How to Teach Yourself Spanish At Home in Your Pajamas

How to teach yourself Spanish at home in your pajamas is surprisingly easy if you have the right books and tools!

 

I have always wanted to learn Spanish and have picked up words and phrases over the years but a few years ago, I decided I truly wanted to be able to read, write, and speak fluently. I tried a lot of different things – some were super helpful, some were kind of helpful, and some were a total waste of time.. so I’d like to help YOU not waste time and go straight to the helpful!

 

I provided links for you to see some of the resources I recommend on Amazon if you want to check them out – some links are affiliate links which means I get commission if you buy from the links, it’s no extra cost for you but I just wanted to let you know! 🙂

 

What really finally got me learning Spanish was this book. I absolutely love, love, love this book, Basic Spanish, and recommend it highly for your first book for learning Spanish. I have recommended it to so many people. Usually because they asked me how I learned Spanish so quickly after starting. I had a group of friends who decided to learn Spanish at the same time as me and they were flabbergasted at how far ahead I was so quickly (which really motivated me to keep working through the book!) so I told them all about this book since they were relying more on audio CDs, apps on their phone, or computer learning programs. This book seriously made it SO easy for me to go from knowing a few words to being able to read and write simple sentences in Spanish and pick up a lot of vocabulary in a naturally progressing way so I really enjoyed it.

 

I spent a really long time researching how I wanted to start learning Spanish and flipping through Spanish learning books in bookstores and bought a stack of books like this. I started a few of them and went, “eh” but then when I worked on this one, it just clicked. So my advice: Start with this  book! If that’s all you do today and totally just stop reading this blog post right here, order this book and do that. Then, come back for more recommendations once you’ve gobbled that one up and know you can trust me lol. If you’re the type of person who learns by practicing, by reading and writing, then this is definitely going to be helpful for you. I can’t speak for other learning styles because that’s how I learn, but I imagine it’d be helpful for anyone. After I did this whole book, I actually felt like I could speak Spanish. That was huge for me. Slowly, of course, but the fact that I was capable of forming sentences to say whatever I wanted made me so motivated to keep learning.

 

I was so excited to practice my Spanish, but I knew it was at a basic level, so I actually ended up ordering kids’ books in Spanish. Don’t laugh at me (okay, you can) but I ordered early elementary school level readers and I actually really enjoyed reading them and building new vocabulary in Spanish that was fun (kid level science words :)) Yes, that probably makes me a little dorky but it really felt rewarding to be able to read things in Spanish… even if they were meant for kids. I started out really easy like these:

 

I actually found the National Geographic Kids books in Spanish really interesting, even as an adult, and there are a lot of them! Obviously they’re geared for kids but I enjoyed trying to read them in Spanish and I’m not sure if I should admit this as a former honors student/university graduate but I learned a few new things 🙂 Here’s an example of one of the books: Las Ballenas, and if you click on this cover, you can see it and a bunch more of them if you look at the “Customers who bought this item also bought” section if you scroll down a bit. There are some really interesting ones about all sorts of science topics! IMPORTANT – If you notice, there is a number 3 in the corner. That’s the reading level. I recommend levels 2 and 3. You may enjoy the 1 books (I still bought them and did) but you’ll probably read them super fast and not feel like you learned or practiced much Spanish but the levels 2 and 3 I personally found just challenging enough for when you’re just starting out with the practice book. These are readers, not read aloud books, so expect them to look like readers for kids… lots of great pictures, only a little bit of text per page. I recommend ordering 1 or 2 and if you enjoy them, order more. If it’s not your thing, try something else 🙂 I personally enjoyed them a lot but that may be the kid in me. Like I said, my husband made fun of me (lovingly but I think he meant it, haha) so I may be rare in thinking these were a fun way to practice… but it was for me!

