This summer I plan on going on a service trip to Costa Rica. Having only had two years of Spanish class in high school, I would say my Spanish speaking skills are not sufficient enough to communicate with others. Even though I can say most things in a very basic way, I am looking to improve my casual conversational skills. A friend of my suggested me and a couple of the other members of the service group going to Costa Rica improve our Spanish in a very simple and uniquely fun way: watching a novela.
I went into watching a novela not knowing what to expect. After one episode, I was hooked. The soap opera we started watching is a classic old one called “Pasión de Gavilanes.” After watching some episodes, I was surprised how quickly I picked up on Spanish colloquialisms and how much my overall understanding improved.
Besides improving your Spanish skills in an easy and fun way, novelas are strangely addicting because of their ridiculously dramatic plot lines. Even though you know these situations are incredibly far-fetched, you can’t help being on the edge of your seat the entire time. Revenge, love, lust, and not to mention amazingly hot men—what more could you ask for? Here are three other popular soap operas if you are interested:
1) “La Mujer en el Espejo” – A love story about a girl who is cast by a spell, causing her to be beautiful by day and normal by night.
2) “Amigas y Rivales” – About four completely different women and their interconnected lives.
3) “Como el Cine” -This novella is a about a girl who has a double life: She is a dancer in a bar who pretends to be a psychologist.