A five-step routine for one audio (20–30 minutes)
- Global listening (no pausing, no transcript): what is it about? who is speaking? what is the tone?
- Second listening: write down key words, numbers, names.
- Detailed listening with pauses: transcribe a 1-minute segment (dictation). This is slow but extremely effective.
- Check with the transcript or subtitles; underline what you did not hear and why (linking, unknown word, speed?).
- Final listening without transcript: you should now understand almost everything.
What to listen to, and how much
- Daily: 20–30 min of focused listening (the routine above) + as much passive listening as possible (while walking, cooking).
- Variety: news (clear, formal), interviews and debates (natural turn-taking, interruptions), podcasts and series (colloquial), lectures (like task 5).
- Accents: from Phase 3, alternate Spanish from Spain with Mexican, Argentinian, Colombian, Caribbean Spanish (see O10).
- Exam practice: from week 20, use the official DELE B2 model exams published by the Instituto Cervantes (they include audio files and transcripts) and commercial DELE preparation books with audio.
Listening strategies for the exam
- Use the reading time to predict: read the options and imagine what the speakers will say.
- Answers are usually paraphrased: the speaker will not say the exact words of the option.
- Distractors: the audio often mentions all three options, but only one is confirmed; listen for corrections (bueno, en realidad…, al final no…, pensaba que…, pero…).
- In task 2 (él / ella / ninguno), the "neither" statements are often half true: something mentioned but by nobody affirmed.
- Do not stop on a missed item; you will hear the audio again.