El Patio Spanish Language School

Introducing the Free 'El Patio ESSENTIALS' language sheets

As a supplement to your study materials, El Patio is producing a serious series of useful language sheets, covering key grammar topics and tenses in clear and straightforward language to help you as you learn.

Elephants and light bulbs - why we fear grammar and how to learn to love it

Leaping out at us from the pages of our textbooks, grammar is often feared and is often the 'elephant in the room'. But grammar isn't meant to be scary. In fact, it's something we're naturally good at. Grammar is part of our daily lives and is part of what makes us human.

Which Course or Workshop for my Level in the Summer Intensives?

¡Yupi! 2019 is the year of learning Spanish! (well, every year is ... but this year is THE year). And the Summer Intensives are an excellent way to get things started. If you're wondering whether to take a Conversation Course or a few Workshops or are thinking about completing the next level up in two weeks, here's where to find out which options are right for you.

Take your Spanish further with an 'Improve' Workshop

If your Spanish is an ice-cream, the Improve Workshops are the extra toppings that really take things to the next level. But instead of chocolate sprinkles, we've designed the Improve Workshops to tackle KEY LANGUAGE SKILLS. These key skills - such as Listening and Speaking - are those essential aspects of language that always need extra work. The Improve Workshops are the chance for you to do just that.

Get Creative: Make Paella [A1]

Craig gives the traditional paella a personal twist. He makes something that's possibly unconventional, but that is easy to prepare, very yummy and quite paella-like. Be inspired, go wild in the kitchen and have a crack at Craig's fill-in-the-gaps recipe exercise. The exercise practises the first person in the present tense, and is perfect for beginners - particularly if you're in Elementary 2 or 3.

Bienvenidas / bienvenidos, welcome to all our beginner students

If you've just started studying at El Patio right at the beginning, here are some ideas about how to get the most out of your course for your future success with speaking Spanish.

Are you a beginner? Here's some extra help …

To complement the first part of our beginner courses we've created two online classes - Beginner Basics 1 and Beginner Basics 2. These classes cover the material you see in the first part of your course. Learn greetings, how to say your name, where you're from, where you live and what you do, plus the essentials of pronunciation and the alphabet.

Surrealist games and the wondrous creations of Upper Elementary 3 [A2]

In this blog, come discover the artwork and writings of Craig's Upper Elementary 3 class and a simple surrealist game, perfect for learning new vocab - particularly the parts of the body.

Tortilla española and a bit about vosotros/as! [A1/A2]

Now that summer is finally upon us, there's nothing like preparing a Spanish potato omelette (tortilla española) for picnics, barbeques, and parties. Besides being one of the simplest dishes to prepare, it can be easily cut, packed, shared - and of course it's ideal to eat with wine and other tapas.

The 6 Scariest Spanish Verbs (A1/A2)

Spanish verbs are scary, right? Yes they are full of monsters and skeletons, but they are actually indispensable to being able to talk well, ie: in full sentences. They do seem to quietly unnerve all of us, so why not have some jump out of the cupboard and give us the full fright!

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Spanish in a Suitcase, eBook for Apple devices

Pack your Spanish before you leave! If you're about to travel and would like to get talking some basic Spanish, consider this concise eBook with heaps of audio for your iPad, iPhone or iPhone Touch.…

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El Patio Spanish

Level A1