Learn Spanish: Basic Spanish Vocabulary by UC Davis (Coursera)
Offered by University of California, Davis on Coursera, this specialization is one of the most popular courses for learning Spanish online. It enjoys a stellar rating with more than 107K enrolments. The program is designed for beginners who have no prior experience in Spanish.
This is a self-paced, 5 course series specialization and focuses on developing sets of vocabularies that form the foundation for a broad understanding of the Spanish language. It starts with the basics, including common expressions, grammar and pronunciation, and works towards building a functional vocabulary of the 1500 most commonly used Spanish words and phrases. The topics covered in the courses are:
- Spanish Vocabulary around meeting people, family & friends, places and weather
- Common cultural experiences of the Spanish-speaking world
- Talking about markets, food, leisure and daily routines
- Vocabulary around sports & pastimes, travel, politics, living arrangements
- Vocabularies in the areas of dining, fashion, professions and careers
There are a number of exercises and practice quizzes along with a good amount of reading lessons to help learners build a working Spanish vocabulary. The practice quizzes help to cement the concepts learnt. The participants are encouraged to keep practicing the language outside of the course as well.
During the course of the program, learners are required to demonstrate their language skills through a short written piece and an oral presentation to be graded by their peers. The final Capstone project involves preparing a written travel to a Spanish speaking nation for an extended period of time for either business or pleasure travel.
Each course in the program provides around 16-18 hours of learning, and the entire program can be completed in 5 months or less with around 5 hours of effort per week.
Key Highlights
- Learn the basics of Spanish
- Build a working vocabulary of 1,500 of the most used words and phrases in Spanish
- Interactive activities, including speaking, reading and writing exercises to cement the understanding
- Peer-reviewed assignments and community discussion forums to connect with fellow learners
- Excellent for anyone who wants to be able to read, write and speak Spanish for personal, travel or business use
Duration : 5 months, 5 hours per week
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