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This is Jack from tofluency.com 
and this is the To Fluency 

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podcast, episode 8, where you 
can learn English with me. 

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Now today I'm going to talk 
about my experience learning 

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Spanish at university. 
Now I took Spanish at university

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as a side course, like an extra 
course. 

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My main course was economics and
I also studied a little bit of 

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sociology as well. 
But I decided in my last year to

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take Spanish and I'll explain 
why I did that in a moment. 

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But first, if you are new to the
podcast, welcome. 

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My name is Jack. 
I teach English through this 

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podcast and also on YouTube, on 
Instagram and on my website, 

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tofluency.com. 
Now if you go to my website, 

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there is a link in the 
description. 

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You'll be able to download a 
book for free. 

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It's called the five Step plan 
for English fluency. 

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Like I said, it is free to 
download. 

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So again, today we're going to 
talk about my journey learning 

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Spanish and really focusing on 
my time at university. 

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And I'm doing this because I 
want to show you how things have

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changed when it comes to 
learning a language. 

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Now, if you are somebody who is 
younger, then this might seem 

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quite strange to you. 
If you are around my age, 30s 

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let's say, then you will know. 
In the past, learning a language

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was very different. 
So to highlight this, I'm going 

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to be using tenses in the past 
tense, in the present tense and 

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also in the present perfect, 
talking about how things have 

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changed, how things have 
changed. 

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Let's start with the reason why 
I started learning Spanish. 

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Now this is a very specific 
reason which is very different 

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to why most people Start 
learning a language. 

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And I started doing Spanish in 
my last year because I spoke to 

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a friend who said, look, if you 
want to get a high grade, a good

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degree, then do a language 
because the way that they mark 

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the tests with languages is 
different to other parts of the 

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university. 
So studying economics, if I took

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an economics course, the highest
grade you can get really is 70% 

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or 72%. 
It's very difficult to get 

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higher than that, but if you 
study Spanish, there's a 

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possibility if you study hard, 
that you can get 100%. 

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And what that does is it brings 
up a phrasal verb, it brings up 

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your total score at university 
so that you can get a higher 

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grade. 
So after hearing this, I've 

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thought what a good idea. 
If I dedicate my time to 

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Spanish, then I'll guarantee 
that I get a really good grade 

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at university. 
Now, I also wanted to learn 

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Spanish because I wanted to go 
travelling to South America. 

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I knew when I was at university 
that I was going to work for a 

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couple of years after graduating
university and then go 

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travelling to South America and 
that is what I did. 

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But again, the main reason I 
took Spanish was because I 

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thought I was going to get a 
good grade. 

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Now I had learned French at 
school, so I had some experience

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learning a language. 
But Spanish, it was completely 

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new to me. 
I didn't know any words at all. 

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I didn't know anything about 
Spanish. 

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So I took the beginners course 
and the lessons were quite good.

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Actually they were OK. 
At times I was a little bit 

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confused because they were 
talking about verb conjugations 

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and grammar, a lot of grammar 
and it just confused me because 

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I wanted to learn phrases. 
And I'm going to talk about soon

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how or the importance of 
learning phrases and we'll go 

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into the method later on in this
episode. 

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But in that class, it was mainly
grammar. 

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And I remember conjugating verbs
like tener carere, the the basic

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Spanish verbs. 
When I was at university, I 

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didn't have a computer and we 
didn't have Internet in the 

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place where we lived. 
I didn't have a phone. 

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There weren't smartphones back 
then. 

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There weren't iPhones or the 
Google phones. 

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So we didn't really have access 
to learning materials or 

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anything for at home. 
In order to get online, we had 

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to go to the computer lab at 
university, sign on, and then we

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could go online from there. 
And this is relevant because 

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these days as an English learner
listening to this, you have 

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access to this free podcast and 
other free podcasts and lots of 

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other things, which again, we'll
we'll discuss later. 

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But the way that I did extra 
learning at university was four 

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different ways mainly. 
So there was the class and then 

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meeting up with people in our 
class to go through study notes 

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and to practice. 
There's also a language room or 

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a language library that I 
remember where you could take 

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out a book and ACD and listen to
the language, do some writing 

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exercises like your typical 
workbook that you get when you 

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go to a language school. 
And then I also bought 

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newspapers in Spanish. 
El Pais it was. 

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So it was a newspaper from Spain
that I could get at the Student 

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Union newspaper store. 
It was very expensive, but I 

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bought it. 
I tried to read it and I 

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couldn't understand it. 
And that was one of my first 

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mistakes, was that I tried to 
read something that was way 

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above my level, too high for me.
A newspaper in Spanish for 

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somebody who has just started 
learning the language is not 

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going to be good study 
materials. 

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And apart from that, apart from 
buying more workbooks or CDs or 

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books, there weren't any of the 
resources available for me. 

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Again, in being able to go 
online and listen to audio, 

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watch videos, etcetera for free 
is such a massive thing these 

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days. 
But when I was at university, I 

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didn't have access to any of 
that. 

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Now you're probably wondering 
how I did with my Spanish class 

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if I passed, if I got 100% like 
I was hoping. 

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Well the quick answer is no, I 
did OK. 

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I actually think the Spanish 
score brought my entire score 

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down, brought my marks down. 
So instead of bringing 

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everything up, my Spanish score 
actually brought everything 

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down. 
So it didn't work out for me, 

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but if I knew what I know now 
about learning a language, I'm 

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sure I would have done so much 
better because I remember being 

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in my test, it was the oral 
speaking test. 

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And my teacher asked me 
questions. 

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I had no idea what she was 
asking me. 

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I think it was something basic 
like what did you have for 

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breakfast today or what do you 
like to eat? 

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And I just couldn't say 
anything. 

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I didn't understand what she was
saying. 

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But again, if I knew what I know
now about language learning, I 

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would have done so much better. 
This is a great sentence. 

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If I knew what I know now about 
language learning, I would have 

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done so much better. 
So, as a beginner, what would I 

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have done? 
What would I have done better? 

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Well, first, because the test 
was important, I would have 

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learned what was going to be on 
the test. 

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I would have done more research 
about what they were going to 

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test me. 
And this is relevant if you're 

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taking something like IELTS or 
the TOEFL test, something that 

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is going to test your level of 
English so that you can get into

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a university, so you can go and 
live in another country or so 

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you can get a job somewhere else
or a job with an English 

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speaking company. 
Because knowing how they're 

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going to test you really can 
help you dictate what you need 

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to study. 
So for me, I should have 

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learned, should have, I should 
have learned what questions they

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were going to ask me on the exam
and really practice those 

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questions. 
And you can do this if you're 

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taking a test, go through past 
tests and look at what they're 

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going to test you on. 
Understand the test the best you

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can understand it. 
Now, this is also true if you're

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just learning English for fun. 
And what I mean by that is think

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about ways in which you can 
focus on the language that 

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you're going to use. 
So if you're going to use a 

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language to speak with people in
a friendly way, to make 

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conversations for a trip to 
London or to New York, then 

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learn the types of phrases that 
you're going to need and focus 

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on that. 
The whole idea here is to focus 

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on what is going to help you 
with your situation. 

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A lot of people will say I want 
to improve my general English, 

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but if that's the case, focus on
commonly used words and phrases,

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things that you're going to use 
on a daily basis. 

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Now, after learning what I was 
going to be asked on the test, 

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this is what I would have done 
next. 

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I would have written down 
answers, send them to somebody, 

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and ask for feedback. 
So write down answers, send them

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to somebody, and ask for 
feedback. 

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And then I would practice saying
these phrases because in the 

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oral test, the speaking test 
you're tested on, the way you 

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say it, it's not just about if 
the sentence is correct, but if 

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you say it correctly. 
So that's what I would have 

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done, and then I would have used
my favorite method, the LRRC 

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method where I get somebody to 
say these phrases for me, listen

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to them, repeat them, record 
them and compare them. 

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Listen, repeat, record, compare.
Now if you want to learn more 

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about that method, get my book, 
The Five Step Plan for English 

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fluencytofluency.com. 
And then as a way to improve my 

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Spanish in general and just to 
feel more comfortable with the 

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language, I would have learned 
commonly used phrases so that I 

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could say the basics. 
Things like I like to do this. 

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I have my breakfast in the 
morning, I like to take a 

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shower, I love football, 
etcetera. 

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The stuff that you you need to 
know as a beginner. 

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And then I would have got graded
readers, graded readers for A1 

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level. 
Now, these are books that have 

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been written especially or 
modified specific to a level of 

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English or a level of Spanish in
my case. 

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So I talk about A1A2B1B2C1C2 as 
a level and you can think of A1 

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as a beginner, A2 as a beginner 
but a higher level, B1 and B2 

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intermediate, and then C1 
advanced C2. 

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You sound like an English 
speaker or native English 

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speaker. 
So I would have found books, 

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graded readers with audio that 
are specific to an A1 level of 

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Spanish because that is the 
level that I was at. 

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Reading a newspaper, which is 
AC2 level, was just far too 

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difficult and I wasn't learning 
the phrases that I needed to 

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learn in order to pass the test.
Because again, my main reason 

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for taking Spanish was to try 
and get a higher grade. 

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But at the same time, I wanted 
to learn Spanish and I was 

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interested in the language. 
So I wanted to get the higher 

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grade as my main focus, but then
also just learn Spanish as well 

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to learn the language. 
So having a graded reader for a 

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one would have helped me learn 
the patterns and learn 

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everything I needed to know. 
And then I would have taken a 

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little bit of grammar just to 
understand the language and to 

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understand it in a more logical 
way. 

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Now, the graded readers, the 
repetition of phrases I would 

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have, I would have picked up the
grammar and understood it. 

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But just learning a little bit 
of grammar here and there, 

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learning the grammar rules and 
when to use them would have also

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helped. 
Especially for my exam and 

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everything I've talked about 
here. 

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The things that I would have 
done, it would have been so much

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easier if I had access to the 
different resources available. 

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Now, that's not an excuse for 
not doing as well as I had hoped

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in my Spanish exam, but it's 
something that I think is 

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important and it's something to 
feel grateful for that if you're

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listening to this podcast, it 
means that you can access any 

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type of resource online. 
You can watch videos on YouTube,

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00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,360
you can listen to other 
podcasts, you can read books, 

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you can read magazines, you can 
read websites, you can interact 

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with people on social media. 
It goes on and on. 

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So having this is a fantastic 
thing. 

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What I think is also important 
is being specific and and 

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thinking about what you need to 
focus on for what you're doing 

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right now. 
So again, if you're taking a 

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test, think about how you can 
pass that test. 

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If you need English for your 
job, be specific about the 

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00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:30,000
English you're learning for the 
job. 

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If you want English to travel, 
then learn key phrases and just 

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learn as much conversational 
English as possible. 

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And then because there are so 
many resources out there, it can

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be difficult deciding on which 
ones to use. 

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So think about what resources, 
what podcasts, what videos are 

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going to help me right now and 
be specific about the level you 

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00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,840
have and find resources specific
to that level. 

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So what should you do now? 
Well, firstly, if you have 

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enjoyed this podcast and I 
really appreciate a review if 

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00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,440
you're listening to this on a 
podcast app and also share the 

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00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:14,440
podcast with your friend and 
then head over to to fluency com

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to download your book, the five 
step plan for English fluency. 

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And if you haven't listened to 
all of my episodes yet, then 

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have a little look through my 
podcast and see which episode 

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appeals to you. 
I recommend episode 2 to listen 

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to after this one because it 
talks about why you need to do 

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the hard things but still have 
fun. 

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So it talks about the mentality 
of getting dedicated practice, 

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which will help you focus on 
doing the things you need to do.

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All right, thank you so much for
listening and I will speak to 

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you soon. 
Bye bye.