Mandarin might dominate the pure numbers game, and English may be the lingua franca of computing and commerce, but when measured by sheer linguistic internationality, Spanish cannot be beat.
Dominating the western hemisphere with the world’s second largest body of native speakers, with a sphere of linguistic influence that reaches from Santiago to San Antonio, from Bogota to Barcelona, and from Navojoa on the Mexican California Gulf coast, all the way to Nouméa, the capital of the south Pacific island of New Caledonia.
It’s no wonder then that in our increasingly globalised world, even the stubbornly mono-linguistic British have become increasingly interested in teaching their children a language that might originate more distantly, but will definitely be more internationally viable than French. To help people move beyond the “My name is…” and “Today in my pencil case I have…” stages, here’s 50 online resources that will be of immense value to anyone studying, teaching, or just wanting to better appreciate the Spanish language. Ranging from the big and popular, to lesser known, off the beaten path places, everything here will be of use to anyone who wants to establish an excellent encapsulation of Espanol. Tutorful also has a range of expert tutors that teach all ages and all levels are, and if you wondering how much a Spanish tutor will cost, we have all that information right here!
All Rounder Resources
Study Spanish Language
An excellent all-round service, with lessons and articles on everything one could need to know about the Spanish language to make a start in learning it. With tests and tips, as well as articles and advice on studying abroad, or how to better grasp idioms, this is an ideal ground base level resource for learning Spanish.
Who Is It For?
Parents, teachers, tutors, and students of late primary age and over. Generally, anyone who wants to get to grips with Spanish from the ground up.
The Spanish Blog
This is perhaps the premier destination for learning Spanish independently on the internet, hence the definitive article in its name. With over 200 lessons in video and podcast form, there will be something here to support any struggling student. With a high level of subject granularity, breaking down to things like “Distances”, “Restaurant food vocabulary” and “Shopping for clothes” there will be something here for everyone.
Who Is It For?
Students and teachers who want to find free digital resources that can be listened to easily.
Study Spanish
A rigorous course that moves up from the basics to the elaborate, Study Spanish is perfect for self starters who want to look at things from the ground up and get to somewhere truly stratospheric.
Who Is It For?
Parents and students who want to engage with a self-directed study, independent of what is being taught at school. Ideal for a family where the children’s school doesn’t offer Spanish.
Spanish Obsessed
A language is at least as much spoken and heard as it is written and read. Arguably more so, which is why podcasts have been such a natural fit for teaching languages ever since their emergence into the iTunes store and beyond. Spanish Obsessed offers multiple free courses of podcasts ranging from complete novice needing to begin from scratch, to advanced polyglot wishing to excel upward to higher linguistic plains.
Who Is It For?
The enthusiastic self-starter who wants to make a go of something new, or the advanced student who needs a greater challenge.
Spanish Blog 365
This blog takes the “every little helps” approach, using the notion that the development of a gentle and undemanding habit over time can ultimately reap bigger rewards for some people. With bite sized 10 minute lessons, Spanish blog 365 offers utility in a timescale to fit almost anyone.
Who Is It For?
This is an ideal resource for busy teachers who want to stay sharp, as well as struggling students who might not seem to be keeping up in class, but can still progress if they keep working consistently, if not intensively.
Apps, Courses and Digital Resources
Duolingo
A widely used and well liked language learning app. Duolingo specialises in using a powerful education technique that’s been on the fringes for sometime, but has exploded thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones. So-called ‘gamification’ turns learning away from being a boring chore, into an entertaining pastime that everyone can enjoy.
Who Is It For?
A very wide audience. Theoretically anyone with a smartphone and a few minutes to spare each day, be they on the commute, a work break, or even on the toilet. The games are intriguing and immersive, and suitable for any stage of learner. From complete novice, to tested intermediate, and even a studied speaker who wants to stay sharp. There is something here for all.
Spanish Pod 101
This Youtube channel features a wide variety of content. There are many anecdotal style videos on very granular topics, such as Christmas, the way to say Goodbye, or words linked with mathematics, then there are the structured lessons that are parts of specific courses, and then there are challenge videos designed for someone to learn a great deal of new words very quickly.
