How to advance to a mid intermediate level of Spanish
Hola, queridos alumnos:
This week we are looking at how to advance to a mid intermediate level of Spanish! Now, before we get into the details, you should be aware of something…
Once you reach an intermediate level, it will take you more time to move up through the levels. The reason for that is that you need to be able to use more complex grammar structures, and a wider vocabulary. Therefore, you might feel like you’re not improving, but as long as you keep practicing, you absolutely are (it just takes longer to advance when you reach intermediate levels)!
That being said, let’s find out what you need to work on to get to B2:
1 – Expand your grammar.
How do you achieve this?
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You should be able to use all the tenses of the indicative mood fairly well (and even if you make mistakes, at least being aware of all the tenses, and making an attempt to use them) if you want to advance to a mid intermediate level of Spanish. That means: the present, the preterit, the imperfect, the present perfect, the past perfect, the future perfect, the conditional perfect, the future, and the conditional.
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Start using the Imperative Mood.
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Start using the Subjunctive Mood.
- Our favorite workbooks: Complete Spanish Grammar
2 – Increase your fluidity/pace of speech.
How do you achieve this?
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By B2 you should be able to speak with native speakers at a natural pace, so practice speaking out loud all the time, (to yourself, to others) and with native speakers, as much as you can.
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Surround yourself with so much Spanish that you are not translating in your head, at least 50% of the time.
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Sum up everything. For example, if you just watched a movie, sum it up in Spanish, out loud; if you just went to dinner with friends, sum it up out loud.
3 – Start to incorporate Spanish into your daily life.
How do you achieve this?
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Work on your Spanish outside of class, preferably every day, even if only for 10-15 minutes.
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Listen to Spanish daily. You can listen to podcasts, to the radio, watch tv, etc. Everything is ok as long as it is in Spanish.
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To reach a mid intermediate level of Spanish, you need to read at least once or twice a week, even if only a page or two. It’s important at this stage to start expanding the topics you are able to speak about and understand. Reading will help you with that.
On the whole, I would say you have to start including Spanish into your daily life when you get to the intermediate levels. Especially if you want to be in B2.
As usual, let us know your opinion in the comment section of our Facebook page. You can share what helped you move up to B2 :)
Have a great week!
Octavi