Shadowing Practice: BEST resources to learn Spanish + language study plans A1 to C2 2025 UPDATED - Learn English Speaking with Video
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If you have been learning Spanish solo, you know that it is overwhelming to see how many resources are out there to learn.
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In this video, I'm going to give you not an exhaustive list, but a list of my absolute favorite resources that I used.
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I will also be able to give you sample study plans from A1 all the way up to C2.
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The first thing to have in mind is that I always, whenever self -studying, use a base resource.
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And a base resource is one resource, one program, or one book, one course that you are learning Spanish from in a more structured way.
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These usually contain the biggest amount of content.
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And I love to use this as a point in how to structure my learning in the first place, because sometimes I don't know,
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you know, what grammar concept or what kind of vocabulary list I should, or is most helpful for me to learn at a certain level,
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if you know what I mean.
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So the best base resources that I've found for my journey are University of Texas at Austin Spanish proficiency exercises.
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Now all skills you can work on with them except for speaking.
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They cover the full CFR range of A1 to C2, all with structured tasks.
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So beginning, intermediate, advanced, superior, each including grammar exercises, video interviews, reading, vocabulary, as well as cast episodes.
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I did also really enjoy using this as I was preparing to take the DELE C1 exam.
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It was a great review for more advanced vocabulary concepts, but also filling in some gaps that I needed to do from B1 grammar and up.
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Also, this is all free, by the way.
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Profe de Ele also offers a lot of resources, even on its free tier.
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So you have a lot of level segmented content aligned with the CEFR A1 to C2 levels.
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This includes songs, podcasts, lectures, videos, quizzes on vocabulary, on grammar, and on culture.
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I found this works best for getting a lot of varied media outside of your base resource.
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Any sorts of open source courses are great on either Coursera or edx .org.
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If you want to use any of these courses as a base resource, they have a lot of very beginner courses.
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So even if you're starting from absolute zero in Spanish, highly recommend you hop on this website and see what's available.
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Now, some of my favorite Spanish learning apps are Busuu on the free tier.
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It offers a lot of structured lessons, again, from A1 all the way to C1, including grammar, writing, and speaking prompts, a vocabulary.
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There's also a community sort of corrections forum where you can get feedback on what you wrote.
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Again, not a lot of speaking opportunity, especially if you are on their free tier,
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but I still found it a very useful resource to keep on honing my other skills.
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Memrise is a great vocabulary app that uses a lot of visual mnemonics, spaced repetition, as well as audio recordings from native speakers.
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There are also decks that are made from different community members that you can then take for personal use,
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and you can either test reading practice and or listening practice.
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So listening just to the audio and then picking out the word that you heard,
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either writing it in or picking one of four options for multiple choice.
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The BeLingua app is great if you love comprehensible input for learning.
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You're essentially reading dual language text side by side
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and the program does highlight for you where you are in a text with excellent audio playback.
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Another thing I love to do is download slides from Lingoda.
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If I don't want to take classes and I just want to see what they have as their curriculum,
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I find that everything is really well structured.
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Again, according to levels, A1 all the way up to either C1 or C2.
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And I found
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that this is just a really good supplement for getting material to practice vocabulary under a certain category
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and or review a certain grammar concept
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and have it explained in a slightly different way than in my other materials
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and also have to solidify these concepts even more now the best spanish dictionaries as well as conjugation websites
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that i have found reverso context you can get
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so many phrases for free with just one word i also love spanish dict
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which also has a lot of great example phrases for the word that you're looking up as well as great pronunciation pointers.
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I also enjoy lingua tools .de.
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Now this is what is called a collocation dictionary, and it's essentially helping you see your one word and pairing it with another word.
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So you can learn both words in context.
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Cooljugator and CoolGamos are some of the best websites that I've seen that not only let you practice conjugating verbs in Spanish,
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but also let you see all of the verb tenses and how they're conjugated in one place.
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Especially if you feel overwhelmed with the Spanish verbs.
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These are both really great reference points.
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YouTube channels that I recommend for complete beginners are first
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Butterfly Spanish with Ana Guardia.
