Issue 1

Tips on learning vocabulary; review of http://cvc.cervantes.es Language awareness: similarities to English suffixes, such as ‘-ión’ and ‘-idad’ words; that useful word hay.

Issue 2

Strategies for improving your listening. Review of www.studyspanish.com Language awareness: patterns in present tense verbs.

Issue 3

Reading strategies. Book review: España Viva (BBC) Language awareness: grammatical terms.

Issue 4

Speaking Spanish. Book reviews: a New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (Butt and Benjamin) and Teach Yourself Spanish Grammar (Kattán-Ibarra). Language awareness: false friends; Q&A:  when to use usted.

Issue 5

What is your learning style? Review of www.spain.info. Language awareness: soler. How to write accents: á é í ó ú ñ ¿ ¡

Issue 6

Learning styles continued. Review of 501 Spanish Verbs, Christopher and Theodore Kendris. Language awareness: the names of verb tenses and what they mean.

Issue 7

The language learning theory of ‘noticing.’ Review of www.espanol-extra.co.uk Language notes: single Spanish verbs which replace a phrase in English.

Issue 8

The age-factor – does it make a difference? Review of Puerta del Sol audio                  magazine. Language notes: single English verbs which need a phrase in Spanish.

Issue 9

The age-factor 2 - motivation. Review of www.sispain.org www.parador.es

www.elpais.com Q&A: Does it matter if you get the gender of a word wrong?

Issue 10

Scaffolding and other ways to get help. Review of English Grammar for Students            of Spanish, Emily Spinelli. Language notes: verbswhich change their spelling in              different tenses.

Issue 11

Self-talk: why talking to yourself can be useful to language learners. Review of

www.trentu.ca/spanish/masarriba Language notes: expressions using ‘se.’

Issue 12

The characteristics of a good language learner. Review of Talk Spanish, BBC.            Q&A: when to use which past tense.

Issue 13

The thinking behind class or text book exercises: speaking and listening.                   Review of www.guiadelocio.com Q&A: when to use which present and future tense.

Issue 14

The thinking behind class or text book exercises: reading and writing. Review of            picture dictionaries. Language notes: modal verbs.

Issue 15

Pathways in the brain: how to strengthen connections in your brain. Review of the           Spanish version of the BBC world website. Language notes: how to form questions.

Issue 16

The benefits of making mistakes: how making errors can help you improve. Review        of Spanish 1 Cathy Holden (Palgrave). Language notes: using a dictionary.

Issue 17

So what’s stopping you? Getting rid of the gremlins which stop you studying. Review       of ¡Viva la gramática Phil turk and Mike Zollo (Hodder and Stoughton) Language notes:      the useful verb hacer

Issue 18

Language transfer: when you keep saying things in the wrong foreign language. Review    of www.lingolex.com/spanish.htm Language notes: tener expressions.

Issue 19

Further thoughts on how to learn vocabulary. Review of the European Bookshop. Language notes: the use of definite articles.

Issue 20

Why are we learning a foreign language? Website review: http://babelnet.sbg.ac.at/carlitos/ Language notes: the use of indefinite articles

Issue 21

What are your goals? Website review: http://oye.languageskills.co.uk/index/html Q&A: How do I learn numbers?

Issue 22

Affect - when there’s so much to learn that the shutters come down! Book review: Spanish Grammar made easy, Mike Zollo, Alan Wesson (Hodder) Language notes: polite requests.

Issue 23

Independent learning. Book review: easy readers, available from www.europeanbookshop.com Language notes: como - a multipurpose word.

Issue 24

Self-assessment. Website review: www.bbc.co.uk/languages Language notes: government of verbs.

Issue 25

Grammar by osmosis - how much do you pick up without noticing? Book review: Spanish Bilingual Visual dictionary (Dorling Kindersley) Language notes: when to change y to e and o to u.