When your child starts learning Spanish—especially as a total beginner—it’s natural to wonder: Is this really working?

Maybe your middle schooler shows up to every lesson, but when you ask them to say something in Spanish, they freeze. Or perhaps they’re getting decent marks in class, but you’re not seeing them use the language in everyday life. If that’s left you feeling uncertain, you’re not alone.

The good news? Progress in Spanish doesn’t always look like perfect grammar or long conversations. Fluency builds layer by layer, and there are signs—subtle at first—that show things are moving in the right direction.

Let’s talk about the real benchmarks you can look for to feel confident that your child’s Spanish program is paying off.

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1. Your Child Recognizes and Reacts to Spanish in Context

One of the earliest and most exciting signs of language growth is recognition. Your child might not be able to respond in Spanish yet, but if they hear “¿Dónde está tu cuaderno?” and instinctively hand over their notebook, that’s progress.

According to ACTFL (the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), the first stage of language acquisition is comprehension. Learners typically understand more than they can express. So if your child is watching a Spanish video and suddenly laughs at a joke, or they smile when a teacher says “Excelente,” you’re witnessing real-time learning.

You might hear phrases like:

• “I know what that means!”
• “Wait. I’ve heard that word before.”
• “That’s ‘apple’ in Spanish, right?”

Encourage these moments. They’re not just signs of retention. They’re signs of connection. And connection leads to confidence.

2. Your Child Uses Spanish Outside of Class (Even in Small Ways)

If your child starts sprinkling Spanish into their daily routine on their own, that’s a powerful indicator they’re internalizing the language. These spontaneous moments matter more than memorized vocabulary lists.

Look for:

• Labeling items around the house in Spanish
• Asking how to say a new word
• Greeting you with a “Buenos días” or saying “Gracias” without being prompted

Even short exchanges like “Tengo hambre” or “¿Dónde está el gato?” show that your child is thinking in Spanish. That’s huge.

Studies suggest that regular informal practice—using the target language at home or in casual settings—significantly boosts retention and fluency in young learners. So don’t worry if they’re not yet holding full conversations. If Spanish is sneaking into their day-to-day lives, the program is working.

3. Your Child Is More Confident, Curious, and Engaged

Sometimes the biggest sign of success isn’t what your child says, but how they feel.

Are they eager to join the class? Do they talk about their teacher or partner from their 2-on-1 lessons? Do they ask cultural questions or express interest in learning more?

Language learning is emotional. When your child feels safe, supported, and successful, that energy shows up in class and at home.

At Homeschool Spanish Academy, we often see this with our middle schoolers. Our live, online Spanish classes—especially the 2-on-1 format—create a space where kids aren’t afraid to try, make mistakes, and grow. The presence of a learning buddy often boosts motivation and lowers anxiety, turning what could feel intimidating into something fun and social.

You can learn more about how our paired classes support fluency and friendship right here.

And remember: confidence breeds consistency. If your child enjoys the process, they’re far more likely to stick with it and reach fluency in the long run.

What If You’re Not Seeing These Signs Yet?

Don’t panic. Every child has a unique pace, and early learners often go through a “silent period” where they absorb more than they express. This is normal.

If you’re still unsure whether the program is the right fit, consider:

• Asking your child’s teacher for a progress update
• Watching a class recording (if available)
• Scheduling a check-in to set clear goals

The key is staying involved, without pressuring your child. Fluency takes time, but with the right support, it will happen.

Want to See It for Yourself?

You don’t have to guess whether your child is in the right Spanish program. At Homeschool Spanish Academy, we offer a free trial class so you can see our approach in action. Your child can meet their teacher, try out the paired format, and take their first step toward real-world Spanish fluency.

Click here to book a free trial class!

Join one of the 40,000 classes that we teach each month and you can experience results like these

“It’s great being able to interact with native speaking people and having a conversation with them not just doing all the work on paper. It’s also an amazing opportunity to speak with native Spanish-speaking people without having to travel to a native Spanish-speaking country.”

