Please watch THIS VIDEO for basic site navigation instructions after reading the below explanation.
With the vast amount of information that is included with our program, many people have a difficult time grasping at first the order of lessons that they should follow.
First off, put your mind at ease… While there is a LOT of content in our course- you should think of it more as a playground than an encyclopedia. You don’t have to follow each of the lesson files in any particular order, and this is increasingly true in the intermediate and advanced lessons. When you are on a playground, you don’t have to go to the slide first, then the swing sets, etc- you simply go spend time wherever you’d like.
Beginner Spanish
If you are a beginner and are first getting into our program, then you’ll want to obviously start in the Beginner Category. This category is further broken down into 4 parts: the introduction of the Spanish alphabet pronunciation and word order; ALL of the verb tenses; the usage of pronouns; and the uses of the word “se.” During this stage of your learning journey, it is important that you take the lessons in order. Simply go to the Beginner Category and start working through the lessons one by one. During this time, you will be introduced to the most important topics of Spanish, so it’s important that you stay committed and focused. As a refresher during your Beginner Lessons, feel free to browse some of the Common Phrases at your leisure and practice what you are learning. You can also refer to the Basic Grammar section to see some variations of your beginner lectures.
All in all- think about your Beginner Spanish lessons as the rules of the game that you are trying to become good at. When you first learn how to play chess, someone explains the ways that the pieces move and explains the rules to you. Once you know the rules, you start to play and as you play more and more games- your skill level increases. The same is true with learning a new language. Can you imagine how hard it would be to become proficient at chess if no one ever explained the rules and instead just asked you to play until you became good? You might not ever improve!
Intermediate Spanish
After you have finished the Beginner Level, you are ready to move to the Intermediate Category. If the Beginner category was to teach you the rules, this category is intended to expose you to the action of “the game.” Here, you will be exposed to increasing amounts of vocabulary as well as tuning your ear to the Spanish language. This category is broken down into two sub-categories: Listening Exercises; and Comprehension Training. This is where you can pick and choose the order of the lessons that you want to work on. They are in alphabetical order- but you can skip to specific lessons to work on any vocabulary that you’d like. The Listening Exercises are designed to give you plenty of quick lessons that you work on throughout the day at your convenience- offering you an audio file and a pdf transcript so that you can follow along. As your skills increase, make an attempt to not rely on the transcripts if at all possible.
The Comprehension Training section contains very similar lessons as the Listening Exercises, but with games and crossword puzzles to quiz you about the retention of information. The activities in this section will take you a little longer than the Listening Exercises, but are structured very similarly. Again, feel free to work on these lessons in any order that you’d like.
Advanced Spanish
Our Advanced Spanish Category is where you are really going to push yourself to the next level. In this category vocabulary, comprehension, and retention are the name of the game. Once you have mastered the contents of this level, you are basically fluent in Spanish. Keep in mind that this won’t happen overnight- but this is the goal we are working toward!
This category is broken down into three sub-categories: The Golden Gavel (a novel written specifically to challenge your vocabulary); Real World Spanish (interviews, videos, and commentary by native speakers designed to push your comprehension); and Tobler (another novel intended to push your vocabulary). Each of the novels are broken down by chapter, and each chapter includes the transcript and audio so that you can perfect your listening and reading abilities.
Why So Many Categories?
A lot of our students want to know why we break our program down into such specific categories. The reason is simple: Convenience. We understand that not everyone has an unlimited amount of time to study each lesson, press pause when they need a break, and then pick up exactly where they left off. By breaking our system down into very specific categories, we are allowing you to find a specific lesson with a minimal amount of effort. This allows you to spend more time studying Spanish, and less time searching for the specific lesson that you’d like to work on. Think of it as a filing system… We have a LOT of files that we had to fit into our program to ensure that you would TRULY learn this language, and so we had to come up with an efficient filing system. Also, keep in mind that if you are ever looking for a specific lesson, you can simply use the search bar in the top right hand corner of each page. Enter in any keywords pertaining to that file, and you will be directed to it in the results page.
The Magic Pill
Too often we are contacted by students who aren’t looking for a complex program that will actually teach them Spanish, but instead seem to be looking for a Magic Pill that they can take and suddenly be fluent in Spanish. Unfortunately, we don’t offer that magic pill- and we haven’t found anyone else that does either. Think of how long it took you to become proficient in English- why would you expect to learn Spanish overnight?
Be patient with yourself, and keep in mind that you need to study for about one hour every day for about a year to become truly fluent in this language. If you truly want to learn this language- be willing to put in the hours of practice that it takes to learn any language! You CAN and WILL learn Spanish!
Contact Us
As always, if you have any questions or concerns about the program itself or the lessons therein, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us. We are committed to you learning this language, and we are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal!