It takes a lot of effort to create stories (I assume original?) and take the time to record and post pods. More than I’ve done! That said, my goal is to learn how to hear Spanish the way I would, say, in Madrid or Barcelona or… This pod may be good for vocabulary and sentence structure but the listening part, not so much. It’s basically Spanish words spoken in midwestern US English diction. Lo siento, no es bueno para mi objetivo. My recommendation is that small town teacher find a way to spend a few months in Spanish speaking country of choice to learn Spanish diction.

This is a great podcast to listen to when I want to keep my Spanish fresh

What a wonderful find for me ! Thank you very much for this support of my learning to speak Spanish I’m a 77 year old, retired lady saying, “Gracious Amigo” ! Ha !

Not to be that person, but accent and pronunciation is super important with Spanish. The stories and content are good otherwise.

I love this podcast! It’s been helping me learn Spanish without feeling like I’m doing homework. Thank you Small Town Spanish Teacher!!

I listen to another podcast for Spanish acquisition. The narrator is from Mexico and lives in the US and it’s really helped my comprehension. I was looking for another podcast with stories and read a story online from this podcast. Loved it! Decided to listen, and I unfortunately cannot listen to it. The pronunciation for so many words is not correct and it almost feels like making of the language. I know this is not the intent. I don’t even mind that she is not a native speaker. I learned a lot from a non native speaker on YouTube. But I don’t feel like this podcast would advance my Spanish so I have to unfollow.

If you want to learn how to speak Spanish properly, this is not a good speaker to listen to. It’s great that this author is telling stories in Spanish and I think it’s a great idea, but she has quite the pronounced (gringa) American accent. She says her “v’s” and “b’s” Incorrectly and also says her “t’s” like an American. as other reviewers have mentioned, she is not rolling her “r’s”correctly either.

I like the idea of learning Spanish through stories and find it very helpful and effective, but I just can’t bring myself to continue listening to this podcast. I don’t even care that she isn’t a native speaker (although I think it is more beneficial to listen to native speakers when learning or improving your Spanish), but the narrator of this podcast just does not sound natural when speaking spanish. If you REALLY want to improve your listening in spanish, it is best to find podcasts or videos of native speakers. As another reviewer mentioned, Dreaming Spanish is an EXCELLENT resource for spanish comprehension and you can find content that suits your level. Also there is a podcast called ‘mini stories to learn Spanish’ that has a native Spanish speaker. And also ‘News in slow Spanish’. So there are definitely other options

I think if this narrator took a few minutes to revisit when to roll the letter R, this would be an even better podcast.

I think she has a pleasant voice, and it would be good for an English podcast, but unfortunately, her pronunciation and intonation in Spanish needs work. If you are learning Spanish, try Dreaming Spanish on YouTube. It’s free, and it has native speakers speaking in Spanish on there. I hope she will consider doing a podcast in English. She can help a lot of people learn English.

This woman does not speak Spanish well.

Just started listening. Yes, I agree that the American accent of the presenter is pretty heavy, but I haven’t seen anyone suggest or found myself any similar free offerings from native speakers. I will listen to this as one of the things I do on my journey to learn Spanish along with a few others, and I appreciate the free offering.

Me encanta escuchar a este podcast. !

Yo disfruto este programa. Puedo entender quizás 80% de las palabras. Mis habilidades de escucha están mejorando. Muchas gracias a la maestra.

In order to learn by listening to native speakers, I often turn the speed to .75 (or watch shows with the subtitles to help) but this is truly annunciated so well and is at just the right speed for learners as is - I look forward to every single episode!

Ancestors

After I completed Section 4 in Duolingo, I was looking for podcasts that would help improve my listening comprehension in Spanish, and this podcast is exactly what I was seeking. My vocabulary and grammar knowledge are at just the right level where the stories are a bit of a challenge, but I can understand about 80%-90% of what is being said at any one time. Also, these Simple Stories in Spanish are in perfect nuggets of about 20 minutes, so you are not fatigued by trying to keep up.

This speaker HAS NOT earned the privilege to narrate stories in Spanish. She has a long way to go, yet in the meantime is DAMAGING listeners by entraining their ears in absolutely wrong pronunciation.

These stories are interesting to listen to, and as an early intermediate listener I can really follow along without having to translate everything in my head. The author speaks slowly and clearly about a variety of subjects. My favorite was one about gardening, and I also enjoy the history lessons. Thank you Camilla!

