Season 3 – Lesson 16 – Coffee Break Spanish

Episode 16 features a conversation between Alba and Mark about what they’ve been doing since they last saw each other. Grammar points covered include possessive pronouns, and uses of the subjunctive. This week’s intermedio features a presentation of Barcelona from Alba, and José looks at some more interesting ways of talking about going out for a drink or for something to eat. Please note that lesson 16 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 316 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 15 – Coffee Break Spanish

Episode 15 features the third installment of our telenovela, Verano Español. Find out the latest about the life of Laura and her mother as they spend the summer in Spain en la casa de tía Julia. How will Laura cope on her first day in her new job at the panadería? Please note that lesson 15 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 315 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 14 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 14, Mark and Alba are joined by David, el novio de Alba. Topics discussed include Galicia, (the region of Spain where David is from), St Valentine’s day, romantic Spanish and the imperfect subjunctive. In this week’s intermedio, Alba talks about the film Diarios de Motocicleta, and José introduces some different ways to express disbelief. Please note that lesson 14 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 314 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 13 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 13, Mark and Alba discuss social networks including Facebook and Twitter and their value for language-learning. In addition, in this week’s intermedio, José discusses effective ways to say you’ve had enough of something, and Alba talks about the film Habana Blues. Grammar points discussed include subjunctive after el hecho de que, preferir que and the imperative in the vosotros form. Please note that lesson 13 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 313 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 12 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 12, Mark and Alba get all poetic as they celebrate the 250th anniversary of el poeta nacional de Escocia, Robert Burns. Alba learns some Scots and in return she teaches Mark a poem by Spanish poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. The intermedio includes a review of the film Secretos del Corazón, and José introduces some interesting ways to convey the concept of “to fancy doing something”. Language points covered include how to translate “to realise” and the construction estar a punto de + infinitive, meaning ‘to be about to do something’. Please note that lesson 12 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 312 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 11 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 11, the first episode of 2009, Mark and Alba talk about the holidays and about their New Year’s Resolutions. Alba presents a review of the film La Lengua de las Mariposas in the intermedio, and José’s topic of the week is paying compliments to people. Grammar points covered include the use of sí que for emphasis, and talking about how long you did things for in the past using both durante and a more simple preterite tense. Please note that lesson 11 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 311 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 26 – Coffee Break French

We return to Alf’s story this week on Coffee Break French and his wife, Jennifer, has finally arrived in France. Alf has been preparing for her arrival, both with the house renovations and he’s even learned to cook! As usual there are plenty of useful expressions and interesting grammar points in this week’s lesson. In addition, following many requests from our members, the extended version of this week’s lesson features an introduction to a new tense, the Past Historic, which is a narrative tense used in literary texts. Please note that lesson 26 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 326 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 10 – Coffee Break Spanish

It’s time for our second installment of the Coffee Break Spanish telenovela, Verano Español. Laura and her mother have just arrived in Spain to spend the summer in the house they’ve recently inherited from tía Julia. In this episode we’ll meet some of their new neighbours and Laura makes a new friend.

Season 3 – Lesson 09 – Coffee Break Spanish

In this 09th episode of our intermediate-advanced Spanish course, Mark and Alba discuss Christmas traditions in Spain. José introduces a couple of phrases which you can tell someone not to take something the wrong way in this week’s intermedio. Grammar points covered include al + infinitive, por and para, volver a hacer algo, and expressions which are followed by the subjunctive including antes de que, sin que and para que. Please note that lesson 09 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 309 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 25 – Coffee Break French

This week on Coffee Break French Veronica is feeling a bit down in the dumps: elle a le bourdon ce soir ! She has been doing some thinking about her future and the fact that she is accro au travail – addicted to her work. This episode provides lots of examples of interesting grammar and vocabulary in use, and you’ll learn about question formation, reported speech and lots more! Please note that lesson 25 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 325 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

Season 3 – Lesson 08 – Coffee Break Spanish

In episode 8, Alba and Mark discuss smoking laws in different countries. Language points covered include the future perfect tense, eg. “I will have stopped smoking”, the use of soler, and the phrase pillar a alguien desprevenido. José’s intermedio covers two phrases which you can use to describe how well you speak Spanish. Please note that lesson 08 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 308 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.