The Spanish lessons at Spanishpod101 have been specially designed for online learning; therefore, the skills used to practice your speaking will be quite different from those you would have in a face to face class. Although you will be able to listen to the dialogue, they will not be able to listen to you and you won’t have the opportunity to practice with your classmates.
So, what can you do instead? Well, I found out about this useful tool that Spanishpod101 has to help you practice. You can record yourself. Once you have worked on your lesson and practiced enough, you can try out this practical tool.
Be sure to click on the No. 2 circle, “Lesson Materials”.
Once there, you will see the Line-by-Line Audio, Vocabulary and Grammar tabs.
The Line-by-Line and Vocabulary tabs are different options of listening to the vocabulary used in your lesson. I found that at the beginning, when I was just starting with my Spanishpod101 classes, the Vocabulary option was much easier. You can listen to each word and repeat it afterwards, instead of going for the whole sentence.
Once you open the Vocabulary tab, you will see the words used on the lesson and the translation to English underneath them. Next to each word you will find 3 icons: Two speakers and a microphone.
The speakers will play the word for you in the speed you prefer, and the microphone will record your voice, after reading the chosen word to you.
You have to options, listen without reading text, or revealing the text.
Once you have heard the word and record your version of it, be sure to click the red button again to stop the recording. If you do not do this, the “Compare Your Recording” button will not work.
Now you can proceed to compare your pronunciation. I did many recordings at first, trying to improve each one as much as I could. It really helped my speaking skills. This option in the Spanishpod101 lessons allows the students to spend as much time as needed perfecting their voice modulation. In a face-to-face class, the teacher wouldn´t have enough time to go through each student. Studying at Spanishpod101 is like having your own personal teacher.
I encourage you to use this tool as much as you can.