them in conversational speech. Last, study reciprocal verbs, which describe actions done by people to each other, and observe how they work within a romantic story spoken in Spanish.

5. Advanced Work with the Preterite Tense

45m

First, learn useful vocabulary relating to the kitchen and cooking. Then study grammatical constructions that use the present tense to talk about the past. Delve deeply into the preterite tense, which expresses past actions that are viewed as completed or ended. Sharpen your command of the preterite with key verbs such as tener (to have), ver (to see), dar (to give), and ir (to go).

6. Introduction to the Imperfect Tense

45m

Explore important vocabulary regarding time, and how to use it conversationally. Then work with the imperfect tense, which expresses ongoing actions in the past, conditions or characteristics in the past, time or age in the past, and habitual past actions. Practice forming the imperfect with all categories of verbs, and grasp how the imperfect is used in Spanish compared with English.

7. When to Use the Imperfect and the Preterite

45m

Learn to distinguish between contexts where the preterite is the necessary tense and others where it's best to use the imperfect. As a case in point, see what happens when an action in the past interrupts another action that is in progress. Work briefly with the verb haber (to have) in the preterite and the imperfect. Finally, learn about one of the most important novels in Spanish literature.

8. How to Expand Your Spanish Vocabulary

45m

Investigate a two-step approach to incorporating new words in Spanish as an active part of your vocabulary. Next, focus on the Spanish pronoun se, and its essential use in passive and impersonal expressions. Then learn the imperfect progressive construction, vital for conversation, which emphasizes the ongoing nature of past actions. Observe the use of verb tenses in a story from Cervantes.

9. Mastering the Imperfect and the Preterite

45m

Learn a range of new vocabulary relating to the family. Then take a look at verbs that change meaning depending on their context. Observe how some important verbs have different meanings in the preterite and the imperfect, and how others change meaning when used in the positive as opposed to the negative. Also grasp three rules regarding which syllables to stress when speaking Spanish.

10. Mastering Direct and Double Object Pronouns

45m

Improve your Spanish pronunciation by working with key vowel and consonant sounds that we may think are the same as English, but are in fact different. Continue with direct object pronouns (as in, "I see them."), and double object pronouns, where two pronouns occur within a sentence ("We send them to him."). Learn how to build skill with these vital elements of conversation.

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Bill WordenWriter

Bill WordenActor

Learning Spanish II: How to Understand and Speak a New Language

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