10 Spanish Articles for Beginners: Learn to Read the News
Do you often struggle to find interesting and appropriate Spanish reading materials at your level? Good news! Las noticias can help you develop a daily learning habit since “the news” happens every day.
Reading the news is a great way to build useful vocabulary. Unlike literature, the vocabulary used in news is formulaic, making it ideal for those new to learning Spanish. Of course, you are free to tailor your learning to your interests. Whether you’re drawn to politics, business, sports, or culture, you can find easy Spanish articles on the topics that most interest you.
The plus side for learners is that Spanish articles published by reputable news sites use current language. You won’t find archaic words like you might in classic literature. What’s more, the news reports use common, formal language rather than slang. Spanish articles display everyday grammatical structures and vocabulary, used correctly in context. Doesn’t that sound better than spending hours drilling verb conjugations or vocabulary lists?
8 Simple Tips for Reading the News in Spanish
- Find news sources that genuinely interest you.
- Opt for international stories or universal topics. They are easier to understand than domestic news stories requiring background knowledge.
- Set yourself a goal of reading one or two Spanish articles per day.
- Designate a notebook where you jot down the new words you learn from each article.
- Review your notes after each news reading session and again at the end of each week.
- As a beginner, aim for simple vocabulary and short sentences.
- Select a story that suits your interests and time requirements.
- As you read, try to answer the questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Please note: the news is political in nature. Homeschool Spanish Academy does not endorse the content of the articles in the following links. We are simply aiming to provide a broad sampling of news sources to provide real-world reading resources to Spanish learners. Choose the ones that resonate with you from the selection below!
If you aren’t super interested in the news, this list includes a few fun alternative Spanish articles that aren’t about current events.
10 Spanish Articles for Beginners
1. Cómo ser optimista sin dejar de ser realista en tiempos del COVID
Original publication: practicaespanol.com
Summary: Positive thinking doesn’t mean seeing the pandemic through rose-colored glasses. It’s not about proclaiming that everything is great despite the coronavirus but rather adopting a perspective of realistic optimism. Change can be stressful but so is stubbornly resisting. Swimming against the current saps our energy.
2. Joe Biden y Kamala Harris lanzan la campaña para “reconstruir” el país
Published: August 12, 2020
Original publication: El País
Summary: The Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, Joe Biden, chose Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. If their ticket wins in November, she would become the first Black Vice President. Biden, the former vice president under Obama, said that his campaign seeks to “rebuild” the United States.
3. Cocinar calabacín será mucho más fácil con este truco
Published: August 13, 2020
Original publication: El HuffPost
Summary: Zucchini is a delicious and versatile vegetable. Many recipes that include this garden veggie require it to be grated. The problem is that zucchini consists of 95% water. In some recipes, that extra liquid is counterproductive. The solution is to drain it, but it is not such an easy task—or it wasn’t until now. You can use a French press to remove excess water.
4. Un gato interrumpe una reunión del Parlamento británico
Published: August 2, 2020
Original publication: Hola Qué Pasa
Summary: Cats don’t know about politics, meetings, or protocols. Yet, in July, a cat interrupted a meeting of the British Parliament. It was a virtual meeting: in times of coronavirus, politicians (like everyone else) hold meetings remotely using applications like Zoom. Scottish parliament member John Nicolson was speaking when his cat appeared on screen.
5. “Me costó 32 años, pero finalmente encontré a mi hijo que fue secuestrado y vendido”
Published: August 10, 2020
Original publication: BBC Mundo
Summary: Li Jingzhi spent more than three decades searching for her son, Mao Yin, who was kidnapped in 1988 and sold. In May, she finally got the call she had been waiting for.
6. Mujeres gamer: una lucha por la equidad de género en los videojuegos
Published: August 12, 2020
Original publication: El Espectador
Summary: What are the challenges of being a female videogamer? LauGamer talks about the development of her professional gaming career and the struggle for gender equality in the world of videogames.
7. Sean Penn se casa con una mujer 31 años menor que él
Published: August 11, 2020
Original publication: Hola Qué Pasa
Summary: Surely actor Sean Penn identifies with the saying, “Love is ageless.” Penn recently married 28-year-old actress Leila George, a woman 31 years his junior. This is Penn’s third marriage.
8. El Real Madrid se pone las pilas
Published: January 9, 2020
Original publication: Noticias Fácil
Summary: Get the basic facts about a soccer game between Real Madrid and Valencia, two famous Spanish teams. Who scored goals and which team won? (This site is full of Spanish articles that are extra short and simple, making it ideal for true beginners.)
9. Los beneficios de las “microcasas”
Published: August 28, 2019
Original publication: Spanish Unicorn
Summary: Learn all about the tiny house movement in Spanish. This site features a video and a text transcript so you can follow along and see the words in print. It also provides a quiz to test your reading comprehension.
10. Nacen nueve koalas tras los incendios que pusieron en peligro la especie en Australia
Original publication: El HuffPost
Summary: An Australian park welcomed nine koalas into their species conservation program. Wildfires destroyed the reserves of these animals in late 2019, endangering their survival. The arrival of these cute creatures is a ray of hope for the species. Watch this positive news story on video and read along.
Breaking News!
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this is great everyone here is so nice!
Thank you Rosalina!