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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
In this week’s episode, Mark and Alba talk about the different seasons of the year and about their own favourite times of year. This episode provides an opportunity for learners to learn to use the Spanish phrase o sea, and the combination of object pronouns is also covered. José’s intermedio introduces two ways to express
In episode 6 of Coffee Break Spanish Season 3, Mark and Alba discuss their recent visits to Edinburgh and will entertain you with some singing! José introduces two phrases to say that things are in a mess, and language points include the pluperfect tense and using double indirect pronouns, e.g. a mi madre le gusta
In episode 5 of Show Time Spanish we launch our very own Spanish soap opera, Verano Español, which tells the story of Spanish dad, Antonio, Scottish mum Iona, and bilingual daughter Laura and their adventures one summer in Spain. Each episode will provide you with listening practice, language study and information about the Spanish-speaking world.
In this fourth episode of Coffee Break Spanish Season 3, Mark has just returned from a week in London and he discusses the advantages and disadvantages of living in a village, town or city with Alba. We also meet Laura from Verano Español, our forthcoming soap opera. In José’s intermedio he introduces two phrases which
This lesson was originally released in October, so in lesson 3, Alba tells Mark about a Halloween party she attended. They discuss the traditions of Halloween. In the intermedio, José provides two alternative ways to say that you’re tired. Grammar points include reflexive verbs in different tenses, the subjunctive after quizás. Not the most seasonal
In our second episode of this series, Mark and Alba talk about languages and their own language skills. In the intermedio, José provides two phrases which can be used to tell someone that they are annoying you. Language points include progressive tenses using estar + gerund, and a particular use of the future tense. Please
Welcome to this first episode of Coffee Break Spanish Season 3! In this first episode of the series you’ll get to know our two main presenters, Mark and Alba, and you’ll also be meeting José who will help you to take your Spanish al siguiente nivel, “to the next level”. Please note that lesson 1
It’s the end of an era: the final episode of Coffee Break Spanish. In the final lesson of Season 2, it’s time for las despedidas, the goodbyes. Andrew will be returning to England and bidding farewell to María-José, and Mark and Kara will also be saying adiós to the listeners of Coffee Break Spanish. In
It’s the penultimate episode of this season of Coffee Break Spanish and we continue to follow the adventures of María-José and Andrew as they come to the end of their time together in Spain. This week Andrew is signing up for his course in the ayuntamiento and needs to ask for some directions. We’ll here
This week María-José and Andrew discuss their plans for the following week when Andrew’s friend arrives in Spain and María-José will be attending a conference in Madrid. In this episode we introduce the concept of the subjunctive, something which often confuses language learners. You’ll learn how to use the subjunctive with cuando when it refers
In this episode María-José tells Andrew about her visits to the Canary Islands. She uses lots of examples of the imperfect tense to describe what she used to do when she went there several times when she was younger. Please note that lesson 37 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 237 of Coffee
We’re returning to another episode featuring María-José and Andrew this week in which María-José will ask the question ¿Qué estás haciendo?, ‘What are you doing?’. We’re focusing on the present continuous tense. Please note that lesson 36 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 236 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons
We’re continuing our soap opera featuring María-José and Andrew and in this week’s episode Andrew needs some help with an assignment for his Spanish class. We’ll also be looking at the imperative – the command form – in this lesson. Please note that lesson 35 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 235 of
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