by Karen Rowan
Whether you are starting from scratch and want to learn Spanish or are already fluent and want to improve your fluency, here is what matters if you want Fluency Fast:
1. Exposure to the language in a way that is understandable. Beginners need access to completely comprehensible input in the form of what they read and what they hear. This matters for those who are already fluent, too. Fluent speakers can watch TV programs and movies with subtitles in Spanish. It also matters that fluent speakers are regularly reading comprehensible books in Spanish.
Here are the resources that we recommend:
- For Beginners we offer TPRS videos of previous Fluency Fast classes. Beginning Spanish and Beginning Spanish for Secretaries are both offered with the Independent Study Spanish curriculum. Also included are copies of: Las aventuras de Isabela, a short novel for beginners with 200 unique words, but 2200 total words. Repetition is what matters for beginners hoping to acquire proficiency. After this first series, most beginners continue to our intermediate language videos and other beginning TPRS Books (Isabela captura un congo / Carl no quiere ir a México and Don Quijote: El ultimo caballero) There are additional TPRS Books at all levels in many languages.
- For advanced speakers and Spanish teachers who want to improve their proficiency, we have two advanced Spanish classes available as videos. We also recommend readers from TPRS Book: La casa dividida by Chris Mercer is the book we will use for our summer advanced Spanish courses in Denver and San Antonio. Also, many Spanish teachers and advanced Spanish speakers have found that input in the form of movies and television programs truly matter and make a difference in increasing their proficiency. Here are programs we have watched and enjoyed on Netflix:
El tiempo entre costuras
El internado
Velvet
Celia (although a simple Wikipedia search reveals it strayed from the truth consistently)
We have also begun a blog in Spanish, French and Mandarin to assist language learners in finding comprehensible, interesting content in the language they are learning. If you know of native speakers interested in
contributing to the blog, please contact us!
Of course, our first recommendation is that you take a class with us! Our class schedule is here:
https://fluencyfast.com/product/language-class-registration
We have beginning, intermediate and advanced classes all over the country, and we add cities every year as we add qualified teachers through the Fluency Fast Teacher Training. The next Fluency Fast Teacher Training will be in Denver in July of 2017. The next Fluency Fast Language Institute will also be in Denver. July 7-10, 2017.
Does it even matter if you learn another language? Does it matter if you have native-like fluency in the language you teach? We think it does. And we think we can help you gain Fluency Fast.
Look for additional resources to come for Spanish and French teachers trying to improve their own fluency.