One trick I always tell my students is that practice makes perfect. If you are struggling with verbs, go to Spanishdict.com, or other websites to practice conjugating verbs. You can look it up on Google in order to better access this. If you practice many problems, you will find much more success in the classroom. Remember, as long as you are consistently practicing, practicing for 10 minutes a day will be much more effective than cramming. If you need help with vocabulary, use the resources given by the teacher to learn it better. You can also write a sentence in English that contains the vocabulary word, translate it, then use Spanishdict.com to check that you wrote it properly

Many times, the teacher may ask you to write in Spanish. Many may panic, writing any Spanish words that come to mind. However, the teacher could see that person’s writing to be “incoherent.” The trick is to plan what you will say in English. Then, you translate each English word to Spanish. If there are verbs, remember to conjugate properly! This can also be used to learn vocabulary better in your free time.

Part of being successful in Spanish is memorizing the Vocabulary. In English, you know many words such as “thing”, “eat”, etc. Likewise, in order to be successful in Spanish you need to memorize the vocabulary given by the teacher. You should not passively read the material to memorize it, because you will struggle more on the test. However, using Apps such as Anki and Quizlet will help you memorize the material much more effectively. 

Your teacher may make you read many passages in Spanish. At first, it may be very scary! But don’t worry, you will find success in it if you use the right method. The trick is to translate each word that you do know. Once you are done with that, read each sentence that you translated in English to decipher the words that you do not know.

It is a cliché saying that you should not cram studying. That applies for Spanish class as well. You need to remember that you are learning an entirely new language, which is outside of your comfort zone. If you cram the material the night before the test you will end up forgetting most of the material on test day! We do not want that. Thus, it is more important that everyday you study some Spanish. Whether it is memorizing vocabulary, practicing questions, or writing down a sentence in English then translating it to Spanish, you need to exercise your brain everyday. This will allow your brain to form connections in the Spanish language. Remember, you do not need to do this 1 hour per day; you can merely do 10 minutes per day so long as you are consistent.