August 10, 2020 by Luis F. Dominguez HSA News and Reviews 0 comments

Learn Spanish from Home: What Do You Need to Know?

If you want to learn Spanish from home, you’ve come to the right place.

Now is a great time to learn Spanish from home. Not only because of the growing importance of the language but also because of the specific circumstances of the current pandemic.

Make the most of your free time at home, and learn the language you have always wanted to learn. What’s not to like?

In this post, we’ll explore different ways to learn Spanish from home and introduce you to some of the best options currently on the market.

Ways To Learn Spanish

With 21.8 million learners, Spanish competes with French and Mandarin as the second-most studied language in the world (English is number 1). Just in the United States there are over 8 million learners of the language of Cervantes.

This is a great time to learn Spanish and with the advance of new technologies, there are many options available to do it. Let’s check out some of the most common.

Traveling to a Spanish-speaking Country

This used to be “the way” everybody learned Spanish before. If you want to learn a language, go to the place where that language is spoken and immerse yourself in that environment.

This approach usually went hand-in-hand with enrollment in a language school in the country of your choice. And that brings us to our next topic:

Traditional Language School

Short of going abroad, this was the next best thing. You go to a language academy, enroll in a course, attend classes, and do your homework. Obviously, this was before the advent of the internet and the invention of apps.

Physical language schools are still an option. Many people find the self-discipline that non-traditional methods require challenging, and these schools provide students with the guidance and structure that they need.

Homeschooling

With the arrival of the internet, the whole “learn Spanish” market exploded (like everything else actually!), and many new options appeared. Homeschooling became a reality, and by the time coronavirus took the world by storm, it was almost unavoidable.

Perhaps the key benefit that homeschooling offers over traditional language schools is the wide array of resources available to enrich the learning process from home. You can enroll in an online language school, video conference with a language partner or download an app.

Let’s take a closer look at the learning possibilities available from home:

Spanish Immersion from Home

This idea is similar to what people think of when talking about going to a Spanish-speaking country for a full immersion experience. Only at home. If you have decided to learn Spanish, you can do it without even leaving your living room, and there will never be a better time for this than now.

Resources

Apps

If there is a thing that defines the zeitgeist of our times (besides selfies, that is), it must be apps. And language learning apps have enjoyed a boom in the last few years. Brands such as Duolingo, Busuu, Brainscape, and Rosetta Stone offer independence and flexibility.

Podcasts

If you want to learn Spanish, listening to native speakers is one of the best things you can do. They help you to train your ear to the Spanish accent and rhythm of speaking. Podcasts are an excellent resource, as you can listen while commuting, jogging, or even in bed. Besides, you can choose between popular Spanish podcasts, or focus on podcasts specifically designed to teach Spanish.

Videos

Videos in Spanish function the same way as podcasts. Here the main thing is the audio, as you need to train your ear, but sometimes it’s more entertaining to watch a video while learning Spanish. You can also watch TV series or telenovelas in Spanish, or choose videos designed specifically to help you learn Spanish.

Language Partner

I find this concept quite interesting. You look for a native Spanish-speaker and establish an agreement to talk in Spanish (either online or in-person), in exchange for a conversation in English afterward. It’s a win-win kind of deal. It’s also free (sometimes) and has become trendy worldwide.

Tutoring

This option is similar to the language partner concept but with a professional. Hiring a tutor to learn Spanish provides the added benefits of a program tailored to your specific needs, including time for review of concepts and grammar and genuine conversation with native and certified Spanish-speaking teachers.

Effective Routines

The problem with doing homeschooling or home office is that being at home makes it difficult to take it seriously. It’s not only a lack of discipline, you may have all the will power in the world, but might not know what to do.

So, once you’ve decided to learn Spanish at home, there are a few ideas that can help you achieve your goal.

Label Everything

Put a label in Spanish on everything that you can name in your home. Force your brain to read and think in Spanish all the time. Labeling helps you to expand your vocabulary and remind you of your learning goals.

Read in Spanish

Books, newspapers, comics, the menu at Taco Bell. Anything you can get your hands on that is in Spanish, read it. Nothing is more useful to develop a feeling for the grammar of a language than reading. Even if you don’t understand everything, don’t worry, and just keep reading.

Create a Space and Schedule

Create your own private school space in your home. Doing that, along with designing a schedule for your Spanish-learning activities, helps to create a much-needed learning environment.