These stories are so interesting to listen to, and I am so glad that there is a written portion along with the listening so that I can capture every word. The podcast is nicely paced for learning too. I really enjoy learning from this podcast, it makes learning a lot easier and fun. Thank you so much for doing this!

This podcast is such a gift! Even if I don’t catch everything in the stories, this is an amazing way to learn in addition to studying and practicing. I’m thankful for a way to have fun listening and learning!

I happened across this in my “learning Spanish” quest…. Sadly, it’s still over my head, but I can’t wait till I’m ready!!! What a beautiful story teller she is!! I hung on every word even though I was uncertain as to what the words meant. So easy to understand her speech… clear and articulate. See you in a few more weeks.;)

I just stumbled onto this pod cast and was pleasantly surprised with the content, comprehension speed and clear easy to understand Spanish. One of The best podcasts! Thank you so much, looking forward to more episodes :) preed

I’m so glad I found this podcast! At first I was thrilled when I could pick out words here and there but before long I was able to follow along and get the gist of the story. Shortly after that I was able to use context to figure out words I’d never heard before. I really enjoy when I’m able to understand enough where I can laugh with the story. Thank you so much for doing this podcast, it’s helped me so much.

As a beginner, this is so helpful. I will definitely supplement with more exposure to native speakers over time, but this is SO HELPFUL as I am getting started. Thank you for your efforts in teaching!!!!

Interesting stories and language that will be challenging for A2 learners, and maybe easier for B2 learners. As an A2 learner, I find it very useful, understandable if I work a bit, and pretty fun.

The accent is too American. Maybe this is an OK place to start for some people , but if you want your own accent to be accurate, this isn’t it.

As a first gen Mexican-American, I sadly CANNOT recommend this podcast. Could not bare to listen to a full episode as the narrator’s pronunciation is terrible.

I feel like it’s supposed to make it easier to understand but the over emotional and American accent makes it harder. Here for it if I gets better tho <3 always looking for help learning

This pod cast is amazing my teacher Mrs. Quin and I am so glad she did because this is much better than memorizing Spanish cause here you get to her a person say it and you can learn it in a sentence. -Giuliana in Massachusetts

I couldn’t get through one episode because the hosts accent is so bad that it’s hard to understand what she’s saying. Not sure how this is supposed to help you learn.

I’ve listened to this podcast for about a year now. My Spanish has gotten better since I started, and I understand the stories very well. A lot of reviewers comment on her accent. I believe she’s just trying her best to pronounce each word to keep it simple and easy to understand. I would recommend this to anyone wanting some easy Spanish to review and hear new words in a sentence.

Oh my goodness this is a particularly strong American accent for a product meant to help learn how to listen in Spanish. It may be helpful for extreme beginners but it won’t do much good for anyone who wants to actually converse with Spanish speakers.

I’ve listened to a couple of episodes of this podcast. I like that she provides a free transcript so that you can read along while listening. The stories are very interesting and engaging and it’s very understandable. I think this podcast is great if you’re at an a2/b1 level which is where i’m at right now. The only con of this podcast is the pronunciation and accent. Obviously she does not have to sound like a native spanish speaker and I would never hold her to that standard, however her pronunciation of the vowels and spanish words in general is not good. It’s very harsh and sounds too much like english pronunciation, so if that is something that really bothers you, I would recommend that you find a podcast from a native speaker.

As others have already mentioned, her American accent is qwhite strong. Her mispronunciations, and word usage make this podcast a poor choice for Spanish learners.

This woman is not from a Spanish speaking country and obviously learned Spanish as a second language. Not the greatest for learning Spanish if you want to sound like a Spanish speaker.

I’ve been lazily learning Spanish on my own for a bit over three years. I use apps and recently added a weekly session with a native speaker. Simple Stories in Spanish is one of the resources that has most helped me improve my Spanish listening skill. Beyond that, the stories are fun and highly relatable. I recommend this podcast for any native English speaker who’s trying to learn Spanish.

Holy gringa accent!!! No thank you! Great example of why it’s so very important to work on pronunciation and accent - so you don’t sound like this!

