Spanish Year 1: Beginners — Course Contents

An introduction to the Spanish language and vibrant Hispanic culture, designed to get you communicating with confidence from day one.

Course Overview

This beginner programme offers a welcoming, interactive pathway into the Spanish language. Using a natural acquisition approach modelled on how we learn our mother tongue, the course prioritises spoken communication from your very first lesson. Whether you are learning for travel, work, or personal interest, you will develop practical language skills alongside insights into Spanish food, traditions, and local fiestas.

Course Highlights & Learning Format

• Active Speaking from Day One: Start speaking Spanish immediately in a friendly, supportive environment.
• Interactive Methodology: Learn through real-life role-play, conversational practice, and video resources.
• Balanced Class Dynamic: Gain confidence through both collaborative group activities and individual tasks.
• Four Core Skills: Balanced coverage of listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
• Cultural Immersion: Explore aspects of Spanish culture, cuisine, and celebrations throughout your studies.

What You Will Learn (Course Outcomes)

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Introduce yourself and others, greet people, and exchange personal details.
• Share background information, including your nationality, place of origin, residence, age, marital status, and profession.
• Ask and answer common questions, give phone numbers, spell names using the Spanish alphabet, and tell the time.
• Talk about your family, describe relationships, and indicate possession.
• Describe individuals, detailing both physical appearance and character traits.
• Navigate everyday shopping scenarios, such as asking for grocery items, inquiring about sizes, colours, weights, and quality, and understanding prices.

Detailed Syllabus & Topic Breakdown

Unit 1: First Contacts & Introductions

• Practical Skills: Greeting others, introducing yourself, asking and understanding basic questions, saying where you live, and stating where you are from.
• Key Topics: Greetings, exchanging personal information, nationalities, and telephone numbers.
• Grammar & Language Tools: Personal subject pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella, nosotros/as, vosotros/as, ellos/as), the Spanish alphabet, spelling names, and numbers 1 to 15.
• Core Verb: Introduction to the verb to be (SER).

Unit 2: Personal Details, Numbers & Telling Time

• Practical Skills: Exchanging phone numbers, saying your age, discussing marital status, and asking for and giving the time.
• Key Topics: Age, marital status, the time, professions, and place of origin.
• Grammar & Language Tools: Gender and number rules for nouns (masculine, feminine, singular, plural), definite and indefinite articles (el, la, los, las), and numbers up to 100.
• Core Verbs: The verb to have (TENER) and the verb to be (ESTAR).

Unit 3: Work, Study & Everyday Conversations

• Practical Skills: Talking about what you do for a living, describing where you work or study, and finding out more detailed information about other people.
• Key Topics: Getting to know others better and exploring the Spanish language across the world.
• Grammar & Language Tools: Introduction to regular Spanish verb conjugation patterns for verbs ending in -AR, -ER, and -IR.

Unit 4: Family Life & Relationships

• Practical Skills: Introducing family members, discussing relationships, expressing possession, and asking quantity questions ("how many").
• Key Topics: Family members and family connections.
• Grammar & Language Tools: Family vocabulary, demonstrative pronouns (éste, ésta, éstos, éstas), and possessive pronouns (mi, mis, tu, tus, su, sus, nuestro/a, vuestro/a, etc.).

Unit 5: Describing Appearance & Character

• Practical Skills: Describing what people look like and discussing their personality traits.
• Key Topics: Physical appearance and personal character.
• Grammar & Language Tools: Descriptive adjectives for appearance and personality.
• Verb Focus: Understanding and contrasting the usage of SER, ESTAR, and TENER.

Unit 6: Out & About: Shopping, Groceries & Supermarkets

• Practical Skills: Asking for goods in grocery shops and supermarkets, querying weights, sizes, colours, and quality, asking "how much", and understanding prices.
• Key Topics: Types of shops, supermarket goods, and commerce.
• Grammar & Language Tools: Supermarket vocabulary and large numbers up to one million.
• Core Verbs: Essential irregular verbs querer (to want) and poder (to be able to)