Spanish Language Classes
Pasadena Language Center offers Spanish lessons for all levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced and conversation. Learn Spanish in a comfortable, casual environment and make it a fun, enriching experience! We serve the following areas : Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, Alhambra, San Gabriel, South Arroyo, Altadena, Monrovia, Sierra Madre, Glendale, Burbank, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, La Cañada, Montrose, La Crescenta & Sun Valley.
About the Spanish Language
Spanish is the most widely spoken of the Romance languages, both in terms of numbers and in terms of speakers. It is spoken in Spain, Mexico, Central and South America, except Brazil, Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana. In the United States more than 30 million speak Spanish as mother tongue. In Africa it is also spoken in Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara. There are more than 400 million speakers and it is one of the official languages of the United Nations. Spanish originated in Castile, a region of Spain. Spanish pronunciation varies from country to country but differences are not so great as to make the language unintelligible to speakers from different areas.
Curriculum and structure
The Spanish weekly and intensive classes are structured into three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced. Each level is divided into four sub-levels: A, B, C, and D.
For the Beginner and Intermediate levels we use "Ultimate Spanish Beginner-Intermediate" by Living Language. In addition, we use the "Complete Spanish Grammar (Premium 3rd or 4th Edition)" workbook by McGraw-Hill.
Beginner A (Lessons 1-5)
Topics: greetings and introductions, asking for information, clock time, work, weather, months, seasons.
Grammar: uses and conjugation of the verbs ser and estar, hay, simple negation, gender and number of nouns and adjectives, punctuation, subject pronouns, indefinite and definite articles, the contractions del and al, possession with de, question words, numbers, cognates, telling time, the infinitive, present tense of regular -ar and -er verbs, days of the week, demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, etc.
Beginner B (Lessons 6-10)
Topics: clothing, colors, sizes, the body and health, family relationships, food, likes and dislikes
Grammar: present tense of regular -ir verbs, ir and ir+a+infinitive, the verb saber, the verb tener and expressions with tener, the gerund, the present progressive, the verb hacer, translations of "to be" in Spanish, possessive adjectives, the position of adjectives, shortened forms of adjectives, hace + time + que + present tense, the personal a, collective nouns, common prepositions, prepositional object pronouns, direct object pronouns, the verb venir, indirect object and direct object pronouns, gustar and verbs like it, the verbs dar and decir, etc.
Beginner C (Lessons 11-14)
Topics: eating at restaurants, making a phone call, at the jewelry store, at the pharmacy
Grammar: radical changing verbs (o>ue, e>ie, e>i), the impersonal se, the verbs ver and oler, question words, verbs ending in -cer, -cir, -ger, -gir, the uses of saber and conocer, double object pronouns, the verb salir, etc.
Beginner D (Lessons 15-18)
Topics: daily activities, traveling by bus, traveling by train, renting a car
Grammar: the reflexive verb, the reflexive object pronouns, the reciprocal object pronouns, the verbs llamar and llamarse, the verbs poner andponerse, comparatives, verbs ending in -guir, acabar de + infinitive, al + infinitive, polite commands, relative pronouns, the verbs caer andtraer, the superlative, affirmative and negative expressions, double negation, verbs ending in -uir, the verb reirse, etc.
Intermediate A (Lessons 19-24)
Topics: at the gas station, renting an apartment, at the doctor's office, at the dentist's, buying a computer, at the theater box office
Grammar: concept of the past tenses, the preterite of regular verbs, the irregular preterite of estar, irregular preterites ending in -car, -gar, -zar, the present tense of verbs ending in -uar and -iar, the verbs tocar and jugar, substitution of e for y and u for o, irregular preterites with u, the preterite of ir, ser, haber, and hacer, hace + preterite, radical changing preterites, the verb doler, affirmative familiar commands, irregular preterites with j, and y, the neuter lo, the preterite of querer, venir and dar, verb + preposition + infinitive, ordinal numbers, etc.
Intermediate B (Lessons 25-30)
Topics: bargaining, looking for a job, at the post office, at the beach, at the bank, at the currency exchange office
Grammar: the imperfect of regular verbs, the uses of tener que, hay que, and deber, the use of cuyo, irregular imperfects of ser, ir, and ver, the past progressive, hacia + time + que + imperfect, the preterite and imperfect together, the verb haber, the past participle, the present and past perfect tenses, por poco + present tense, the future tense of regular verbs, the present of probability, diminutives, irregular verbs in the future tense, the future perfect tense, the uses of por, the present conditional, the conditional perfect, the past of probability, softened commands and requests, the uses of para, etc.
Intermediate C (Lessons 31-35)
Topics: at the police station, watching television, at the movies, sports, at the hotel
Grammar: the true passive, the passive se, pero and sino, the present subjunctive of regular and radical-changing verbs, subjunctive clauses expressing a request, desire or demand, irregular present subjunctive verbs, present subjunctive of verbs ending in -car, -gar, -zar, subjunctive clauses after expressions of emotion, doubt, and denial, the negative familiar command and the "let's", verb + preposition + noun, augmentatives, the subjunctive after impersonal expressions and conjunctions of time, the subjunctive with an indefinite antecedent, etc.
Intermediate D (Lessons 36-40)
Topics: the media and communications, holidays and festivals, politics and rights, household errands, at the airport
Grammar: forms and uses of the imperfect subjunctive, sequence of tenses with the subjunctive, the subjunctive after certain conjunctions, contrary-to-fact sentences in the present and in the past, the expression como si, the present perfect subjunctive, the past perfect subjunctive, use of the infinitive with pedir and similar verbs, the expression cada vez mas/menos, the vosotros commands, pause words, the infinitive used as a noun, the long possessives, the emphatic sí and mismo, propio, interjections, etc.