 

 

I also ordered some of these Time for Kids books like ¡Locos por insectos y arañas! since I had enjoyed the above series so much. I think I ordered 3 or 4 of them and I liked them too. I wasn’t sure how to determine the level but, for example, this one I found to be easy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

… and this one, Reptiles y anfibios reptantes I felt was much harder.  Check the image previews to see if it’ll let you peek inside the text so you can gauge if it’s at your level or not. I personally was so excited to practice my newfound Spanish reading skills that I bought them all, ha. I figured if it was super easy, it was still great practice and if it seemed too hard, I could come back and read it later once I knew more Spanish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said, my husband poked fun at me a little bit for reading kids’ science books but I don’t care – I was really excited that I could read and understand them because of doing that Basic Spanish book I mentioned above. I was so proud of myself but wanted to keep learning so I looked at the big stack of Spanish books I had bought, flipped through them, and picked this one to do next…

 

I think this book, Complete Spanish Step-by-Step, is seriously AMAZING. It feels like it covers absolutely everything and I love the way it explains things before practicing each concept. The practice sentence writing is great… I love when it has you read paragraphs and the way the paragraphs are practicing what you already know while throwing in new vocabulary in a supported way… I love the way it introduces new vocabulary. I just love it.

 

It has been SO helpful for me in my journey to becoming fluent in Spanish. Be prepared to use this book throughout your entire journey of learning Spanish, even if you’re taking a Spanish class or trying to learn it through another way on the side. I really think you could use just this book to completely teach yourself to be fluent though. It is amazing.

 

If you are also learning in another way and you come across a tough concept you’re not understanding (like indirect and direct object pronouns… lo, la, los, las, me, te, what?!), find that section in this book and do the lesson and practice and I think you’ll find you actually get it! I’ve done this so many times and it’s been so helpful, especially with things that didn’t come naturally to me when I was first learning like reflexive verbs.

 

I definitely recommend doing the Basic Spanish book I recommended at the top of this post first, though. This book is a great book to start immediately after that one. It felt like an easy review for a few moments and then it hit the ground running 🙂 For me, I think I would’ve been lost if I started on this book without doing Basic Spanish first but really, if you truly want to teach yourself in your PJs, I think those 2 books are the only things you really need. This Complete Spanish book is, by far, the best book I’ve come across for learning Spanish on your own.

 

For these books, make sure you are checking your answers in the back of the book immediately after doing an activity! Each time it has you do a practice activity, check your answers immediately after (so it’s fresh in your mind), be really picky, and correct them if they’re wrong, even a little. Make sure you have the correct words, all the accents, etc. I think I actually retained so much more from when I had to correct myself. I also always read my answers out loud right after doing them but before checking them against the answers in the back and found mistakes myself first that way which I really think helped me learn. Even when I thought an activity was super easy and wanted to skip checking my answers, sometimes I’d see little mistakes when I was checking them and learn something new. Sorry if that seems obvious but I wanted to share because it was helpful for me!

One thing I didn’t mention that I think also helped me a lot with both this book and the Basic Spanish book are ruled index cards for review. These books are going to be introducing A LOT of new vocabulary to you! They do a great job of weaving them into the new lessons but it’s still easy to forget new words. You don’t have to do this but I truly feel what helped me learn quick and retain so much was taking notes and using index cards.

 

 

As I went through each page of Basic Spanish and the Complete Spanish book, I had a piece of blank copy paper where I wrote down any new vocabulary words I came across as I was working (which, honestly, was a lot each time). Just a simple list like…

comer = to eat

correr = to run

in a big long list. I’d write words I already knew but could possibly forget too – for me, writing things down helps me remember so I erred on the side of writing it down.

 

Then, when I finished a chapter (sometimes that was in 1 sitting and other times it was several sessions of doing the book before finishing a chapter), I would take that copy paper list to make note cards from. If I really felt like I knew the word already, I didn’t make a note card but if I thought there was any possible way I could forget that word someday, even in months, I made a note card. I made a note card for each word typically (“comer” on one side, “to eat” on the other) for simple vocabulary practice. I also wrote phrases or sentences I wanted to remember. I also wrote conjugations of verbs, especially irregular ones where the front of the card said “Conjugate poder in present tense” and the other side said “Yo puedo, tú puedes, él puede,” etc.

