Are you trying to learn Spanish, but find yourself pressed for time? Whether you’re a full time student, managing a career or looking after children, time is of the essence when trying to learn any new skill. There just isn’t time! But, never fear. When learning the Spanish language, you can make progress little by little through frequent, short, but effective lessons. Here are a few to get you started:
Listen Spanish While You Work
You may not be able to listen to the radio while at your day job, but you can certainly spice up chores such as washing dishes by listening to some salsa music! Find some music easily online to practice hearing Spanish and before you know it, if you repeat the same song enough times, you’ll be singing along too! You can also try simple podcasts or listening to children’s stories being read. Youtube has a wealth of Spanish content to peruse through. Check out these children’s stories for something fun! So, what’s your excuse? Pick a chore you can do while listening such as cooking, washing dishes, folding laundry or general cleaning and perk your ears up!
Tag it Up
Increase your vocabulary one word at a time with post-it notes. Choose one word each day to learn and post it on your mirror or refrigerator. Each time you see the word, say it out loud and use it in a sentence. You’re sure to look at your refrigerator or mirror at least a few times each day. If you’re a basic student, you can extend this activity to include your whole house! Label the chairs, tables, doors, windows, bookshelf all with their respective Spanish names.
Use Meal Time to Practice Spanish
Wrap your family, coworkers and friends into learning Spanish with you. While enjoying your sandwich, name the ingredients in it in Spanish. Say a sentence or two about the weather, news or how your day was. You don’t have to spend the whole meal speaking in Spanish, but take advantage of the time you spend making small talk to practice a few sentences.
Shower Time Counts Too
Some people enjoy singing in the shower. Others think great thoughts. Take full advantage of your shower time by using it for a quick Spanish lesson. Take one minute prior to your shower to review a new verb tense, vocabulary word, grammar point, sentence structure or similar. Then, while in the shower, practice your pronunciation in a safe place and drill it! Repeat, make new sentences and say your verb conjugations out loud!
Write it Down
Take advantage of normal tasks like writing to-do lists and shopping lists in Spanish. You have to do it anyway, so put your brain to work, pull out your Spanish-English dictionary and write it down. You’ll have the verbs for chores down in no time and you can get your food vocabulary up to snuff too!
Although it may seem difficult to make time to learn Spanish, incorporate a few of the above Spanish lessons into your routine and you’ll make progress in no time!
