This 10-week course is for complete beginners in the language and those who have acquired some expressions informally through travel or socialising. It is pitched at level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and completion of the course will help you meet some of the level requirements. To help develop your fluency in the language, the course will focus primarily on speaking and listening skills, but will also include practice in reading and writing. You will have plenty of opportunities to practise the target language through hands-on collaborative class activities such as conversations and role-plays.
Spanish: Beginners - Part 1
This is an in-person course which requires your attendance to the weekly meetings which take place in Oxford.
Overview
Programme details
Course starts: 29 Sep 2025
Our public programme is open access, and most adult language classes are mixed ability. The weekly course schedule below is intended to give an overview of the main topics likely to be covered in each session. Please note that these may sometimes change according to the tutor’s discretion to reflect the interests of course participants.
Week 1: Greetings, names, the alphabet, and class instructions
Week 2: Countries, nationalities and languages. Numbers 1-20
Week 3: Jobs, work places, and studies
Week 4: Addresses & phones. Numbers 21-100
Week 5: Greetings (2). Formal & informal uses of 'you' and social introductions
Week 6: Families, marital status, and relationships
Week 7: Physical & character descriptions. Colours
Week 8: Objects. Coins and notes. Shopping
Week 9: Towns & cities. Directions and geographical locations. Big numbers
Week 10: Revision.
Key grammar points:
* Gender and number agreement of Spanish adjectives
* Present tense of regular verbs in -ar, -er, -ir
* Present tense of main irregular verbs (ser, estar, tener, ir)
* Definite and indefinite articles
* Prepositions of place
Key functions:
* Greetings, introducing oneself and others
* Describing a person
* Talking about family
* Describing a town or city
* Asking for and providing basic information
Recommended reading
All weekly class students may become borrowing members of the Rewley House Continuing Education Library for the duration of their course. Prospective students whose courses have not yet started are welcome to use the Library for reference. More information can be found on the Library website.
There is a Guide for Weekly Class students which will give you further information.
Additional reading:
- My Daily Spanish Team Spanish Grammar for Beginners (Useful to practice Spanish grammar)
- Online resource: wordreference.com (Online dictionary (EN-SP, SP-EN))
- Richards, O Short Stories in Spanish for Beginners (Reading practice)
Textbooks
To participate in the course fully, you will need access to the following textbook:
- ELE Actual A1 / Borobio, V and Palencia, R
Digital Certification
Digital badge
Upon successful completion of this course, you will be issued with an official digital badge from the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. After the course, you will receive an email with a link and instructions on how to download your digital badge. You will be able to add your badge to your email signature and share it on social media if you choose to do so. In order to be issued with your badge, you will need to have attended at least 80% of the course.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course Fee | £300.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Tutors
Mr Esteban Cichello Hubner
Esteban Cichello-Hubner studied International Relations, Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at Hertford College, University of Oxford and completed a teaching degree at the OU Education Department. He then pursued his Spanish Philology studies at the University of Salamanca. Esteban is an author and an experienced Foreign Modern Languages tutor who has taught several courses at the OUDCE.
Mr Leonardo Sanchez Gorosito
Tutor
Leonardo Sagor is a native qualified Modern Foreign Languages tutor. He is originally from South America and has taught several courses at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education throughout his career. He is also a composer, a guitar player and a talented singer. Leonardo graduated from the University of Salamanca and obtained his PGCE at the University of Bedfordshire. He is a tireless traveller who has explored more than 50 countries. He recorded his voice for the legendary Michel Thomas language courses and is currently working on teaching Spanish through cinema.
Course aims
To enable you to communicate at a very basic level with speakers of your target language in a limited range of practical, real-life settings.
Course objectives:
- To help students to develop the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing for very basic routine communication in the target language.
- To enable students to use high frequency vocabulary and grammar structures for very simple routine interaction in the target language.
- To equip students with an initial appreciation of the culture and civilisation of the country (or countries) in which the target language is spoken.
Teaching methods
You will learn through a communicative teaching approach with the emphasis on actively engaging in classroom activities in the target language. These are likely to include role-plays, pair- and small-group work, and conversational practice conducted in a supportive, friendly and informal learning environment.
The course has been structured to help you primarily to develop your speaking and listening skills and to gradually gain an insight into the culture and daily life of your target language. You will also learn and practise new grammatical structures in a communicative context and will be encouraged to develop your reading and writing skills in your own time.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be better prepared to:
- use very simple phrases and utterances to provide basic personal information, such as name, address, family members and nationality;
- interact in a simple way using a very basic range of language in routine everyday contexts;
- understand the gist of very short, simple written texts and audio/video excerpts containing the highest frequency vocabulary items and basic grammar structures;
- produce simple phrases and very short texts using basic structures and vocabulary items.
Assessment methods
You will be set short, optional assignments to consolidate your learning and to allow you to progress at your own pace.
Application
Please use the 'Book now' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an Enrolment form for short courses | Oxford University Department for Continuing Education