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She has more of a focus on Mexican Spanish, but does offer comprehensive lessons in pronunciation,
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vocabulary, phrases, and she does throw in some cultural tips explaining in both Spanish and English.
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As a visual learner myself, I did find her content very easy to follow, especially because she likes to incorporate whiteboard usage and other visuals.
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Super Holly is great for anyone from A2 and up, especially learning some of the slang that you would never learn probably in a Spanish classroom.
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That's all I'm going to say about that, but she was honestly one of my favorite creators that I found
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when I was really in the thick of my solo Spanish journey.
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Español con Juan is a great channel
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that uses a lot of comedy totally in Spanish in order for you to learn with more fun.
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Juan has a lot of great skits and role plays that even for A1 or A2 learners,
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they can pick up on what he is saying by all of the actions that he's doing in the video.
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So especially when I didn't want anyone explaining to me in English what I needed to know, even though I was between A1 and A2,
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it felt empowering for me to consume Juan's content because it was all in Spanish, but he was still speaking clearly and slowly enough,
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what would a resource video be without mentioning easy Spanish?
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Essentially, these are street interviews in Spain and in Latin America,
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and the creators really want to curate a listening environment where the listeners can have authentic real -life Spanish spoken to them.
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The native speakers that are interviewed give totally unscripted answers,
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and there is also a segment of super easy Spanish where even if you are at a A1,
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you can start using their immersive content from the beginning.
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Why Not Spanish is more of a Colombia -based YouTube channel with bilingual hosts.
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They do a lot of entertaining videos in both Spanish with a little bit of English support,
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and a lot of their focus is on daily life, cultural notes, Spanish that you would need while you are traveling, as well as grammar usage.
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Let's Speak Spanish features a group of instructors based in Spain, and I do like that the playlists are really ordered so
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that you do if you want to have a systematic progression of how you consume their content.
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Spanish and Go is more of a Puerto Rico, Mexico centered travel vlog style YouTube channel.
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So you get a lot of bilingual vlogs on culture or travel.
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There's a lot of practical dialogues with visual context
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and you can really get a lot of good immersive everyday Spanish by following this channel.
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Practiquemos by Catalina has Spanish only videos which focus more on grammar.
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So you can really hone any sort of mistakes you keep on making or just to learn new concepts with accentuation,
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common errors, and she gives really clear explanations with all of this.
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Linguariosa with Elena is kind of a step above the previous channel mentioned.
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She really concentrates on advanced linguistic insight and does even more deep dives into Spanish grammar, etymology, anglicisms, variation across dialects,
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all in pure Spanish as well.
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And now some podcast recommendations for the very beginners i usually recommend coffee break spanish
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which provide simple sort of bilingual lessons so there is spanish
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and english used they're really short about 15 minutes or less
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and you get a lot of cool dialogue
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which covers some grammar a little bit of pronunciation etc simple
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stories in spanish contain short slow -paced stories narrated with vocabulary intros
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and they're very ideal especially for a2 listeners 15 minute spanish for your job features more workplace themed scenarios.
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So small talk, talking about travel, ordering coffee, all coming with clear explanations,
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especially if you have limited time and or you just simply want to refresh beginner Spanish for a trip,
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then this is a great little podcast for that.
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Spanish lessons with Pablo are more conversational lessons.
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They are longer and they're aimed more at new learners just with building basic grammar and vocab foundations.
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Daily Easy Spanish offers news read to listeners in slow Spanish and often with English explanations for more A2B1 listeners.
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I also enjoy story learning Spanish.
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So these are story -based episodes more for low intermediate learners.
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You're going to get natural repetition, vocabulary reinforcement, as everything is narrated to you in Spanish.
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Spanish Obsessed has both beginner and intermediate tracks, and you get a lot of, again, practical dialogues with daily life, conversations about travel.
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You get more information about differences in usage such as tu versus usted
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and some discussion about colombian culture lightspeed spanish is great for intermediate stories
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so you get focus lessons like using directions getting more grammar
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reinforcement for more high intermediate to advanced learners b2 plus
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i recommend here notes in spanish now this series contains natural conversations about more cultural topics such as cinema
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or tapas or love it features dialogues between an english speaker and a native Spanish speaker.
