Beginner Spanish Listening Practice – The Spanish Present Continuous Posted by Laura & Adam on Jul 17, 2018 in Learning, Spanish Grammar, Spanish Vocabulary
In this Spanish lesson we will practice using the Spanish Present Continuous. As usual, first we will review some relevant grammar and vocabulary and then see if you can follow a short listening.
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This lesson is part of a Spanish course that practices the grammar and vocabulary first introduced in my beginner Spanish course posted here on the Transparent Language blog. Let’s test your listening comprehension and see if you can understand a short audio in Spanish. The transcript to the audio will be given at the end of the post but please try not to look at it until you have tried playing and understanding the audio a few times.
Use the following link to watch the corresponding video lesson of the original course:
Beginner Spanish Lesson 36 Spanish Present Continuous
Please familiarise yourself with the following words and phrases before listening to the audio below:
Me encanta: I love it.
Todavía no: not yet
¿Te interesa?: Are you interested / Does it interest you?
Now play the audio to listen a conversation between two friends. Can you understand what they are saying? Play the audio a few times before you look at the transcript. Don’t worry if you don’t understand every single thing the two people are saying. Try to catch whichever words you can and then try to piece things together to work out what is being said.
(Play the audio a few times before you scroll down and look at the transcript)
Transcript:
Carla: Hola James ¿Qué estás leyendo?
James: Es un libro sobre la historia de España. Es muy interesante.
Carla: ¿Ah sí? Mmm A mí no me gusta mucho la historia.
James: A mí me encanta. Estoy estudiando Historia en la universidad. ¿Tú estás estudiando?
Carla: Sí, estoy estudiando biología.
James: Guau, suena difícil.
Carla: No, no es difícil. Es muy interesante. Bueno, me tengo que ir. Tengo que trabajar.
James: ¿Estás trabajando también?
Carla: Sí, estoy trabajando en un restaurante. La universidad es muy cara y necesito dinero. ¿Tú no estás trabajando?
James: Todavía no. Estoy buscando trabajo pero no he encontrado nada todavía.
Carla: ¿Ah sí? Pues en el restaurante donde trabajo están buscando camareros. ¿Te interesa?
James: Sí claro.
Carla: Ven conmigo esta noche y hablamos con mi jefe.
James: ¡Perfecto!
So, how did you get on? How much did you understand of the listening? Please let me know in the comments section below…
Don’t worry if you didn’t understand that much, keep reviewing the vocabulary and phrases and you will soon be up to speed and ready for the next lesson in this course. See you next time!
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About the Author: Laura & Adam
Laura & Adam have been blogging and creating online Spanish courses for Transparent Language since 2010. Laura is from Bilbao in northern Spain and Adam is from Devon in the south of England. They lived together in Spain for over 10 years, where their 2 daughters were born, and now they live in Scotland. Both Laura & Adam qualified as foreign language teachers in 2004 and since have been teaching Spanish in Spain, the UK, and online.
Comments:
Linda:
What a great idea to do it this way I am very interested in learning Spanish I understood most of the audio, But mostly because I was reading it at the same time
Hasta Luego:
Linda
Laura:
@Linda ¡Gracias Linda! Try not to read the transcript while listening to the mp3s. This is really important actually. We are aiming here to push and develop your listening skills and you need to be tough with yourselves to make this happen. The transcript is there just to check what you think you have understood. You will get there eventually if you stick with it and your Spanish will be all the better for this practice. Laura
Ade A:
I listened quite a few times and got some. I found that I understood more once I saw the transcript… Strengthening the idea that I’m better at reading it than listening… Whereas I want the reverse ..
Laura:
@Ade A You are right Ade – the reverse is what we are aiming for. Listening skills are the most useful and usually the trickiest to develop. But little by little. It is great that you are understanding with the transcript! Well done!!