We recently surveyed our audience, and one of the biggest stumbling blocks across all levels of learner was speaking. And that’s understandable: speaking can be tough!

We need to not only follow a conversation and think of something relevant and (hopefully) interesting to say, but then summon up the right words, put them in the right order, conjugate the verbs, decline the adjectives, and then pronounce them so that people can actually understand us.

Of course, our brains don’t approach it in this way – but there’s no doubt, speaking well is a highly taxing mental activity.

Add to that lack of confidence, noisy environments, multiple speakers, and it’s no wonder that many learners prefer just to study a book, thinking they’ll “get to” speaking when they’re ready.

I know how this feels, because I’ve been through that process and have come out the other side.

When you can finally put it all together and express yourself fluently, there’s no other feeling like it.

It’s my belief that most people take far too long to reach this stage and are actually capable of reaching it much sooner. Being fluent is actually simpler than you think. It requires a few ingredients:

• A base level of Spanish (if you’re a beginner, you do need the basics first)…
• An ability to “zoom out” of a conversation, and follow broader trends (tone, the scenario, number of speakers, etc)
• Having an arsenal of “pre-fabricated” phrases that you can rely on and stitch together
• Not brashness, but an ability to stay calm, listen to people, and coherently pull your ideas together.
• The ability to relax and feel at home when you don’t understand 100% of what’s going on.

By improving each of these areas, and identifying your weaknesses, you can build conversational fluency.

Having worked on these myself and taken 100’s of students through these stages as an English teacher, we’re now systematising our approach. We’ll focus on each of these points and guide you through them as you build your fluency.

You can have that liberating feeling of fluency,  and of confidence and relaxation in your conversations. Isn’t that why you’re learning Spanish, after all?

In this course:

• 30 podcast course, including:
• Conversation strategies: Self correction, paraphrasing, “getting around” vocabulary, and more
• Phrases toolkit: Helping you build your “pre-fabricated” phrases that you can pull out in conversations
• Actual conversation: Analysis and breakdown of real, native Spanish conversation
• Loosener and pronunciation exercises
• Relaxation and speaking confidence exercises

You’ve been learning Spanish around a year now. You’re certainly not a beginner any more, but every time you switch on to some Spanish TV, or brave a book in Spanish, you want to just give up again. They talk at 100 mph and use vocabulary you’ve never heard before or since!

Can you relate to this? If so, you’re in what we call the gap. You’re in that stage between beginner and intermediate, where you’ve mastered the easy parts, and feel like Spanish is now more of a slog. You’re not making progress so quickly, and your motivation is starting to wane.

I’ve certainly been there and can sympathise.

If you can push through this stage, then you have a high chance of becoming an advanced Spanish speaker. We’ve designed this course to help you.

We are calling this our “pre-intemediate” course, and it’s focused on helping you solidify common vocabulary, structures, and patterns, through 10 engaging stories. We’ve handpicked these stories, and they range from Latin American myths and legends, through to biographies of pop-stars (ever heard of Shakira?), historical episodes, and modern-day miracles.

• 10 stories, split over 30 episodes.
• Natural, comprehensible Spanish.
• High exposure to common vocabulary, patterns, and structures.
• Digestible, engaging, and enjoyable
• Language analysis – we’ll highlight useful phrases and structures you need to know, break them down for you, and help you practise them