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Doorway to Mexico features more bilingual Mexican -themed episodes, more focusing on the street food there, on the history, any sorts of colloquial phrases,
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and all of the context is usually explained in post -dialogue.
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News in Slow Spanish features more simplified news updates at a more moderate pace and you can choose in between
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Latin American or Spanish versions, just depending on what kind of Spanish you want to learn.
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Horario Ambulante has long form sort of narrative journalism on Latin American life and current affairs.
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So it's a really good sort of B2 listening practice, especially if you want to learn to understand more varied accents across the Spanish speaking world.
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La Serrara's podcast features more personal real life stories from Latin America.
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They are socially relevant in terms of themes and also comes with transcripts available.
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TED Talks has their own podcast just for Spanish on a range of interesting topics.
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Highly recommend you check those out, especially if you are more advanced looking for more comprehensible input.
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Charlas Hispanas also has two great hosts that I love to learn from, especially the colloquialisms from Mexico and just sharing a lot of their adventures.
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For absolutely advanced listeners, I suggest Espanolistos, which feature more cultural debate, interviews, fully Spanish content.
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I like these because you can really start to pick up on cultural context
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and more nuanced inferred meanings of what someone is saying.
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La Borega is more
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Puerto Rico focused, sort of a bilingual series with production value and deep cultural storytelling in Spanish.
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Vanguardia de la Ciencia is science journalism episodes in Spanish, usually about sort of daily phenomena, listener questions, and research.
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And Leyendas Legendarias is more of a Mexican comedy sort of history paranormal podcast, so they come with longer episodes,
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rich in vocabulary, and a lot of fast -paced narration.
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Now the miscellaneous section for any sort of extra vocab practice, music, blogs, and exchanges.
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For music, I love to type into maybe
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Spotify or YouTube the top 100 most popular songs in the year of whatever 2024 in Mexico or in Spain, et cetera.
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I also find lyrics training to be very helpful with also not only finding music that you like,
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but also training your ear to understand everything the singer is talking about.
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You essentially fill in the gaps with what you think the singer has said, and you get to check and reinforce your listening that way.
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Vocabulary practice, I've already mentioned Memorize as a great resource if you want to learn vocabulary, especially under a certain category.
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Anki is also really good.
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Clothesmaster is great.
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I did a full review on Clothesmaster, by the way, here in the corner.
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For language exchanges, any sort of apps like HelloTalk,
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Tandem, Italki, or Meetup, they all have great opportunities in order to find a language exchange partner.
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And if you're interested in more articles coming from news outlets that you sometimes do need to pay a subscription for,
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but it really is totally worth it because you do get authentic reading materials in Spanish, then I recommend
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El País, DW en Español, C en N Español, and BBC Mundo to start out with for your browsing.
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And they all also have YouTube channels with them as well if you want to practice listening outside of just reading articles.
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For books, I recommend SpanishNovels .net.
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There are tons of well -written Spanish novels for all levels and labeled as such, and they can even be purchased in a bundle,
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especially during like sales time for Cyber Monday in November.
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Now we have come to the sample study plans.
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The plan I recommend for A1 lasts about an hour a day.
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We'll do the UT Austin task for A1 plus one task from the Profe de Ele website
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which will last about 30 minutes.
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App drills on bilingua for about 20 minutes and then some memorized vocab review for about 10 minutes.
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For A2 which might more around an hour
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and 15 minutes you do your Profe de Ele tasks for
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A2 plus listening from the UT of Austin for any sort of special grammar concepts
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that you really need to solidify might need more practice on for about 35 minutes
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you'll then write via a prompt from busu
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which also comes with pure correction for about 15 minutes about one of the topics
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you listen to in either profede in it or the ut austin website
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that you completed in your first half of the hour you can do memorize
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or onki vocab for about 10 minutes for that especially
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if during writing you had to look up a few words you didn't know
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and then finish off with some light reading
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and listening with the Blingua app short story in Spanish for the last 15 minutes.
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B1, you can take about an hour and 30 minutes.
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Complete some of the UT Austin B1 tasks for about 30 minutes.
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Grammar and conjugation drills and mini quizzes on conjugamals .com for about 15 minutes.
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Writing prompts on Busuu for about 20 minutes.