– Melanie

“Getting to know wonderful teachers who care about me and my growth in language and education. Evelyn Gomez and Erick Cacao are two of the most extraordinary people I have ever met, and talking with them in Spanish at the beginning of classes is always so fulfilling and greatly contributes to my happiness, joy, and wellbeing.”

– Abby

“I love that my children have the opportunity to speak with a live person. They get to practice Spanish in a 1-1 setting while improve their speaking, writing and reading skills during their lessons. HSA is a great way to learn Spanish for all ages! My children are 6, 9 and 11. My oldest two (9 and 11) have been taking classes with HSA for almost 2 years now. They love seeing their teacher each week. They understand the importance of learning several languages. I’ve seen them grow and learn with HSA. I’m excited to see how they will improve the more classes they take. I highly recommend them. You can’t bet learning and speaking with a live teacher. I’ve tried other programs. It’s just not as motivating.”

– Karie Ann, Parent of 3

Want more Spanish Homeschooling Resources? Check these out!

• Why 2-on-1 Spanish Classes Work Better for Beginners (Especially Middle Schoolers)
• How to Know If Your Child’s Spanish Program Is Working: 3 Signs of Real Progress
• Your Teen’s First 6 Months of Spanish: What to Expect and How to Support Them
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• Spanish Curriculum Must-Haves: What Makes a Program Preschool-Friendly
• K-8 Spanish Success: The Natural Path to Bilingual Proficiency

The post How to Know If Your Child’s Spanish Program Is Working: 3 Signs of Real Progress appeared first on Homeschool Spanish Academy.

What is Fluency?

Some of us set impossibly high standards when we think of what it means to be “fluent” in Spanish. Do you think of fluency as utter perfection? If so, you may feel like you’re on the bottom of Mt. Everest wishing you could somehow make it to the top. But the truth is much more relaxing: fluency is more like a spectrum of abilities than a massive mountain to climb. While the CEFR would say that Spanish learners at the upper intermediate B2 level are considered fluent, I would first have you ask yourself one question:

“Am I able to use Spanish in order to learn more Spanish?”

In other words, can you “go around” an unknown word in Spanish in order to describe it to a native speaker who will be able to understand you well enough to tell you the word you’re looking for?

If you can, then you’re officially within the spectrum of fluency!

Use Spanish to Learn Spanish  

The entire purpose of language is to communicate, and if you’re able to do that (even if you’re not speaking like a native), then you are making fluent use of the language. To improve your fluency at this level, make sure you know words like la cosa, la acción, and la herramienta to help you describe (respectively) things, actions, and tools whose names you don’t know yet.

For example, you could ask: ¿Cómo se llama la cosa que usas para hacer el pelo?

While this question means “What do you call the thing that you use to do hair?” and doesn’t sound particularly native, it gets the point across and it allows you to learn a new word, since your listener will quickly respond with La cosa que se usa para peinarse se llama el cepillo (The thing you use to brush your hair is called a brush). In fact, you’d probably learn more than just one word since you may not have known the word peinarse. But again, you’re using Spanish to learn more Spanish, which is the cornerstone of being fluent!

As you seek to further improve Spanish fluency, you should focus on two areas of language acquisition: speaking and listening. Let’s see how you can move up on the fluency spectrum and improve your Spanish skills.

Improve Spanish Speaking Skills

One of the most important (and highly underestimated) keys to improving your speaking skills is to stay calm while speaking! We’ve all been there at one time or another when having a conversation in a foreign language: with your nerves on edge, your mouth going a hundred times slower than your brain, and suddenly you start to feel silly or self-conscious about talking.

Well, that’s in the past now—from here on out, you’ll feel confident in knowing that nobody is judging you. Most people don’t mind that you don’t know their language perfectly well; in fact, they often feel excited that you’re trying to speak it. So, give yourself some credit and take a deep breath!

