Course Description
In this course you will build a solid foundation for Spanish by learning the basic key concepts of Spanish and then build upon those concepts and be conversational by the end of the course.
- Be understood by learning the correct way of pronunciation.
- Learn how to have basic conversation with people
- Learn to be yourself in Spanish and not just a memorization robot.
- Learn how to master the conjugation of the simple past, present, and future tenses of verbs.
- Learn travel Spanish ie. at the airport, renting a car, in the restaurant, getting directions
- Be able to go anywhere and do anything where Spanish is required.
- Enrich your life by opening the door to a new culture and be able to communicate with more than 400,000,000 more people worldwide.
Content and Overview
This course contains 68+ lectures and over 3 hours of video with updated and added content added as needed. It’s designed for the beginner and will take you to an intermediate level of Spanish where you’ll be conversational.
I didn’t learn Spanish until I was 20 yrs old and couldn’t speak a lick of it before then (well, I could count to 10 like most everyone else but that was it.) Because I didn’t grow up bilingual like most Spanish teachers did, I’m able to simplify the learning process for you and give you that perspective that others simply can’t because I’ve been in your shoes.
In the Spanish for beginners course, you will first learn “half the battle” of being fluent in Spanish and that is pronunciation. No matter how well you learn vocabulary, phrases, grammar, etc. if you can’t pronounce the words right you won’t be understood. Thus, pronunciation being half the battle.
Then you’ll learn basic meet and greet vocabulary and phrases. Memorization is important when learning Spanish but as you progress through the course you’ll learn why you’re saying what you’re saying and will be able to use those principles with any word or verb and in this way you’ll learn to be yourself in Spanish.
Next, you’ll begin to learn simple parts of speech and how they work in Spanish. This is where you’ll begin to understand why you say what you say in Spanish. Vocabulary and quizzes are spread throughout the course to keep you constantly learning new words and phrases and to test your growing knowledge of the language.
You’ll then learn common words and terms for situational Spanish ie. Spanish in the home, at the airport, hotel, car rental, getting directions, buying and paying for stuff, at the restaurant, etc.
And finally, you’ll really start to hone your parts of speech skills as you continue through the last section of the course as the lessons will clarify many pitfalls for English speakers. Many frequently asked questions will be cleared up in this section. For instance, “para” and “por” both mean “for” how are they used differently? or “saber” and “conocer” both mean “to know” how and when do I use each?
By the end of this course, you will feel comfortable to speak and carry on a conversation with any Spanish speaker and even travel to any Spanish speaking country with confidence that you’ll be able to get around without any problems.
I can't wait to see you on the inside!
FAQ's
When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund no questions asked.
Course curriculum
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01
Welcome
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Intro to Course
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02
Pronunciation
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Do this before starting
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Spanish Made Simple Podcast: Your Daily Dose of Español
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Pronunciation: Vowels
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Pronuciation: Consonants
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Practice Session 1: Pronunciation
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Pronunciation: Diphthongs and Triphthongs
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Pronunciation Cheat Sheet
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Practice Session 2: Pronunciation Digraphs
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Quiz: Test Your Pronunciation Knowledge
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03
Meeting and Greeting People
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Intro to Vocabulary
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Tips and Tricks for Communication and Vocabulary Building
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Intro to Quizlet
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Greeting Vocabulary and Phrases
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Meeting People: A Conversation
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Practice Session 3: Meet and Greet
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Meeting People Quiz
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04
Parts of Speech
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Vocabulary 1
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Cognates: Spanish You Didn't Know You Already Knew
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Cognates Cheat Sheet PDF
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Gender and Number
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Indefinite Article
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Practice Session 4: Definite and Indefinite Articles
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Personal Pronouns
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Verbs: Present Tense
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Vocabulary 2 (Verbs)
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Common irregular verb conjugations Worksheet
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Verbs: Past (Preterit)
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Practice Session 5: Verb Conjugation
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The Verb Tener
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Tener Worksheet
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Practice Session 6: Tener
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Vocabulary 3
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Possessive Adjectives: My, Mine, His, Hers, Our, etc.
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Conjunctions: and, or, but, nor
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Prepositions: to, in, of, from, with
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Prepositions Worksheet
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Practice Session 7: Possessive Adj Thru Prepositions
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Numbers: 1-100
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Telling Time
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Telling Time Quiz
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Forming Questions Using Who, What, Where, When, Why, How, How Much and How Many
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Practice Session 8: Telling Time and Questions
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Numbers: 100 and beyond
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05
Situational Spanish Vocabulary
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Vocabulary Around The House
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Practice Session 9: Around the House
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Restaurant Vocabulary and Phrases
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Practice Session 10: At The Restaurant
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Vocabulary At The Airport
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Vocabulary At The Beach
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Vocabulary At The Hotel
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Vocabulary and Phrases For Renting a Car
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Vocabulary and Phrases For Getting Directions
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Practice Session 11: Directions
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Vocabulary and Phrases At The Bus Terminal
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Vocabulary and Phrases For Money and Buying
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Practice Session 12: Money & Buying
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06
More Spanish Parts of Speech
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Reflexive Verbs
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Reflexive and Non Reflexive Verbs Worksheet
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Verbs: Imperfect Past (another form of the past)
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Verbs: Future and Conditional
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Practice Session 13: Reflexive thru Future and Conditional
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Verbs: Present and Past Participle
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The Verb Haber- to have
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Haber Conjugation worksheet
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Practice Session 14: Present and Past Participle thru Haber
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Quiz
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Adjectives: this and these, that and those
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Comparison Adjectives: more, less, bigger than, smaller than
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Comparison Adj. Worksheet
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Adjectives: each, every, rest of, both
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Practice Session 15: This, These, etc. thru Each, Every, etc
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Pronouns Direct Objects: me, you, him, us, them
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Quiz
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07
Common Pitfalls
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Para vs Por
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Para and Por Common Terms Worksheet
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Para vs Por Quiz
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Tiempo vs Vez: both mean "time"- The difference between the two
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Vez Worksheet
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Verbs: Ser vs Estar
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Ser vs Estar Worksheet
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Ser vs Estar Quiz
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Saber vs Conocer
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Saber vs Conocer Quiz
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Some and None: Alguno, Ninguno
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Alguno and Ninguno Worksheet
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Practice Session 16 Direct Object Pronouns thru The Pitfalls
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Meet Your Instructor
Mark Barnes
Before I was 20 years old I didn't know any Spanish, I bombed my 1 year of French in high school and thought I’d never be able to learn a second language. When I was 20 I took a 2-month crash course in Spanish and went to Mexico for two years where I continued to self-teach and mastered the Spanish language. I’ve been speaking Spanish now for 15 years. I’m a member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. I translated a couple hundred page book from Spanish to English for a Venezuelan author I met in Miami. I was an interpreter for a couple of landscape companies in Las Vegas and ran a business of my own in Spanish being that my employees were Spanish speakers. Over the years I've had a lot of people ask me if I can teach them to speak Spanish like I speak it. From these requests comes Spanish Made Simple. I've taken the concepts of how I learned and mastered Spanish and have simplified them so that those who take my courses will become conversational and fluent in Spanish in a simple step-by-step fashion.
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