Today I want to share with you one of my secret weapons in my efforts to learn as much Spanish as I possibly can in 33 days. Over these few days I have been sharing with you the source of the "WHAT" of learning to speak and understand fluent Spanish and what I want to do now is to give you some of the "HOW" to learn. One of my goals for this trial is to not only find great free learn Spanish resources but also to demonstrate that learning can be accelerated and made far more effective by using the right tools and strategies.

A key part of learning to speak Spanish is to be able to remember what you have learnt and one of the ways to do that is to use Flash Cards. I have been using these since day 1 of this experiment and I have found them invaluable. In just 10 days I have learnt over 160 words and phrases (and can pretty much remember them all) usng this method.

To take advantage of this powerful tool you will need some 3"x5" cards, two different coloured pens and some elastic bands. Start by listening to one of the Podcasts or by going through a lesson from the BBC and take note of the words and phrases you want to learn (the English and the Spanish translation).

Then on one side of the card write no more than 6 words (or phrases) in English. It helps to number them so that you can cross reference them with the Spanish version that you are about to write on the other side of the card. Then on the reverse of the card, in a different colour, write the corresponding Spanish equivalent.

Do this for all the Spanish vocabulary you want to learn and include both individual words and short phrases. When adding nouns and adjectives make sure you also include the gender and with the verbs if you add a conjugation, always make note of the "to XYZ" version (e.g. to believe). Then when you have a stack of Flash Cards, keep them with you at all times and take every opportunity to learn at least a couple of words from at least 1 card.

Test yourself English to Spanish and Spanish to English and keep doing that until you always get every word right for that card at least 7 days in a row. When you have done that, store the card away for future reference or as a later reminder and keep creating new ones to use. I have found learning lots of new words this way to be very easy and have whipped out my flash cards on a train, in the car waiting at a stop light, in my hotel room before going to sleep, out on a walk with my girlfriend, in the office and numerous times at home.

Very quickly the repetitions will give you familiarity, understanding and eventually ong term recall of the vocabulary and phrases you have learnt and the best thing about the flash cards is that you can use them any time you want. So my recommendation to you is to use Flash Cards because I certainly do and they have worked really "muy bien" (very well) for me.