For the Advanced levels we use "Pasajes lengua" by McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
The Conversation classes consist of discussions on different topics: news, politics, economy, technology, health, entertainment, culture, sports, style, travel and many more. The students will present a newspaper or internet article on the topic of their choice. They will provide a list of new vocabulary words found in the article and copies of the article for each student in the group. There will follow a discussion on the topic and the article itself.
For the Beginner and Intermediate levels we use "Ultimate Spanish Beginner-Intermediate" by Living Language. In addition, we use the "Complete Spanish Grammar (Premium 3rd or 4th Edition)" workbook by McGraw-Hill.
Beginner A (Lessons 1-5)
Topics: greetings and introductions, asking for information, clock time, work, weather, months, seasons.
Grammar: uses and conjugation of the verbs ser and estar, hay, simple negation, gender and number of nouns and adjectives, punctuation, subject pronouns, indefinite and definite articles, the contractions del and al, possession with de, question words, numbers, cognates, telling time, the infinitive, present tense of regular -ar and -er verbs, days of the week, demonstrative adjectives and pronouns, etc.
Beginner B (Lessons 6-10)
Topics: clothing, colors, sizes, the body and health, family relationships, food, likes and dislikes
Grammar: present tense of regular -ir verbs, ir and ir+a+infinitive, the verb saber, the verb tener and expressions with tener, the gerund, the present progressive, the verb hacer, translations of "to be" in Spanish, possessive adjectives, the position of adjectives, shortened forms of adjectives, hace + time + que + present tense, the personal a, collective nouns, common prepositions, prepositional object pronouns, direct object pronouns, the verb venir, indirect object and direct object pronouns, gustar and verbs like it, the verbs dar and decir, etc.
Beginner C (Lessons 11-14)
Topics: eating at restaurants, making a phone call, at the jewelry store, at the pharmacy
Grammar: radical changing verbs (o>ue, e>ie, e>i), the impersonal se, the verbs ver and oler, question words, verbs ending in -cer, -cir, -ger, -gir, the uses of saber and conocer, double object pronouns, the verb salir, etc.
Beginner D (Lessons 15-18)
Topics: daily activities, traveling by bus, traveling by train, renting a car
Grammar: the reflexive verb, the reflexive object pronouns, the reciprocal object pronouns, the verbs llamar and llamarse, the verbs poner andponerse, comparatives, verbs ending in -guir, acabar de + infinitive, al + infinitive, polite commands, relative pronouns, the verbs caer andtraer, the superlative, affirmative and negative expressions, double negation, verbs ending in -uir, the verb reirse, etc.
Intermediate A (Lessons 19-24)
Topics: at the gas station, renting an apartment, at the doctor's office, at the dentist's, buying a computer, at the theater box office
Grammar: concept of the past tenses, the preterite of regular verbs, the irregular preterite of estar, irregular preterites ending in -car, -gar, -zar, the present tense of verbs ending in -uar and -iar, the verbs tocar and jugar, substitution of e for y and u for o, irregular preterites with u, the preterite of ir, ser, haber, and hacer, hace + preterite, radical changing preterites, the verb doler, affirmative familiar commands, irregular preterites with j, and y, the neuter lo, the preterite of querer, venir and dar, verb + preposition + infinitive, ordinal numbers, etc.
Intermediate B (Lessons 25-30)
Topics: bargaining, looking for a job, at the post office, at the beach, at the bank, at the currency exchange office
Grammar: the imperfect of regular verbs, the uses of tener que, hay que, and deber, the use of cuyo, irregular imperfects of ser, ir, and ver, the past progressive, hacia + time + que + imperfect, the preterite and imperfect together, the verb haber, the past participle, the present and past perfect tenses, por poco + present tense, the future tense of regular verbs, the present of probability, diminutives, irregular verbs in the future tense, the future perfect tense, the uses of por, the present conditional, the conditional perfect, the past of probability, softened commands and requests, the uses of para, etc.
Intermediate C (Lessons 31-35)
Topics: at the police station, watching television, at the movies, sports, at the hotel
Grammar: the true passive, the passive se, pero and sino, the present subjunctive of regular and radical-changing verbs, subjunctive clauses expressing a request, desire or demand, irregular present subjunctive verbs, present subjunctive of verbs ending in -car, -gar, -zar, subjunctive clauses after expressions of emotion, doubt, and denial, the negative familiar command and the "let's", verb + preposition + noun, augmentatives, the subjunctive after impersonal expressions and conjunctions of time, the subjunctive with an indefinite antecedent, etc.
Intermediate D (Lessons 36-40)
Topics: the media and communications, holidays and festivals, politics and rights, household errands, at the airport
Grammar: forms and uses of the imperfect subjunctive, sequence of tenses with the subjunctive, the subjunctive after certain conjunctions, contrary-to-fact sentences in the present and in the past, the expression como si, the present perfect subjunctive, the past perfect subjunctive, use of the infinitive with pedir and similar verbs, the expression cada vez mas/menos, the vosotros commands, pause words, the infinitive used as a noun, the long possessives, the emphatic sí and mismo, propio, interjections, etc.
For the Advanced levels we use "Pasajes lengua" by McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
The Conversation classes consist of discussions on different topics: news, politics, economy, technology, health, entertainment, culture, sports, style, travel and many more. The students will present a newspaper or internet article on the topic of their choice. They will provide a list of new vocabulary words found in the article and copies of the article for each student in the group. There will follow a discussion on the topic and the article itself.