 

Then, I can pick up my stack of note cards anytime and review. I found it really helpful to review them before picking the book up to do the next chapter… especially if I waited a long time in between working on books. It’s really easy to forget to work on the book for weeks and then feel really lost when you get back to it.. so note cards keep it fresh! You can even keep them next to your bed to do any sort of practice when you have a few minutes. When you know a card immediately every single time, put it in a “I know this” stack somewhere else so you don’t waste time practicing it (but don’t throw it away! Even if you think you’ll never forget the word, keep that “I know this” stack somewhere in case you take a long break from Spanish and need to review it again). But taking those cards out once you’ve mastered them allows you to keep your note card stack thin and focused practice on the words/concepts you mix up, struggle with, forget, etc.

 

It was really fun to watch my “I know this” stack be hundreds and hundreds of note cards high in my end table by the bed. Now it’s thousands and thousands, literally, and takes up the entire drawer 🙂 and I still, to this day, always have a stack of note cards I’m currently working on memorizing as I learn more and more vocabulary and concepts.

 

Speaking of vocabulary, if you want to jump start your vocabulary, my recommendation is this book:

 

This book, Spanish Vocabulary, is by the same author as the Basic Spanish book so if you liked that format, this is a great book to expand your vocabulary. It is A LOT of vocabulary so I only did it bits and pieces at a time while doing the Step by Step book because it felt overwhelming to do more than a few pages at once since it was so many new words but it was cool to learn so much vocabulary… and a lot of words you don’t typically learn in other Spanish learning books.

 

I actually bought some of the other books in that Practice Makes Perfect series of books and liked them as well but I don’t want to overwhelm you with options. & Honestly, I didn’t need much else once I used the Complete Spanish book. Again, the Basic Spanish and Complete Spanish books are what I recommend to really get you going! If you crave more, then I’d get the Vocabulary one.

 

Other things I did to keep the learning fun was watching my favorite movies with Spanish subtitles. Put on a movie you know every line by heart… but put the Spanish subtitles on! Read the Spanish at the bottom as you watch the movie. You can also look for the movies you love IN SPANISH and watch them with Spanish subtitles. It’s just a fun thing to try and see if it helps. I’m not much of an auditory learner so that method doesn’t help me much, but it is a nice way to hear it spoken out loud for pronunciation, learning common phrases, etc.

 

I also watched Spanish T.V. sometimes but often found, when I was first learning, that they speak sooo fast BUT if I put Spanish subtitles on, that did help. I personally like reading better though 🙂

 

So once I worked through the Complete Spanish book, I decided to try harder kids’ books and ordered a few classics. I looked for books I enjoyed in elementary school so they’d be easy but familiar stories. It was actually really fun and nostalgic to read them again as an adult but in Spanish. I think it helped when the book had a movie I knew too so I actually remembered the imagery really well so when it was described in Spanish, I could easily picture it. The first one I read in Spanish was…

 

 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Well, technically it was Charlie y la fábrica de chocolate 🙂 Again, just like I said for the readers, if you click on this cover, it’ll show you the page for this book but down below it, in the “Customers who bought this item also bought” section, you can see if your favorite childhood chapter books are there!

 

 

 

 

If children’s fiction isn’t really your thing, this AWESOME non-fiction series that teaches children about historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and so many more is also available in Spanish!! I REALLY enjoyed these! I found them easy enough to read but challenging, I feel like I picked up a lot of vocabulary, and I actually did learn a lot of new facts about each historical figure. I really recommend these! If you have kids, I recommend the English versions for them – they’re awesome books for kids.

