How do I teach my boyfriend english? All he knows mainly is spanish.
My boyfriend is trying to learn english an me and his friends is trying to help him. How do u teach someone english? He mainly knows spanish and a little english.
5 Answers
Point at a close object whose name is similar in Spanish, like a banana, and say to him "This is a banana". Then point at another banana further away from you and say "That is a banana... too!". Do the same with other objects and he will have learnt "this", "that", and "is". Now point at two bananas and say "These ARE two bananas", and show the number two with your fingers. Do the same with more objects, and he'll have learnt the numbers, plus "are". Reinforce it with "This is... ", "These are...". After having used the number 5, say "Give me 5", and hit hands with him. Then say "Give me that banana", and gesticulate to make your meaning clear. Now he knows what "give" and "me" means.
Use context and take advantage of the fact that there are several thousands of words almost indentical between Spanish and English so he can learn the English structures in context.
My boyfriend is trying to learn English and his friends and I are trying to help him. How do you teach someone English? He mainly knows Spanish and a little English.
Hmm!
You should start with using proper English yourself.
If you have ever seen a mother teach a two or three year old to speak, you can learn a lot about how to learn.
Make him look at your lips when you pronounce words. Repeat the word over and over, then have him try it and correct him.
Repeating words over and over is key. Move on to phrases and short sentences, repeating them over and over.
Hello Sweetchick and welcome to the SpanishDict forum 
You can effectively use context to help you like Lazaerus recommended When your boyfriend says to you, for example::
Tengo hanbre = I am hungry you could reply "En Español se dice (you say/one says) tengo hambre pero en Ingles se dice: I am hungry
While you are laying the table you can point to or hold up the object and say' spoon'
The method Lazarus mentioned of pointing to objects and saying their names in English is one of the best strategies to use at the beginning until at least until he becomes more familiar with the English language and the method you are using to teach him.
You could, occasionally, at a later stage simply repeat back to him in English what he has just said to you in Spanish. But this would obviously need to be by arrangement so that he would knew when you would be likely to do it and it would not interrupt the flow of conversation between you.
Writing the names of objects (nouns) in both languages could help you both to learn each others respective languages. For example you could write nevera = fridge on a paste it note and stick it on the fridge door or write puerta = door.
I hope these strategies help you
This site has helpful videos for learning Spanish and English. Here is a link to the first lesson to learn English. He can select other lessons based on his skill level.
I hope that helps!
