Speed Spanish

About This Course

Imagine yourself speaking, reading and writing Spanish. Now you can with Speed Spanish! This course is designed for anyone who wants to learn Spanish pronto. You'll learn six easy recipes for gluing Spanish words together to form sentences. In no time at all, you'll be able to go into any Spanish speaking situation and converse in Spanish. ¡Qué Bueno!

About The Instructor

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Dan Mikels.

Dan Mikels is a college instructor who has been teaching Spanish for more than 20 years. He holds a Master's degree and has authored and coauthored more than 20 educational products, including Speed Spanish, Fast French, and a variety of reading programs.

Syllabus

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

Week 1

Wednesday - Lesson 01

Just like in English, Spanish sentences are made up of different parts-nouns, verbs, and phrases. In this course, you'll learn how to glue those different parts together using a series of recipes. This first lesson will teach you the Magic Circle Recipe-a recipe so powerful that, by learning 200 vocabulary words, you'll be able to say close to 150,000 sentences in Spanish. Learn a little, do a lot!

Friday - Lesson 02

In this lesson, we'll continue to explore the Magic Circle Recipe and we'll talk about a new one, too: The Hay Recipe. Hay means there is/there are. Think of how many sentences you can say that start this way! You'll also learn some fun Spanish phrases, and by the time we're through, you'll be creating more and more sentences.

Week 2

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Now it's time to combine the Magic Circle and Hay Recipes, but our bigger goal of the day is to learn to move quickly from one recipe to another. Fluency in Spanish is all about switching from one recipe to another. This lesson will help you get up to speed!

Friday - Lesson 04

In this lesson, we'll move on to our third recipe, the ¿Dónde Está? Recipe. We'll also learn more parts to the Magic Circle Recipe and lots more vocabulary. And you'll take your first giant step toward Spanish fluency by learning everything you need to know to converse in a Spanish-speaking restaurant.

Week 3

Wednesday - Lesson 05

In this lesson, you'll practice the three recipes we've discussed in the previous lessons. You'll also learn adjectives, numbers, and how to tell time in Spanish. And put on your track shoes because it's time for a few speed drills to teach you how to respond quickly with your newly learned Spanish!

Friday - Lesson 06

Since it's a great start to any conversation, this lesson will teach you how to talk about the weather in Spanish. You'll also learn about the seasons, the months of the year and the days of the week. We'll also look at a few more fun phrases and practice some more speed drills.

Week 4

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Today we'll travel to a Spanish-speaking country and I'll introduce you to my hapless old friend, David Smith. You'll need to learn some travel-related vocabulary and fun phrases for our journey, so we'll go over all you need to know in this lesson.

Friday - Lesson 08

In this lesson, you'll learn our fourth recipe, Tengo/Tiene, and a few related fun phrases. You'll also learn to produce wh-questions-who, what, when, where and why? Our major goal in this lesson will be to become quicker in using your four recipes and fun phrases.

Week 5

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Is there a doctor en la casa? Today's lesson will teach you how to discuss physical and mental health issues in Spanish. We'll also learn how to identify different types of clothing. And we'll go over many more vocabulary words that you can use with recipes one through four.

Friday - Lesson 10

Our fifth recipe is Quiero/Quiere, which means I want/you want. That means we'll learn how to share our wants and needs in everyday Spanish-speaking situations. Also, you've learned a lot of verbs in our previous lessons. In this one, we'll add a few reflexive verbs to your vocabulary.

Week 6

Wednesday - Lesson 11

By learning recipe six, Me gusta/Le gusta, you'll be able to share your likes and dislikes in Spanish-speaking situations. Also today, you'll practice recipes one through five, and learn a score of occupational-related vocabulary.

Friday - Lesson 12

¡Qué Extraño! In this final lesson, you'll learn to speak on the phone in Spanish. We'll also practice how to produce complex negative sentences so you can get mad in Spanish! And we'll do one final search for mi amigo, David Smith!

Requirements

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader). and a computer equipped with working speakers or headphones.