Who Is It For?
Someone who takes a very pick and mix attitude to their linguistic learning. The anecdotal videos might make fun lesson additions, but the full course materials would be better studied at home. Most of the material is aimed at late primary ages upwards.
123 Teach Me
A variety of tests, games, and general online resources that can work well for teaching and engaging with the Spanish language. Easy for something small like phrase of the day, or something more elaborate like the free online games.
Who Is It For?
Teachers whose classrooms have access to computers, parents who want to offer their children something educational with their internet time, or students who are a little more self-motivated than most. All age ranges catered for, from pre-school upwards.
Spanish Dict
Google translate is only the beginning. This website is like a decoder ring for Spanish as a whole. Not only translating, but conjugating, guiding, inspiring, and generally directing you towards a better understanding of a complex and sometimes difficult language.
Who Is It For?
Anyone studying Spanish above middle primary school age. Teachers may want the students in their classes to bookmark it as a useful tool for additional help.
Language for Fun
The study of languages is naturally one where broadening the mind and self betterment are at the centre of the intended experiences. But there is nothing that says we can’t have some fun along the way. With a more whimsical and light-hearted style, this service offers a community of language learners, meaning that not only can an individual’s skills be better improved, but teachers can pick up ways that previously may not have been considered to encourage students to try things at home in a less formal style.
Who Is It For?
Self starter language students, or teachers looking for an alternative approach to homework and remote learning.
Rockalingua
In this resources opinion, music is not only the food of love, but also good linguistic learning. With songs, cartoons, games, and worksheets to enhance and advance any Spanish classroom, Rockalingua is sure to be a hit with the more creatively vocal Spanish classroom.
Who Is It For?
The material appears to principally be aimed at middle primary school to mid-secondary aged children. Most of it is designed for a classroom environment, so teachers are the main beneficiaries, but some tutors may find the workbooks useful.
Spanish Games
Making gamification run deeper still, Spanish games offers a wide variety of tutorials, tests, games, and other interactive ways of learning to make studying much more something you can do actively, rather than just passively read or listen.
Who Is It For?
Teachers who want to plan more interactive lessons, or students who want to be more self-directed. Age ranges vary, but the material is mostly suitable for middle primary age students and upwards.
Primary Children
Spanish Town
A suite of online tests and lessons covering a wide range of subjects and styles of learning. Moving from the simplistic rote, to the complexities of grammar, these materials will be exceptionally useful in any digitally equipped classroom.
Who Is It For?
Primary aged children, some material could be apt for lower secondary also. Tutors could also make use of the activities and worksheets.
One Third Stories
Subscription box services are very in fashion across the internet, whether they’re distributing tea, toys, or teaching children lessons in linguistics. One Third Stories is a service dealing in audio downloads, flashcards, and children’s books, to provide a unique and highly valuable service. As the book progresses, more and more non-English words are added in at apt moments to make it clearer and clearer what they mean thanks to wider context.
Who Is It For?
Families with children aged up to 10. The service doesn’t offer a specific age though, so the technique could well be useful much later on.
Fun For Spanish Teachers
Making lessons in linguistics fun and engaging is always important, especially at the younger end of the spectrum, where attention is sometimes harder to properly control. Thanks to Carolina, an Austin based Spanish teacher, teachers around the world can have access to resources and lesson materials to help keep young minds engaged and active on the task of better understanding another language.
Who Is It For?
Primary and pre-school teachers would be the principle beneficiaries, but there’s also a great deal of value for tutors, and for parents of younger children who want the learning to keep on flowing in the home.
Read more on Fun For Spanish Teachers
Alhambra Spanish
While the mainline focus of Alhambra Spanish is the offering of extracurricular courses and classes in Spanish for primary school aged children across the UK, that’s not the only value to be extracted from the website. A cornucopia of teaching blogs, educational videos, and all kinds of other materials make this website an ideal service, regardless of whether your child will be attending one of these classes.