 

Oh, one thing I totally forgot to mention is how important it is TO READ OUT LOUD when you’re first learning. Every single time you read and write in those practice books I recommended, read what the book says out loud. After you write something, read it out loud. Read everything out loud. When you go over your note cards, read out loud. When you read these kids’ books, read out loud. Just like a kid learning how to read in their native language for the first time, you need to read out loud in order to learn and retain. You’ll catch mistakes that way, you’ll work on your pronunciation that way, you’ll retain what you’re learning that way. Trust me, read out loud. 🙂

 

Another thing that I think will help you a lot is to have a really thorough Spanish/English and English/Spanish Dictionary to look up words as you’re reading these books or any time you don’t know a word in general. The practice books are really good about defining words for you and having their own dictionary but sometimes there are words they don’t list or you come across them in your own reading. This may be really nerdy but sometimes when I look up a word, I look at other words on the page to see if any are interesting to write down too.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay so speaking of nerdy… I am a HUGE HP fan so the second that I saw Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal and realized that the series was available in Spanish, I was sooo excited and immediately ordered them all… when I was still working on the Basic Spanish book haha.

I tried to read them anyway and they were definitely waaay above my reading level 🙂 I actually understood what I was reading (probably just from having read the English versions multiple times and from seeing the movies so many times) and really enjoyed diving into the first book again but I am a perfectionist where I want to understand every word I am reading and the book had a lot of verb tenses I didn’t know yet so I decided to put it down and come back to it later.

 

I actually really love having it on my bookshelf because it’s sort of like a goal book. Like that pair of pants that doesn’t fit you because it’s sizes and sizes too small but it’s your goal pair of pants to the weight you want to be. (Am I the only one who tortures myself in that way by keeping way-too-small pants?) I feel like it’s my goal book for where I want to be in fluency.

 

You know what? I’m realizing that I know those verb tenses now from having worked so much in the Complete Spanish book that I bet I could read that book pretty well now… and now all I want to do is wrap up this post so I can go cuddle in bed with it… so that’s precisely what I’m going to do! 😀

 

The moral of that story, though, was to find your favorite book in English and see if it’s available in Spanish! Especially if it’s a beloved series you’ve read multiple times or have seen the movies of. Then, you can already picture the scenes in your head as you’re trying to figure out any Spanish words you don’t know – it makes it so much easier and you pick up so much vocabulary that way! You may not be able to read it yet but it can be your goal book. I know that wanting to read the HP books made me push through learning the more complex verb tenses so I could understand what all the -aba words in the book were (you’ll understand that later lol).

 

I hope this post has been helpful for you! I’m literally off to go try to read that book since I know I actually can now! I’d love to hear from you in the comments anything that’s been helpful for you in learning Spanish that I didn’t mention! If you try any of these suggestions, I’d also love if you came back to let me know how they worked! A lot of people try to learn from apps on their phone but I really think the practice book style of learning is the way to learn all the proper grammar, sentence structure, and truly become fluent. There will be times when a concept is tough and you get frustrated because it just does. not. seem. to. make. sense. especially with how sentences are structured differently. There were times I thought, “I’m just not going to get this.” and for those things, I just pushed through the lesson and practiced but kept going through the next lessons and then eventually it did make sense. Not always in that lesson, sometimes much later, but it did. Things I just didn’t think I was going to ever get (indirect object pronouns, for example) clicked eventually. So keep pushing! You can do this! 🙂

 

Be proud of yourself, too, for taking on such a new skill! I’m proud of teaching myself Spanish and I hope you will be proud of yourself too! It’s a cool thing to take on learning a new language. It gets hard but it’s exciting. I remember the first time I tried to define a word for someone in English that I had just used in Spanish and realized I couldn’t. The word was so much more descriptive and made sense to me only in Spanish. That was a cool moment! I also remember the first time I had thoughts in Spanish. I remember the first time I heard 2 strangers having a conversation in Spanish and I understood all of it. I also remember how excited I was when I read those readers above that are written for little kids. Be excited for those moments! The excitement is what will keep you going through learning all the grammar haha… and I’m still waiting for the day I have a dream in Spanish! Maybe if I fall asleep reading HP in Spanish tonight?? 🙂

 

Okay that’s enough rambling! Go get the Basic Spanish book and get started!! 🙂

 

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Thanks so much! If you’re a teacher, you may like my other lists so feel free to peek around! 🙂 One of my most popular posts has been my Classroom Management Books Sorted by Behavior which teachers have told me they loved but it’s also a great list of books for parents to teach kids desirable and undesirable behaviors too! I love making lists so I hope you enjoy them!