How to Improve Your Spanish for Free: 10 Tips from Our Teachers

You don’t need to spend a fortune to improve your Spanish. Whether you’re just starting out or want to keep progressing between classes, here are ten free ideas from our teachers, at home and out and about.

At home

• Read the news: it’s a great way to grow your vocabulary and get used to sentence structures. Start with simple, short news stories, as we explain in our guide to Spanish newspapers for learners.
• Keep a journal: a few sentences a day are enough to reinforce new vocabulary and grammar, and a nice way to see your progress.
• Follow Spanish accounts on social media: infographics, photos and articles in Spanish give you a steady stream of new words and a taste of Spanish culture.
• Listen to podcasts for learners: they get you used to the rhythm of Spanish without visual cues. Start at your level and move up gradually: see our best podcasts to learn Spanish.
• Follow online workouts in Spanish: exercise videos are easy to follow because the instructions come with movement, which makes them great for listening practice at low levels.
• Play word games: apps like Apalabrados, the Spanish answer to Scrabble, help your vocabulary and spelling while you play. For more, see our teachers’ picks of the best free apps to learn Spanish.
• Watch series and films in Spanish: they don’t have to be Spanish. Start with a series you know, in Spanish with English subtitles, then Spanish subtitles, then none. Children’s shows work too: several of our students became Peppa Pig fans in their twenties. Ideas in our list of Spanish series and films to learn Spanish.

Out and about

• Talk to native speakers: please, talk as much as you can. Ask where the fruit is in the supermarket, ask for directions in the street. Every situation is a mini real-life class.

The right mindset

• Be patient: we’re used to wanting everything now, but languages don’t work that way. We can only learn a limited number of new words a day, so expect to talk about simple topics at first and make lots of mistakes. That’s normal. Enjoy the journey. If you’re wondering how long it takes, read how long it takes to learn Spanish.
• Don’t be a perfectionist: don’t try to produce perfect sentences as if your life depended on it. It’s easier to speak quickly and make mistakes, and we all make mistakes in our own language too. Let your Spanish flow.

Speed things up with classes

These activities are really useful, and combining them with classes speeds up your progress even more. Whether you prefer group courses or one-to-one classes, we have options to suit you. We look forward to welcoming you.