Who Is It For?
Parents and teachers of primary school aged children. The classes and resources are valuable for helping the children to learn, and many of the blog posts offer valuable reflections on the ways we teach.
Spanish Playground
The Spanish Playground is a great source of resources of all kinds, ideal for teaching younger children the Castilian tongue. As well as songs, videos, jokes, pictures and printable materials, the site also contains numerous recommendations and reviews for books and magazines that could well be immensely useful in fostering Hispanic linguistic development.
Who Is It For?
Mostly younger children in the preschool and primary school bracket. Parents will find the book reviews useful, while tutors and teachers will be greatly appreciative of the wide resource variety.
Secondary Students
Peppy Burro
When children move from early teenage years into later adolescence, the shimmering light of adulthood being within their grasp means we need to up our resource game. Fortunately, Peppy Burro is here to help. This material works perfectly well for adults who want to get a fresh grip on a new skill as it does for students who want to enhance what they’re learning at school. Secondary school aged children will feel reassured and reinforced with the free adult level course materials on offer here.
Who Is It For?
Much of the material is great for self directed learning for students, such as the podcast and videos, while other parts will also enhance a dedicated teacher’s study sessions.
Daily Spanish
Tumblr is the little microblogging platform that could, and so the resources you’ll often find on here tend to be scrapper and more hastily put together, but what some might see as a loss of professionalism, others would argue is a more ‘real world’ attitude towards learning another language. Daily Spanish offers a down to earth and community focused Spanish learning experience. Not structured, but always helpful, as well as acting as one of a number of open ways into the Tumblr Hispanic linguistic community.
Who Is It For?
Students with a curious interest in the language, or parents who want to pick up tid-bits to share with their children. The material isn’t really structured or developed enough to form a lesson plan with, so teachers will mostly not find this of value. Most of the material would probably be too advanced for all but the oldest of primary aged children.
Spanish Skulduggery
While it does take more than a little effort to get one’s eyes accustomed to the…unorthodox web design choices on display here, this blog does offer a lovely gentle sprinkling of Spanish knowledge into a teenager’s Tumblr Feed.
Who Is It For?
Secondary school/older primary students mostly, although tutors and teachers may get some use from the gathered meme videos or other translated online material that pops up every so often.
Lyrics Training
Available for a wide variety of languages, including Spanish, this service offers your children the opportunity to learn the language of their studies in a field that feels much more homely and familiar to most of them – popular music.
Who Is It For?
Brave teachers may attempt to use this unorthodox technique in the classroom, but ideally it will be the students themselves who pick this one up.
Butterfly Spanish
With over five years of language film-making experience, Butterfly Spanish goes into great and engaging depths about subjects ranging from months and colours, to food and alcohol. For that last reason, and a few of the other subjects, this is a channel much better suited to secondary students, but this a very good thing, as it teaches them a subject that may seem alien to them with materials that affect their lives every day. Teach children a language they may find difficult to learn with material they actually want to talk about.
Who Is It For?
Secondary students, teachers, tutors, and maybe parents who want to give their children a fresh angle on the language they believe will be so useful to them.
Spanish Boone
Like the previous two pieces, the Spanish Boone calls the microblogging service Tumblr its home. Unlike them however, there is a great deal more depth offered in these pieces, to the extent to which that calling it a “microblog” no longer seems fair.
Who Is It For?
Later secondary school children looking for revision material or general help with their Spanish, or adults looking to get a better handle on the intricacies of Iberia’s dominant tongue.
Talk Like a Spaniard
Learning a language makes you understood in a foreign country, but learning idioms can make you truly part of the community. This little slice of Tumblr helps people get a better handle on the odd turns of phrase that when read literally make no sense, but with a bit of cultural context, can take you a long way.
Who Is It For?
Curious secondary students are the first port of call here, as this will give them a richer understanding of the language, and much of what is here is too advanced for primary age kids. However there is much hear for teachers and tutors too, who want to spice up their lessons with the odd anecdote, or parents who want little tid-bits to talk about with their children, to help encourage their study.
