hablar - to talk
comer - to eat
vivir - to live

The above forms are what is known as the "infinitive" form of the verb. When using these words in the real world, they must change their form in order to make sense. For instance, when I want to express that "I talk" I must say hablo. When I want to express that you talk, I need to say hablas, and so on. Here is the conjugation for hablar

I talk - yo hablo
you talk - tú hablas
he, she, you (formal) talk(s) - él, ella, Ud habla
we talk - nosotros hablamos
you (plural) talk - vosotros habláis
they, you (plural, formal) talk - ellos, ellas, Uds. habla

This conjugation is standard for almost all verbs ending in -ar. The conjugation changes for -er and -ir verbs, although it is the same for both -er and -ir forms (except in the "we" form). Here are the conjugations for comer and vivir:

I eat - yo como
you eat - tú comes
he, she, you (formal) eat(s) - él, ella, Ud come
we eat - nosotros comemos
you (plural) eat - vosotros coméis
they, you (plural, formal) eat - ellos, ellas, Uds. come

I live - yo vivo
you live - tú vives
he, she, you (formal) live(s) - él, ella, Ud vive
we live - nosotros vivimos
you (plural) live - vosotros vivéis
they, you (plural, formal) live - ellos, ellas, Uds. vive


In all languages, verbs have different conjugations in order to indicate who (or what) is carrying out the action that the verb describes. For example, I write, while she writes. Notice that the s indicates the the third person singular form "she" while the lack of an s indicates that "I" am doing the writing. Similarly, the absence of an s will indicate that "you", "them", or "we" write. As you can see, in English there is very little change in form of verbs as they are conjugated. In Spanish, however, the form of the verb is different for almost every conjugation, as you can see above, and these verb forms are important to learn.

Here is a superb online resource for looking up the conjugation of Spanish verbs.

Numbers
Here is a great place to learn the numbers in Spanish, with interactive games and audio. Be sure to put on headphones before using this resource.

Teachers' Resources
While verb conjugations, vocabulary and grammar make up the building blocks of a solid Spanish lesson, it is important to involve students in spoken Spanish by exposing them to additional resources outside of the textbook. But simply "going audiovisual" isn't enough. You need to be able to engage your students. That's why film can be such a powerful tool for teaching Spanish. Click here to see a list of the best Spanish language movies for Spanish class.

Practicing Spanish
In addition to learning Spanish lessons, one of the best ways to become fluent is to improve listening skills. Buy a headset and listen to the news in Spanish. Here are some of the best online resources for learning Spanish:

US Institute of Languages - Free online Spanish lessons in pronunciation.
BBC Mundo - News in Spanish ideal for listening practice.
BBC Spanish - Suite of free Spanish learning tools, including listening exercises and self-testing.
UC Berkeley - Numerous audio files for Spanish language listening practice and learning.

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