BBC Spanish Courses

[Tomisimo]

BBC has a few free Spanish courses that some of you might like to take advantage of.

Mi Vida Loca is a multi-media Iberian Spanish course. It's heavy on video (22 half-hour episodes) and has other materials like printable lists of vocabulary, grammar notes and a mini version which gives you the meat of each video in a shorter format. You can view the syllabus and print vocabulary lists, grammar notes, and transcripts of the videos there. Before getting your hopes up, try viewing one of the videos— they seem to be blocked in some countries outside the UK.

Talk Spanish is a ten part introduction to Spanish. It is divided into topics corresponding to specific activities. Each topic has a video or two, followed byflash-based activities to practice vocabulary and grammar. The videos are accompanied by transcripts. Printable worksheets are also available to help you practice what you're learning.

Spanish Steps is a collection of slide shows that teach you beggining Spanish conversation and vocabulary. You can view the syllabus, vocabulary list, and a list of grammar tips that are otherwise spread around the different units of the course.

BBC also has similar courses for French, German, Italian, Greek, Chinese, and other languages. It's really a pretty worthwhile resource, and while you may not become fluent by using it, it certainly won't hinder your learning efforts.