Lindsay Does Languages
While not specifically about Spanish, this blog does feature Spanish often, but perhaps its greatest value is a source of zeal and passion for the entire field of linguistics. This shows students that languages aren’t just a tool, but can be something to be genuinely excited about, a source of passionate energy to a subject that too often students can just regard as a technical skill, learned by rote.
Who Is It For?
Anyone with a passion for languages will appreciate a kindred spirit, but the materials such as the podcast and videos would be great for any parent to share with an older secondary school student that wants to get why they should care about this. Of particular value for Spanish speakers is the “Ash does Spanish” series of videos, where Lindsay’s monolingual husband tries to get to grips with the Castilian language.
Real Fast Spanish
Like several other items on this list, this is the blog from a company whose job it is to teach Spanish at high speeds for a considerable price. Unlike some of the other blogs though, the result of their work is something that genuinely serves the curiosity of a wider student population. With posts that answer complex and elemental questions arising from the study of the Spanish language, this blog is an ideal resource for students of all stripes.
Who Is It For?
Curious minds looking to build a broader picture of the language they seek to understand.
Don Quijote
Culture and language are as intertwined as politics and power, electricity and magnetism, or football and fitness. This blog takes the understanding of that and applies it with vigour, providing valuable cultural insights into the days and lives of those who speak the languages being studied. As an added extra bonus, the articles are all also bilingual, with fully translated Spanish versions available without the use of Google Translate.
Who Is It For?
Particularly ideal for any students looking to study abroad in a Spanish speaking country and want to better appreciate the culture they shall be temporarily housed by.
Why not Spanish?
The challenge of getting teenagers engaged with any subject can often be an uphill battle. The creators behind this Youtube channel decided to take as unconventional an approach as they could think of, and looked at trying to make learning Spanish funny. With skits and challenge vlogs, this channel successfully apes the style of many successful youtubers, creating a fully formed version of that golden prize of internet learning “Edutainment”.
Who Is It For?
Teachers who want some more off the wall material in their classes, and students who want a more entertaining approach to their selected language classes.
Teachers
Spanish Linguist
For students who want to go one step beyond, this is where to go. The Spanish Linguist is a blog that delves deeper than classes in school would normally feel necessary to go, and it does so with whimsy and aplomb.
Who Is It For?
Curious and engaged students, and teachers who feel they may have students ready to take a deeper dive into linguistics in general, and Spanish in particular.
World Language Café
Like many other internet teacher’s resources, World Language Café offers plenty of lesson ideas, activity plans, media options, and several other ideas to string together a session of Spanish. Unlike several others though, World Language Café makes a particular effort to connect what is being learned in the classroom with the current events in the seasonal calendar of the culture being studied.
Who Is It For?
Teachers and tutors who want to put their student’s work into a broader cultural context. Material is mostly aimed at primary school aged children.
Spanish Plans
Teaching techniques, training, and talent are all discussed a plenty in this wide-ranging blog on the subject. But also to lighten the mood and thrown in hither and thither are memes and jokes and general whimsical observations about what it’s actually like to be a teacher on the front line.
Who Is It For?
Teachers who want to better learn and reflect on their craft, and to joke about it once in a while.
Spanish With Paul
A series of lessons and exercises structured into YouTube videos. Longer and more in depth than many other channels, these lessons enable entire teaching sessions to be based around their content, and so are mostly better suited to classroom time than home learning.
Who Is It For?
Teachers looking for innovative and engaging video content.
Throw Away Your Textbook
A bold suggestion, to be sure, but one that could perhaps have some value. While there are many new methods and alternative resources out there available for teachers, it’s always best to see the results that have been found from an active and rigorous field test. This blog features many different teaching methods put to the test, as well as advice on how to optimise things further than the original creators of the material may have considered.
Who Is It For?
Teachers and tutors who want to try alternative approaches to Spanish instruction.
