March 9, 2020

How To Learn Spanish In 1 Hour A Day [With Kids]

About a year ago, there was a great article on BBC Worklife about the amount of time it takes a person to be bilingual in a new language.

According to their research and that of the FSI (Foreign Service Institute), a person can be fluent in Spanish in around 480 hours.

Spanish is a language that is so accessible to families living in the United States. Every year more and more books are published in Spanish and more Spanish language learning resources become available.

Learning Spanish for yourself and with your children can have so many benefits, and there are plenty of free resources to make it happen!

This BBC article talks more about language learning and recommends that people interested in learning a new language work at it for an hour a day, every day.

For a good read, check out the full BBC article here:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190219-how-to-learn-a-language-in-an-hour-a-day

1 hour a day!?

How are you supposed to practice for that long when you don’t know the language? Who has 1 hour a day?!

You can do it! First, make a schedule.

When I first started learning Spanish with my daughter, this is one of the things that really helped me to jump-start our learning- a schedule.

I made a consistent schedule and told myself, “we’ll only read books in Spanish” or “when we’re in the car, we’ll only talk and listen to things in Spanish”.

Making consistent times and locations for Spanish practice allows you to stay motivated and helps your brain to make better connections within the language.

For a complete guide to help you start learning a language at home, take a look at these:

Part 1: What Is The Best Age To Teach Your Child A Second Language?

Part 2: How To Create A Language Learning Schedule

Part 3: How To Find Resources That Maximize Your Language Learning Time

Part 4: You Can Do It! – Motivation For Bilingual Parenting

Next, find some resources that optimize your schedule.

One of the main points of the article states that the key to fluency comes in immersing yourself in the language through watching and reading materials in that language.

Learning vocabulary through flash cards can help you learn some new words and phrases, but doesn’t provide a person with true language fluency.

Instead of flash cards or memorizing vocabulary lists, I used Spanish music, books, podcasts and shows to immerse our family in fluent Spanish.

If you’re looking to jump-start you’re family’s hour of Spanish today, check out some of these great resources below!

Bilingual Babies: Spanish for Ages 0-3

Bilingual Kids: Spanish for Ages 3-6

Bilingual Big Kids: Spanish for Ages 7-12

Bilingual Teens: Spanish for Ages 13-18

How do you fit Spanish learning into your day?

Happy Learning!

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