Flash cards can be used to study Spanish vocabulary and phrases. Flash cards usually have one side of the card with a word or phrase in a language you already speak (let's say English) and the other side with the word or phrase's Spanish translation. Flash cards can be found at many bookstores, usually in the foreign language or study aid sections. If you don't wish to purchase ready-made cards, you can use blank index cards to make your own. The act of writing down information on your homemade flash cards is a form of study itself.
Language immersion is a technique that many find useful when studying a foreign language. If you are not able to hop on a plane to a Spanish-speaking country, you can immerse yourself in the language through music. If you live in an area with a sizable Spanish-speaking community, you may be able to find a local Spanish language radio station. If you wish to purchase Spanish language music, you can do so by going to the Latin section of your favorite on-line or brick-and-mortar music store. Billboard.com keeps tabs on the currently popular songs in the Latin genre. While not all songs that fall into this genre of music are Spanish language, a large proportion of them are.
If you live in an area with a sizable Spanish-speaking community, you may be able to find a local Spanish-language television station. Watching Spanish-language programming can be very useful in helping you to develop not only verbal language skills, but also cultural knowledge. If you are a beginning level Spanish student, you may want to start by watching Spanish language children's programming, since the vocabulary will be easier to grasp. A good way to focus on learning formal Spanish vocabulary and grammar is to watch news programs.
If you are unable to get Spanish-language broadcasts in your area, you still have other options for consuming Spanish-language media. You may have to look no farther than the DVDs already in your movie collection. Many modern movies released on DVD come with several foreign language audio track and subtitle options. One technique for studying your Spanish language skills is to re-watch a movie, whose story line you are already familiar with, using the Spanish audio track. Or try expanding your Spanish vocabulary by watching your next DVD movie with the English audio track and Spanish subtitles.
Here is a study technique for bookworms: re-read your favorite novels--in Spanish. Many popular books are translated into Spanish. You can find Spanish translations of popular literature at your local library or bookstore. Until you reach proficiency in your Spanish language skills, you may want to keep your Spanish dictionary handy.