Flipping my Spanish Classroom
Speaking of alternative methods and new practices, this blog takes the popular and also controversial practice of “flipping” the classroom, and applies it to Spanish to see the results. Flipping is where the bulk of the learning is done at home with assigned readings and other tasks, while in the classroom the students go over what they have learned at home and attempt to apply it, as they would normally do with homework. This teacher’s conclusion it that it has definitely improved things, and to help smooth things along for future generations of flippers, she has included a selection of resource documents and activity ideas.
Who Is It For?
Teachers exclusively, as tutors can’t really use the “flipping” technique. The resources, activity ideas, and strategy plans also only make sense in the context of a full classroom.
Speaking Latino
The online resources in this collection offer not only lesson materials and activity ideas, but also instruction on more colloquial and common-place forms of Spanish that many traditional textbooks leave behind.
Who Is It For?
Teachers looking for a slightly offbeat angle to the regular lesson structures and material.
Spanish Resources
Like IMBD, but for Spanish classroom worksheets. This resource is a huge collection of worksheets and classroom resources, built into an enormous database with a highly efficient search function. Perfect for when you have a specific subject in mind, but lack the time to craft a sheet specifically yourself.
Who Is It For?
Busy teachers working with all age groups. Tutors also, if they want to craft their lessons very specifically.
The Multilingual Monkey
For thoughtful and insightful consideration of teaching’s best practices, you can’t go much better than the Multi-lingual monkey. Whether it's reviewing the use of music in the classroom or reviewing recently released memory games, there is always something in this blog to better improve the teaching tools linguists can make use of.
Who Is It For?
Teachers looking to read tales of those who shared their experiences and responded with grace, fortitude, and innovation.
Calico Spanish
Although the broader service this company offers won’t be available to most students, the company’s blog on the subject of Spanish instruction has many valuable insights to offer. Treating the space of a private teaching establishment as a more experimental setting, the Calico school is able to test and try new ideas in ways others simply cannot. The results, as they blog about, are most intriguing.
Who Is It For?
Teachers and tutors who want to look into new models and try out new things.
Teaching Spanish W/ Comprehensible Input
With ideas about sharing the Spanish language in a classroom in many new and exciting ways, this blog offers fresh means of engagement to stave off the possibility of stale and unproductive sessions of textbook based rote learning. Of interest is the way the author focuses on new ways of employing technology in linguistics learning, avoiding gimmicky fads and looking deep into the core of what new equipment can offer.
Who Is It For?
Mostly teachers, as almost all the material will focus on classroom environments that tutors will be less familiar with. But parents will also find it valuable to get some inside baseball on the front line of modern linguistics learning techniques.
Creative Language Classes
Sometimes there are blogs with names like Zooplod and Jexsay, and then there are blogs with names like this. Exactly what it says on the tin, Creative Language class is about ideas, lesson plans, resources, and materials that can give your language lessons a creative and new direction to help keep students engaged and minds inspired.
Who Is It For?
Teachers and tutors will be the principle beneficiaries here, tutors also since many of the materials don’t need a whole class of students to work.
Spanish 4 Teachers
Speaking of names that clearly spell out what they are going to offer, this resource couldn’t be much clearer. Offering downloadable content in the form of Powerpoint lessons and PDF workplans, as well as content specific to the IB curriculum, the parrot in the logo is watching over a cornucopia of valuable lesson materials.
Who Is It For?
The age ranges here reach all the way down to primary and all the way up to late secondary. And because it is receiving constant updates, not just from one single group of teachers, but any number of teachers round the world who come to contribute, there is always something new to find.
PBL in the TL
A confusing title perhaps quickly indicates that this blog is very much for people already somewhat immersed in the world of linguistics teaching. Standing for “Project Based Learning in the Target Language” this blog reflects on frontline teaching experiences and techniques tried and tested in the field.
Who Is It For?
Most articles are for teachers pretty exclusively, but some will be of interest to tutors as there will be some crossover material for one on one learning. Parents will find most of what’s discussed here potentially interesting, but not as enlightening unless they are prepared to engage deeply with the material.