This podcast has been a godsend for listening practice. I typically listen at least once before transcribing, and then a couple more times during my transcribing exercise. I’ve been studying independently for the last year, so it’s not easy to chart my progress. SSiS has been a valuable gauge. I still remember how much I struggled to understand her stories when I first started. Months later, I can tell my understanding and comprehension has improved dramatically. Speaking of drama, I find her at-times overly dramatic reading a distraction. That’s just a personal thing. For the most part, her expressiveness and reading pace are much appreciated. As to pronunciation, I find it accurate enough for a beginner. I would be much more concerned if her grammar and vocabulary were suspect. Of course, one should make a practice of listening to native speakers. Even Ms. Given would advise this!

Terrible pronunciation. The speaker’s pronouncing Spanish words as if they were American. Will probably bring more harm than good to anyone trying to learn with this one.

I can talk Spanish with my friends now for hours and I never took a single Spanish class. I listened and read all of the stories from this podcast and wrote the new words in my notebook. I even bought the book Sunzuncito, which I highly recommend. Her podcasts get better all the time and I appreciate the work. Her voice is very soothing and I like the pace of reading. This podcast gave me big motivation to study more Spanish because after a short time I was already able to understand stories. New words I was able to understand from the context. One thing I notice is that she keeps introducing new words in every new story, so I keep learning while refreshing my current vocabulary.

The pace is good and her voice is pleasant and youthful. But as others have said, the pronunciation is distracting. It is very American. I wouldn’t mind to hear her voice for an English audiobook. I don’t think people are trashing her character. These are reviews and people give their opinions.

This podcast is wonderful for native English speakers learning Spanish. It is easier to initially comprehend the vocabulary and the stories are engaging. The speaker enunciates well and has an American accent that helps bridge comprehension gaps where I had some difficulties with native speakers. This is a great supplement for listening practice.

I cannot believe the amount of people tearing this woman down! The people who are trashing her were privileged to have pronunciation training in a language lab. Some teachers didn’t get that training but are still understandable. There is a lot of content out there by Spanish speakers but even the children’s programs can be difficult for language learners. Not all native Spanish speakers know how to do story listening in a comprehensible way like the author here does. The author tells the stories in an interesting way and takes the time to share the transcripts. She gives examples and rephrases and this is so helpful to language acquisition. I teach Spanish and I will be incorporating these in all levels. But just review them before playing or recommending them (El Silbón was a little graphic for me but my coworker had no problems). She delivers stories in an entertaining way and her use of vocabulary is rich and expansive. They are also pretty interesting stories and they are delivered with passion. She does a great job of elaborating on unknown words and using just one tense for the most part. Does she have an accent? She sure does. Is that ok and allows her to communicate? Yup! If you comprehend all of this podcast, move on to native podcaster and leave this for the many people that will use it as a bridge to build vocabulary.

I love the fact that you begin with words that might be new for someone learning Spanish. Thank you for this podcast!

Good premise for a podcast. The effort is there, but the narrator’s accent is detrimental to anyone hoping to communicate with native speakers.

The pace of the speaking is nice for new Spanish language learners. This show is good for comprehension, and vocabulary building. But for pronunciation native speakers are always best.

I have caught up on my other Spanish podcasts and found this one to add to those I listen to. I like the simple stories from the very beginning of the series. I laugh out loud as I listen while walking my dog. I also enjoyed her later story describing her visit to Machu Picchu, so much so, that I’d love to see it some day. It is the joyful and animated voice telling the stories that takes these lesson from - the what I studied but never learned in school - to a happy and comfortable place to learn something new. I bet your students learn and retain more because of your stories. Thank you for this! For those who fault this podcast for her American accent, don’t listen, or continue to listen to later offerings. I grew up on the border between Texas and Mexico. I have a good ear and no accent according to native speakers. A perfect accent does not make a perfect teacher. A person that shares their enthusiasm and is innovative and creative is definitely worth spending time with. Camilla makes transcripts available that you can print and read out loud yourself in any accent you might have. This is a good teacher.

I have studied Spanish for some years now with my Guatemalan teachers and was excited to find a podcast with simple stories to practice my understanding of the language. I was extremely disappointed to find how TERRIBLY this lady’s pronunciation is. Couldn’t even make it through five minutes without cringing. It’s like listening to a first year American Spanish student who hasn’t learned the alphabet yet. Was hoping for something a bit better than that…

Great learning tool for beginners. The host has a warm personality and speaks slowly enough for beginners to understand. The stories are pretty entertaining as well. Much appreciated.