Practice speaking Spanish in short scenes with one person and a few simple goals. Catch a bus in Mérida, order tacos in Oaxaca or take a taxi in Mexico City, with gentle help the moment you need it.
En la parada del camión
Mérida · with Don Isauro
Correction
¿Este camión va al centro?
Camión is masculine, so it’s este.
You can know the word for ticket and still freeze when someone at a bus stop says buenas tardes. Tests and drills check what you remember. They rarely ask you to answer a real person, in the moment, with your own words.
Conversation practice fills that gap. You hear something, you reply, and the next line depends on what you said. Do that in enough small moments and speaking stops feeling like an exam.
You learn to talk by talking.
So every practice in Poco a poco is a conversation.
Scenes are short. Here is what happens inside one.
En la parada del camión
Mérida · with Don Isauro
Order tacos, chat with a neighbor, catch a bus. Each scene has one person and a few simple goals, so you always know what to say next.
Pronunciation
86/100
Zócalo
Stress the first syllable: ZÓ-ca-lo. The accent mark tells you where.
Speak your reply, or type it when you'd rather. Spoken answers get a pronunciation score and a tip on the word that needs work.
Hint
He’s asking what you’d like. Tell him how many tacos you want, and which kind.
Quiero tres tacos de pastor, por favor.
I’d like three al pastor tacos, please.
Ask for a hint whenever you need one, and use the suggested reply if you like. English is fine when you can't find the word.
En el mercado
Oaxaca
Correction
¿Cuánto cuestan los mangos?
With more than one thing, the verb changes too.
Every mistake gets a quick fix right in the conversation, with the words that changed highlighted, so you learn it in the moment.
Scenes are set in Mexico, home to more native Spanish speakers than any other country. Each one starts with someone talking to you.
Mérida · with Don Isauro
“Buenas tardes. Hace mucho calor, ¿verdad?”
Mexico City · with Don Beto
“Buenas noches. ¿A dónde vamos?”
Oaxaca
“¿Qué le sirvo? Tenemos tacos de pastor, de suadero y de chorizo.”
Talking brings up questions. The answers sit right next to your scenes.
Valeria
Your tutor · Ask anything
Dura is how long something lasts: La película dura dos horas.
Tarda is how long it takes to happen: El camión tarda mucho en llegar.
Ask Valeria to break down anything that’s confusing you, whenever it comes up.
Fundamentals · Lesson
Gender, articles and agreement
Every noun has a gender. The ending usually tells you which:
el libro the book
-o: usually masculine
la mesa the table
-a: usually feminine
la canción the song
-ción: always feminine
Simple narrated lessons that unlock as the topic comes up in your scenes.
Your podcast · 9 min
Useful Spanish for Travel
Based on our conversations about travel
Man El camión tarda mucho en llegar.
Host “The bus takes a long time to arrive.”
Custom episodes are generated for you along the way, based on the conversations you’ve had.
Most native speakers live in Latin America, and Mexico is home to more of them than anywhere else. Learn the Spanish they speak, and you’ll be understood wherever Spanish is spoken.
9 in 10
native Spanish speakers live in the Americas. Latin American Spanish is what you'll hear most, in the US too.
1 in 4
native Spanish speakers is Mexican, more than any other country. That's why our scenes are set there.
Everywhere
Understood from Bogotá to Barcelona, just as American English is in London.
It means speaking Spanish back and forth with someone, instead of filling in tests and drills. In Poco a poco, each practice is a short scene with one person and a few simple goals, like asking a man at a bus stop how much the ticket is.
Start a scene. The person in it talks to you, and you reply by speaking or typing. If you get stuck, ask for a hint or ask your tutor, Valeria, what anything means.
Yes. Scenes are short and the goals are simple, so you always know what to say next. English is fine when you can't find the word, and short lessons on basics like greetings and numbers unlock as they come up in your scenes.
You get a quick fix right in the conversation, with the words that changed highlighted and a one-line reason. For example: ¿Este camión va al centro? Camión is masculine, so it's este.
Latin American Spanish. Most native speakers live in the Americas and more of them are Mexican than any other nationality, so the scenes are set in Mexico. It's understood wherever Spanish is spoken.
Each finished scene shows scores for effort, fluency and pronunciation, and your progress page counts the scenes and lessons you've completed.
You can, and it's a good partner for open chat. Poco a poco gives the practice a structure: short scenes set in Mexico with one person and a few goals, feedback on your responses including corrections and alternative phrasings, and pronunciation scoring to let you know which words need more practice.
Poco a poco launches on November 16. Join the waitlist and we'll let you know when your first scene is ready.
Join the waitlist and we’ll email you when Poco a poco opens. Little by little, you’ll get there.