• The Open University

Spanish for Beginners 4: Leisure Time

Learn how to talk about your hobbies and free time, and your likes and dislikes in the fourth Spanish for Beginners course.

73,701 enrolled on this course

People riding on bicycles
  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    4 hours

This free online course is the fourth of six in the Spanish for Beginners program. It will introduce you to the language that you need to:

  • talk about your hobbies and leisure time, such as sports and music;
  • talk about healthy living;
  • talk about what you like and dislike;
  • talk about what you prefer;
  • give reasons, express your opinion, and agree and disagree with others.

Learn Spanish to talk about your hobbies and interests

During the four weeks of the course, you will learn vocabulary and expressions to talk about your leisure time, such as what you do in your free time at home, like reading or watching TV, or outdoors.

You will learn vocabulary to talk about sports and healthy lifestyles, about musical instruments, and about historical or modern buildings that you might see in your travels.

You will also learn how to talk about what you like, and about what you are not so keen on, using the verb gustar (to like) and preferir (to prefer).

By now, you will be halfway through the Spanish for Beginners program, and you will be growing in confidence. You will be coming across longer texts in Spanish, and will have to read some of them for gist, so you understand what they are about even if you don’t understand all the words.

You will learn about Ecuador, and its capital, Quito, and about Latin dance too.

What topics will you cover?

  • Talk about your hobbies and leisure time, such as sports and music;
  • Talk about healthy living:
  • Talk about what you like and dislike;
  • Talk about what you prefer;
  • Give reasons, express your opinion, and agree and disagree with others.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Develop skills in basic Spanish for interacting in common communicative situations
  • Engage in simple communication in Spanish
  • Apply the language introduced in the course to talk about your leisure time, hobbies and interests
  • Apply the language introduced to talk about healthy living
  • Apply the language introduced to talk about what you like and dislike, and what you prefer
  • Apply the language introduced to give reasons, express your opinion, and agree and disagree with others

Who is the course for?

This course is aimed at people with little prior knowledge of Spanish, who want to learn the basic language and find out about the Spanish-speaking world. The course assumes that you have already studied the previous three courses in the Spanish for Beginners program. This course is taught through English.

Who will you learn with?

I'm a lecturer in Spanish at the Open University. I'm fascinated by languages, how they work, and how we learn them.

I've been teaching Spanish with the OU for the last 14 years. Over this time I've built up a wealth of experience in distance learning for adults. I also have expertise producing learning material.

Who developed the course?

The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

  • Established

    1969
  • Location

    Milton Keynes, UK
  • World ranking

    Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

Join the conversation on social media

You can use the hashtag #FLlearnSpanish to talk about this course on social media.