This is my guide to improve your Spanish using stories. In this post, I will help you identify which is the perfect book in Spanish to help you make progress.
To catch up on the first two parts of the series, use the links below:
Here’s what we discussed during the first parts:
- How to increase your vocabulary using Spanish short stories.
- A powerful way to memorize the new vocabulary.
- How having fun is an important issue when language learning.
- How to learn grammar using stories in Spanish.
This is the final part of this series, where I’ll point out some of the best resources that I’ve found online to find good stories in Spanish.
Note: This is a long, 3-part series. If your time for reading is limited, why not sign up for my checklist + Email course: Spanish Mastery For Intermediate Students In 10 Simple Steps?
Part 3: “Short stories you say? Ok, but what book in Spanish should I read?”
If you’ve ever thought about getting a book in Spanish, you were probably thinking about getting something to help you practice your new language.
When I was learning to speak English I remember thinking:
“I want to buy a book in English, I want to feel like an English native speaker reading in his native tongue”
And that’s what I did, I bought the adventures of Tom Sawyer in English.
However, I never finished the book! In fact, I read like 20 pages and I gave up… why?
The problem was not the content of the book. However, this book had a vocabulary that was too difficult to understand for me at that time.
Because of this, after two days of reading, I just left the book in my library.
Bottom line: Don’t make the same mistake I did.Look for a book in Spanish that has an easy to understand vocabulary.
if you pick something too difficult you could end up feeling stuck, frustrated and hating Spanish.
Look for enjoyable easy short stories
Whenever you read a book in Spanish, or whenever you hear a story in Spanish, it is very important that you like what you read, and that you understand the story.
A story that catches your attention means you will likely finish what you read or hear, and most importantly you will remember it easier.
Why do you think Hollywood is so successful?
It is because this industry is telling stories all the time, and usually, the best stories are the ones that are better sold.
This happens because, as humans, we love good stories.
Have you found yourself hooked on a book, a movie, or a video game just because you fell in love with the story?
Take advantage of this natural tendency that we have to improve your Spanish.
Not only look for a book in Spanish, just look for good stories in general, you may find them in:
- Videos.
- Podcasts.
- Books.
- TV Shows.
- Movies.
10 Nice stories and resources to find stories to improve your Spanish
A book in Spanish must be fun, easy to read and catchy. Here is a collection of books and sites that tell simple stories especially designed to help you improve your Spanish:
1- Pobre Ana: Una Novela Breve y Fácil Totalmente en Espanol – By Blaine Ray
This is a short and easy novel especially designed for first-year students.
The story is about a girl from California with a hard life. She gets the opportunity to visit Mexico, and that trip becomes an eye opener experience for her because when she goes back to California, she starts seeing things from a different point of view.
2- Patricia va a California – By Blaine Ray.
Another easy novel in Spanish designed for 1st and 2dn year students.
In this case, we see the story of a girl, Patricia, from Guatemala who goes to California as an exchange student.
Patricia meets another girl, Debbie, who makes her life impossible until Patricia faces a dangerous situation saving Debbie’s life.
The girls become friends and Debbie visits Patricia in Guatemala.
3- Berto y sus buenas ideas – by Magaly Rodríguez.
An easy to understand story that talks about Berto, a young boy who lives in Madrid, and he does not like school.
He thinks he has better things to do instead of going to school, but he finds out he’s wrong.
4- Piratas -del Caribe y el mapa Secreto – by Mira Canion and Carol Gaab.
This is an easy novel full of adventure, suspense, and deception set in the 1600’s.
It tells the story of a pirate’s quest for a secret map.5- Robo en la noche – by Kristy Placido.
74 pages book in Spanish about a 15-year-old girl who finds herself in the middle of a complicated and illegal activity. The book tells the story of how her father saves her.
*You may find more books like these first 5 novels at tprsbooks.com
6- Claudia Orea and My daily Spanish.
Claudia is an author who has published a collection of Spanish short stories for beginners, these stories are easy to read and a powerful tool to increase vocabulary.
My daily Spanishis a site which focuses on helping busy people establish a learning Spanish habit, make sure you visit this site if you are a busy person.
If you’ve followed my blog for some time now, then you probably know that I’m a big fan of Olly Richards work.
He is a polyglot who helps people learn languages. Olly wrote a series of books to help people improve their Spanish.
They are meant for beginners and intermediate students.
The stories are very engaging, and I highly suggest you read them because I was hooked on the stories once I started reading the book for intermediate students and hey! I’m a Spanish native speaker!
8- Español automático.
Although español automático is not a book in Spanish, it is a wonderful and a powerful resource to improve your Spanish. I suggest you check this site out because Karo (the site’s owner) tells lots of stories during her podcast.
9- Unlimited Spanish podcast and courses.
I talked about this site in a previous blog post, and I wanted to highlight it today again because Oscar (Site’s owner) uses the TPRS method that I told you about in the second part of this series.
I love that during his podcast, he takes some vocabulary of the topic that he talks about and tells a story so people can remember the new vocabulary easily.
10- Intensive Spanish Listening byMe.
Finally, I also wanted to suggest and highlight this course that I created because it is all based on TPRS.
During this course, I tell you short and fun stories to help you improve your listening skills, pronunciation as well as your fluency.
This course has been taken by more than 500 people and many of them are reporting great results and improvement in their fluency, just give it a look and see it for yourself.
Conclusion
Spanish short stories are a powerful tool that will boost your Spanish tremendously.
The benefits of using stories are countless, and this is not a surprise, even experts on linguistics suggest them as a way to learn languages.
Now, besides of learning vocabulary, improving your grammar, pronunciation and listening skills, here’s something that will make a difference when you use stories:
You will have fun with Spanish, and that is quite important when learning a language!
It doesn’t matter if you get a book in Spanish with lots of stories in it, or if you buy an audio course, as long as stories are part of your learning, your improvement is guaranteed.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series!
If you’d like me to help you to improve your Spanish, don’t hesitate to sign up for my checklist + Email course for free in the form below.
Finally, take moment to share this article with your friends, family, or anyone who wants to improve his or her Spanish, they’ll thank you for it.
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