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And then the last 25 minutes, again, reading and listening via the Blingua app to improve your reading and to finish out your study session.
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For B2, for about an hour and 30 minute session, you can try any of the grammar tasks
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or listening skills listed under the advanced category on the University of Texas at Austin.
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And, or you can also take this time to review certain grammar points on Lingoda with their slides.
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Maybe spend about 40 minutes really honing what you are practicing in your grammar, listening, reading, writing, whatever skill you decide to work on that day.
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Another 15 minutes doing some more grammar deep dives that you might need to investigate more through the channel Linguriosa or Pratiquemos.
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You can then do some writing and or listening practice with Busuu using one of their prompts according to the B2 level,
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and then finish out with some light reading either through the Blingua app
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or challenging yourself to read a news article on either BBC Mundo or El País.
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For C1 to C2, this study session would also take about an hour and a half.
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You could use this time to pick out an article from a huge range of sources,
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either from a video you recently listened to from the news
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and or an article that you found on a website you might be browsing.
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Read through it, listen to it, and take a few notes that summarize the main points of what this article or video talked about.
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For the 20 minutes after that, you're going to hit recording on your phone.
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Any sort of recording app will do.
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Give a brief summary about the main points that you heard
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or read from your article or video summarize them as well as give your opinion about what you liked,
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disliked, what could be improved about how the article is written
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or how the information is relayed to you as an audience member.
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And then for the next 20 minutes or so, you could take this same article
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and start writing about a summary of what you consumed today from the same article or video,
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take a picture, maybe send it off to your tandem partner or teacher for corrections later.
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And then for the end of the session, really end it through your favorite comprehensible input content.
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So your favorite podcast youtube channel blogger
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if you're reading a novel you can finish your session out really well
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that way with something that you enjoy hopefully this video was helpful for you guys
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if you have any other suggestions for really good quality spanish
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resources make sure to let us know down in the comments below and i'll catch you in another video next time
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “BEST resources to learn Spanish + language study plans A1 to C2 2025 UPDATED”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: spanish, grammar, vocabulary, resource, especially. This video has 201 sentences and 3023 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:36. The speaker talks fast, about 182 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grammar noun | /ˈɡɹæm.ə(ɹ)/ | A system of rules and principles for the structure of a language, or of languages in general. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| resource noun | /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ | Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel. |
| lesson noun | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | A section of learning or teaching into which a wider learning content is divided. |
| podcast noun | /ˈpɑdˌkæst/ | A program, especially an audio program, produced on a regular basis, delivered over the Internet in a compressed digital format and designed for playback on… |
| listener noun | /ˈlɪs(ə)nɚ/ | Someone who listens, especially to a speech or a broadcast. |
| dialogue noun | /ˈdaɪəˌlɑɡ/ | A conversation or other form of discourse between two or more individuals. |
| intermediate adjective | /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/ | Being between two extremes, or in the middle of a range. |
| beginner noun | /bəˈɡɪnɚ/ | Someone who is just starting at something, or has only recently started. |
| bilingual adjective | /baɪˈlɪŋ.ɡwəl/ | Having the ability to speak two languages fluently. |
| essentially adverb | /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/ | In essence: by nature. |
| phrase noun | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | A short written or spoken expression. |
| prompt verb | /pɹɑmpt/ | To lead (someone) toward what they should say or do. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| audio adjective | /ˈɔ.di.oʊ/ | Focused on audible sound, as opposed to sight. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| pick out verb | To remove by picking. | |
| pick up on verb | To notice, observe, learn, or understand, especially something otherwise overlooked. | |
| finish out verb | To finish up, to complete, something previously started, particularly a time frame. | |
| read through verb | To thoroughly read something to check or proofread it. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are made · is called · are interviewed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've found · have it explained · have found |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 23 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, they're, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, thick /θɪk/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, dictionary /ˈdɪk.ʃəˌnɛ.ɹi/, corrections /kəˈɹɛkʃənz/
- Long words — get the stress right: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, intermediate /ɪn.tə(ɹ)ˈmi.di.ət/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, explanation /ˌɛkspləˈneɪʃən/, pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like grammar, vocabulary, resource.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.