Tuning in to Spanish

An interactive portal to practice your listening skills

Tuning in to Spanish offers you authentic video interviews with native Spanish speakers from around the world on a variety of topics. After learning about many areas of their lives (their countries, families, the work they do, how they spend their free time, etc.) you can check your listening comprehension skills by completing the exercises that follow.

You may want to review the questions in the exercises before listening to the clips, in order to start thinking about the topic that will be discussed. After listening once, try answering the questions. If you are unsure about some of the answers, go back to the video and listen again. You can listen as many times as you want, and you will surely pick up something more each time. Remember, you don’t need to understand every word.

After you have listened to several clips, think about the differences in the Spanish you heard. Did you notice differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and the speed with which people spoke? Were some people easier or more difficult for you to understand? Also, did you find some similarities in their comments about the topic?

¿Listos? It’s time to tune in to Spanish….

Technical Requirements

To use Tuning in to Spanish you will need a Javascript enabled web browser such as Netscape 6.1 (or later) Internet Explorer 5.0 (or later), or Mozilla. This software is freely available from the Netscape, Microsoft and Mozilla websites.

To view the Quick Time movies you will have to have the Quick Time application or plug-in, freely available from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download

This media-rich site is best viewed with a broadband connection.