Podcast
Spanish Shadow Daily
A new Spanish lesson every day for English speakers, made for listening with no screen: graded stories to shadow, grammar taken apart, survival Spanish for the farmacia, the mercado and the metro, listening quizzes, a café chat between a learner and a native speaker from Spain, a weekly audio drama and slow Spanish news. Every episode is graded to a CEFR level (A1 to C2) and leaves you pauses to speak out loud.
Want to see the words as well as hear them? Every kind of lesson here has an illustrated video version on our YouTube channel, with the Spanish and English on screen, for every level from A1 to C2.
Subscribe in any podcast app with the feed: https://www.mandarinshadow.app/podcast/es/feed.xml
Every day of the week
Sunday
Slow Spanish News
this week's news from Spain and the Spanish-speaking world in simple Spanish
Monday
Spanish Story Time
a graded Spanish story to listen to and repeat
Tuesday
Spanish Grammar in Focus
one grammar point, taken apart and practised
Wednesday
Survival Spanish
the phrases for one real situation in Spain
Thursday
Spanish Listening Quiz
a listening quiz with spoken choices
Friday
Spanish Café Chat
an English learner and a native Spanish speaker chat about one topic
Saturday
Spanish Audio Drama
a graded Spanish audio serial, a new episode each week
About one day in five, the day's show is a Learning Burst: a dense five-minute lesson: words, one grammar point, a shadowing drill and quick-fire recall.
Latest episodes
2026-11-03 · 12:17
Basics (below A1 (Basics)): Basics 2: The Five Vowels Las cinco vocales
Practise the five pure Spanish vowels, A, E, I, O and U, and four new words: house, table, flat and grape. Then train your ear with a vowel listening drill.
2026-11-02 · 13:22
Spanish Listening Quiz (A2): A Hike in the Mountains Excursión a la montaña
Practise understanding everyday Spanish about a mountain hike, plus the reflexive verbs like levantarse (to get up), in a listening quiz with spoken choices.
2026-10-31 · 9:46
Spanish Audio Drama (A2): Splitting the Bill in the Square La cuenta de la plaza
Lucía and Daniel meet the mysterious woman from the phone call in a bar on the square, and the bill arrives. You'll practise ir a + infinitive to talk about plans, plus money phrases for splitting a bill.
2026-10-30 · 10:31
Spanish Café Chat (A2): Splitting the Bill with Friends Pagar la cuenta entre amigos
Chat about splitting the bill with friends in Spain, practise the present perfect (he comido), learn money phrases, and climb a ladder for saying 'I'm so tired'.
2026-10-29 · 13:38
Spanish Listening Quiz (A2): Asking the Boss for a Day Off El jefe y el día libre
Practise understanding short Spanish sentences about work, asking for a day off, and weekend plans, with a three-choice listening quiz. You will also meet the pretérito indefinido, the simple past tense, as in comí and fui.
2026-10-28 · 14:01
Survival Spanish (A1): Asking the Way on a Mountain Hike De ruta por la montaña
Practise the phrases you need at a mountain information point in Galicia: asking where the trail starts, if it is difficult, where to park and where the mountain hut is. You will also learn when to use ser and estar.
2026-10-27 · 10:56
Basics (below A1 (Basics)): Basics 1: How Spanish Works ¿Qué es el español?
Your very first Spanish lesson: where Spanish is spoken, why it is read just as it is written, and your first four words: hello, thank you, yes and no.
2026-10-26 · 16:59
Spanish Story Time (A1): Lost in Bilbao Perdida en Bilbao
A nurse from Valencia arrives in Bilbao in August with a dead phone and asks a stranger for directions. You will practise asking where things are, the difference between ser and estar, and simple travel sentences.
2026-10-25 · 11:03
Slow Spanish News (A2 & B1): A Bigger Olive Oil Harvest in Spain Más aceite, precios más bajos
Practise simple Spanish through this week's news: Spain expects a bigger olive oil harvest and prices are falling. You will repeat the story sentence by sentence.
2026-10-24 · 8:23
Spanish Audio Drama (A2): The Mysterious Envelope El sobre misterioso
Meet flatmates Lucía and Daniel as a strange envelope appears at their door. Practise the past tense, ir a + infinitive and everyday questions in a short mystery.
2026-10-23 · 12:26
Spanish Café Chat (A2): Café Chat: Tapas and Eating Out Charla de café: las tapas
Chat with a native speaker from Spain about tapas, ordering at the bar, late dinners, two kisses, tú and usted, and the siesta. You will practise useful everyday phrases and talk about what happened today and yesterday.
2026-10-22 · 10:56
Spanish Listening Quiz (A1): Food, Family and Daily Life Quiz de escucha
A listening quiz with fourteen short Spanish sentences. Pick the right English meaning, then repeat the trickiest sentences out loud.