Practical Exercises that Improve Spanish Speaking Skills

Aside from being calm and accepting that you don’t have to speak perfectly to have great conversations, you can also engage in some practical exercises to improve Spanish:

• When you read Spanish books, read them out loud to yourself or others
• Practice conversations on your own by inventing scenarios and acting them out with yourself (sounds silly, but I’m telling you it definitely works!)
• Memorize common phrases and conversation starters, including:
  • Greetings and goodbyes
  • Transactional phrases
• Write out a simple version of your autobiography in Spanish and memorize it so you can easily talk about yourself in conversation
• Repeat dialogues that you hear from native speakers
• Review your notes, Spanish videos, and resources again and again
• Make lots of mistakes and don’t obsess over self-correcting
• Accept whatever other people may think and stay calm in conversation

Accent and Pronunciation

As a seasoned Spanish learner myself, I will admit that having a decent accent contributes greatly to having quality conversations with native speakers. Honestly, most people don’t care if you make grammar mistakes, but they may enjoy the conversation more if you have an understandable accent. To make sure you achieve this, focus on the following:

• vowel sounds, including diphthongs, triphthongs, and hiatus
• accent marks and stress of words
• softening your t’s (don’t aspirate it) and d’s
• the r fuerte, where you roll your r’s
• linking your words without making unnatural pauses
• differentiating more difficult consonants, such as:
  • b/v
  • j/g
  • ll/y

Improve Spanish Listening Skills

In order to improve your Spanish listening skills, you need to engage in active listening. This means that you can’t simply listen to Spanish music or watch Spanish TV and assume that you’ll automatically absorb a ton of vocabulary. Our brains don’t work like that! What you must do is listen while actively engaged with the content you’re hearing. The best way to do this, of course, is to have a conversation with a native speaker. But, you can do it with other content like songs, TV shows, movies, etc. if you insist on completing four main actions every time:

1. Listen closely to the content
2. Come up with questions about it and answer them
3. Look up new words and write them in a language journal
4. Summarize the content in your own words

Practical Exercises that Improve Spanish Listening Skills

To maximize the benefits of active listening, you can explore the following options:

• Build listening into your daily routine
  • 10-minute drills on vowel sounds, speech pace, etc. (whatever your listening focus is, train yourself on it during this time)
  • 10 minutes active listening (find something to listen to, then perform the 4 actions listed above) 
  • 10 minutes imitation practice (spend this time repeating everything you hear and creating new conversation scenarios based on what you heard)
• When you watch Spanish TV and movies, use subtitles in Spanish
• Listen to Spanish music that is slower and has clear lyrics
• Watch slow news in Spanish
• Find YouTube videos in Spanish that you enjoy listening to
• Change your GPS language to Spanish
• Find native speakers to talk to 
• Record yourself talking and listen to it

Improve Your Spanish Faster!

The way to improve Spanish language skills is to speak it as often as possible and engage in active listening. The whole point of learning a new language is to be able to communicate with others, so it’s important to get started on having Spanish conversations right away. No matter your current level, you are guaranteed to improve Spanish fluency through talking, listening, and following the tips we’ve provided for you here!

If you’d like to start talking to a native Spanish speaker, sign up for a free trial class with us at Homeschool Spanish Academy, where our friendly, certified Spanish teachers from Guatemala are eager to meet you! Give yourself the best opportunity to improve your Spanish skills from the comfort of your home. ¡Hazlo ya!

Looking for free Spanish learning resources? Check out these posts!

• Can Middle Schoolers Really Learn Spanish Without Flashcards?
• Your Child Knows Spanish Words, Now What? How to Turn Vocabulary into Real Conversations
• From Snacks to Dinners: Spanish Vocabulary for Food That Teens Actually Talk About
• Why Speaking Spanish with Family Feels Different, and How to Get Comfortable
• What to Say When You’re Not Sure What to Say – in Spanish!
• Why 2-on-1 Spanish Classes Work Better for Beginners (Especially Middle Schoolers)
• From YouTube to Fluent: How to Use Media to Boost Your Child’s Spanish at Home
• Real Spanish for Real Life: Top Beginner Phrases

The post Powerful Ways to Improve Your Spanish Language Skills appeared first on Homeschool Spanish Academy.