Secondary Spanish Space
Tales from the front line of teaching Spanish in United States secondary schools. These articles cover issues ranging from time management, new games to try in class, and also the mundane everyday necessities, like a good and filling breakfast to face down a busy school day.
Who Is It For?
Teachers and tutors who want to get a better handle on the secondary environment specifically.
Learn More Than Spanish
At first glance, this website may not appear terribly useful to anyone, save for the most dedicated Spanish students. After all, very few children have the time to take on an entire other Spanish course in addition to school. However, look below the surface, and specifically at the blog pages, and things become clearer. The material here is not only potentially highly valuable in lessons in terms of learning the language, but it also helps provide context of culture. Teachers can look here for just how Spanish is applied in the real world, a very grounded and down-to-earth understanding of the changing way that people speak day to day, and what those words mean to them.
Who Is It For?
Teachers and Tutors who want to give some cultural context to the material they are teaching.
FluentU Spanish Educator Blog
A great source of resources and teaching advice. FluentU is a fount of ideas and inspiration for all kinds of classroom activities. Whether you’re wanting to use animated antics as a way to break up textbook time, or if you want your lessons to have a more musical overtone, FluentU will have something for almost every scenario.
Who Is It For?
Educators working with primary and secondary age students. The material mostly works in a classroom environment, but parents and tutors could also use some of the lesson plans for home activities.
¡Vámonos!
Before we go further, there is a good reason why it is Lithuanian rather than Spanish that’s the language we see first referenced here, but we’ll come back to why later. ¡Vámonos! is an enchanting and enlightening collection of blog posts sharing teachers experiences and expertise, telling tales of techniques tried and regaling us with how they worked and failed, as well as ways to think about things differently, so as best to become better teachers. Which brings us to the Lithuanian, it’s part of a blog post looking into how it's always helpful for language teachers to rediscover the experience of facing a language they have no knowledge of, and trying to piece things together regardless. A truly fascinating exercise.
Who Is It For?
Thoughtful teachers, considered tutors, and interested parents.
Maris Hawkins
With all the new techniques, teaching styles, and resources on display over the many different websites we’ve looked at so far, it is important to step back and take stock on occasion, so as to make sense of what’s been going on. That’s exactly what Mark Hawkins attempts to do, taking his experience in the classroom and turning it into a reflection on best practice, what works, what doesn’t, and most crucially, why?
Who Is It For?
Teachers mostly, as the reflections focus on classroom experience, but tutors may find some useful insights, and parents may get a better understanding of how classrooms actually work.
Parents
Multilingual Living Magazine
A wonderful resource for parents who are determined to make sure that languages are a part of their children’s lives. This magazine offers help and support whether you’re home-schooling, or if you speak a language that you want to pass on, or if you simply want to make your child’s language learning stick hard at home as well as in school.
Who Is It For?
Families with multilingualism as a major part of their identity, or parents who consider language learning a skill they want to work hard to encourage in both themselves and their children.
Flip Flop Spanish
It’s one thing to be an engaged and attentive parent when your child is in a school for six hours a day. It’s quite something else when you’re both parent and teacher. This home-schooling parent shares their struggles and successes in trying to teach Spanish in a home environment as organically and naturally as possible, in much the same way infants do when around native speakers. A challenge to be sure, but a worthy one.
Who Is It For?
Parents who home school or parents who don’t. Both can take inspiration from what is being tried here.
Visit Flip Flop Spanish to find out more.
Spanish Mama
Bilingualism isn’t something that’s confined to the classroom. It’s a skill that has to be fostered in every part of a child’s life, something that the Spanish Mama understands very well. This blog does indeed have a focus on teaching and learning Spanish, but it also comes along with cultural context, as well as personal reflections on what it means to be a mother teaching their child to be bilingual.
Who Is It For?
Parents who want their children to grow up bilingual is the definitive target audience, but there’s plenty of tangential material on Spanish speaking culture and history, and there’s also much that’s valuable for parents who just want their children to do better in languages in general.