Learn Spanish With Your Kids

One of the best things about homeschooling is the time you spent with your kids. With homeschooling, parents have the opportunity to learn Spanish and have fun while studying with their kids.

Songs in Spanish

What a better way to have fun with your kids than singing? And, if that helps you guys to learn Spanish in the process, even better. Learning songs in Spanish plays the same role as listening to podcasts, it trains your ear. But singing is a whole other story! Now you are actively practicing, not passively listening, and you’ll have a blast while doing it.

Books in Spanish

I mentioned it before as one of the best techniques to keep you on track while homeschooling. But here I’m talking about reading to and with your kids. By reading them books in Spanish that they already know in English, they can make associations between one language and the other, and you also keep developing their imagination and love for books. At the same time, as a parent, you will have no other option but to raise your Spanish level to the occasion.

Resources for Kids

The thing with the internet is that it’s almost infinite. There are tons of resources for everything, you just need to know where to look. Libraries, dictionaries, videos, apps, and other resources are available online for families who have chosen to go down the homeschooling road.

Homeschool Spanish Academy Programs

Homeschool Spanish Academy (HSA) is a great option once you have decided to learn Spanish from home. It offers fun classes with native Spanish-speaking teachers, flexible schedules, and courses for all ages.

Preschool Spanish Program

Suggested for kids aged 5 and 6 years old, the HSA preschool program aims to build the foundations for learning Spanish, focusing on pronunciation, greetings, and conversational phrases.

Elementary Spanish Program

Designed for kids from 6 to 10, this program builds the confidence to engage in conversation with a native speaker of the language. With fun and interactive classes of 25 minutes, students don’t get tired or distracted and make the most of the content at hand.

Middle School Spanish Program

This program is perfect for kids of 10 to 13 years old, as it offers longer sessions of 50 minutes. This is the time to start expanding their vocabulary, learn about the different tenses, and practice what they know in conversations with their certified tutors.

High School Spanish Program

With sessions of 50 minutes and suggested ages of 13 to 18, this course provides a more complex and rigorous program than any public high school program. Grammar and conversations are major topics in this program, and it has the great benefit of providing high school foreign language credits through a partnership with the North Atlantic Regional High School (NARHS).

Adult Spanish Program

The program for adults at HSA is tailored to your needs. It doesn’t matter if you have studied Spanish for years or you want to start from the basics, the flexibility of our learning method allows for different kinds of content. Actually, HSA also offers adult courses designed for specific industries such as medical, construction, or law enforcement.

Schedules

Although two sessions per week is the recommended frequency, HSA offers lots of flexibility in this regard. For kids and teenagers, programs can be modified to 1 to 3 sessions per week. The adults program adapts to the specific needs of the student.

The same thing happens with the number of students per class, as both individual and paired sessions are available from preschool to high school. Adult lessons are one-to-one sessions with the tutor.

Prices

Each program includes live instruction, assigned homework, and flexible scheduling.

One-student Program

	50-minute classes	25-minute classes
15 classes	$219 ($14.60 per class)	$149 (9.93 per class)
30 classes	$369 ($12.30 per class)	$249 ($8.30 per class)
60 classes	$599 ($9.98 per class – Best deal!)	$399 ($6.65 per class – Best deal!)

Two-student Program

	50-minute classes	25-minute classes
15 classes	$309 (20.60 per class)	$199 (13.27 per class)
30 classes	$549 ($18.30 per class)	$369 ($12.30 per class)
60 classes	$959 ($15.98 per class – Best deal!)	$639 ($10.65 per class – Best deal!)

sign up for a free trial class — *Click here to sign up for your FREE SPANISH CLASS today*

Learn Spanish Today!

Now that you know that you don’t need to leave your home to learn Spanish, it’s time to start working on your goals. Choose the program that best suits your needs. Make the most of Homeschool Spanish Academy’s amazing scheduling flexibility, and sign up today for a free trial lesson with a certified native Spanish-speaking teacher. Your vocabulary and fluency in Spanish will start improving from day one!

Want to learn more about HSA and what we offer? We look forward to serving you!

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Luis F. Dominguez

Freelance Writer at Homeschool Spanish Academy

Luis F. Domínguez is a freelance writer and independent journalist interested in travel, languages, art, books, history, philosophy, politics and sports. He has written for Fodor’s, Yahoo!, Sports Illustrated, Telemundo, and Villa Experience, among other brands of print and digital media in Europe and North America.