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Climate Change in Simple Spanish: Learn Spanish the Fun Way With Topics That Matter
Improve your Spanish, expand your vocabulary, and learn the facts of climate change.When it comes to mastering a foreign language, reading around your interests makes all the difference. But finding books designed for language learners can be hard! This book fixes that. For the first time, you’ll learn to improve your Spanish while reading about one of the most important topics of the climate change.
Told through authentic conversations in intermediate Spanish, you’ll become confident in the words, phrases and expressions you need to speak about the topics you care about.
Climate Change in Simple Spanish transports you into a real-world story that unfolds between three Spanish characters. The story, told by the people themselves, focuses on climate change and their effort to learn more about it! Over 30 engaging and informative chapters, you’ll immerse yourself in the topic of Climate Change and master Spanish in the process.
Here’s what you’ll
34 chapters in conversational Spanish, so you can learn about climate change the fun way. Helpful key facts at the end of each chapter to help guide you through the science. Real, daily spoken Spanish throughout – it’s as if we held up a microphone and recorded the exact words coming out of people’s mouths - so you can learn natural Spanish.Conversations that are carefully written to be accessible for intermediate learners (CEFR B1-B2), so you can learn from real, spoken conversations.Word lists with English definitions in every chapter, so you can get instant translations of any difficult words. This means you can focus on enjoying the story rather than wasting time in a dictionary.Summaries of each conversation which contextualise each dialogue, so you can easily follow the plot and enjoy the story without getting lost.The story is told in Castilian Spanish. However, since the conversations use mostly “neutral” Spanish, you’ll have plenty to learn, whether you’re learning the Spanish of Mexico, Colombia, or Costa Rica.
Created by Olly Richards, language teacher and author, Climate Change in Simple Spanish gives you an experience in real Spanish that you won’t find anywhere else. You’ll be better prepared for using Spanish in the real world, speak with more confidence, and take a giant leap towards fluency in Spanish!
SCROLL UP AND GRAB YOUR COPY NOW!
Told through authentic conversations in intermediate Spanish, you’ll become confident in the words, phrases and expressions you need to speak about the topics you care about.
Climate Change in Simple Spanish transports you into a real-world story that unfolds between three Spanish characters. The story, told by the people themselves, focuses on climate change and their effort to learn more about it! Over 30 engaging and informative chapters, you’ll immerse yourself in the topic of Climate Change and master Spanish in the process.
Here’s what you’ll
34 chapters in conversational Spanish, so you can learn about climate change the fun way. Helpful key facts at the end of each chapter to help guide you through the science. Real, daily spoken Spanish throughout – it’s as if we held up a microphone and recorded the exact words coming out of people’s mouths - so you can learn natural Spanish.Conversations that are carefully written to be accessible for intermediate learners (CEFR B1-B2), so you can learn from real, spoken conversations.Word lists with English definitions in every chapter, so you can get instant translations of any difficult words. This means you can focus on enjoying the story rather than wasting time in a dictionary.Summaries of each conversation which contextualise each dialogue, so you can easily follow the plot and enjoy the story without getting lost.The story is told in Castilian Spanish. However, since the conversations use mostly “neutral” Spanish, you’ll have plenty to learn, whether you’re learning the Spanish of Mexico, Colombia, or Costa Rica.
Created by Olly Richards, language teacher and author, Climate Change in Simple Spanish gives you an experience in real Spanish that you won’t find anywhere else. You’ll be better prepared for using Spanish in the real world, speak with more confidence, and take a giant leap towards fluency in Spanish!
SCROLL UP AND GRAB YOUR COPY NOW!
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 13, 2020
71 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 5, 2021
I absolutely love the idea to teach climate change and spanish at the same time, and am looking forward to whatever topic comes next. The conversations are simple, interesting enough and easy to follow while you pick up some useful vocabulary at the same time. Minus one star as in the end about a third of the book is bibliographies at the end of each chapter, which are mainly English sources. Would have been nice if these were in spanish where possible. The science is good. If my spanish understanding was correct, I only picked out one error: direct soya consumption by humans is not responsible for deforestation, the majority of soya farming is to make animal feed - so eating less meat only helps against this.
January 7, 2023
Olly Richards is all about “Story Learning”, but this is hardly a story. The characters are just used as a tool to talk about the climate. There’s really barely any kind of character development, and it often feels like their personalities bleed into each other. There’s barely anything that makes them stand out as characters.
Another thing that bothered me is that the introduction tries really hard to argue that the book isn’t “pushing an agenda”, when it clearly has a very strong point of view it’s arguing for. Which isn’t a bad thing—sometimes it’s important to have a strong opinion on issues that matter—so why be dishonest about it? This book is very much making an argument for a specific point of view.
The only reason I’m giving this book two stars instead of one is because I learnt some vocabulary from it. If this weren’t a Spanish book and I weren’t reading it for the purpose of language acquisition, I wouldn’t have even finished it—which isn’t conducive to language acquisition. The point of reading for language acquisition should be to forget that you’re actually reading to learn the language and instead just enjoy what you’re reading. This was the opposite of my experience with this book. I was very aware that I was reading for language acquisition, because it was the only thing that kept me reading.
To be clear, this book is useful, and the vocabulary is definitely important. But selling it as “Story Learning” with the tagline “Learn Spanish the Fun Way” set certain expectations for me that it did not meet.
Another thing that bothered me is that the introduction tries really hard to argue that the book isn’t “pushing an agenda”, when it clearly has a very strong point of view it’s arguing for. Which isn’t a bad thing—sometimes it’s important to have a strong opinion on issues that matter—so why be dishonest about it? This book is very much making an argument for a specific point of view.
The only reason I’m giving this book two stars instead of one is because I learnt some vocabulary from it. If this weren’t a Spanish book and I weren’t reading it for the purpose of language acquisition, I wouldn’t have even finished it—which isn’t conducive to language acquisition. The point of reading for language acquisition should be to forget that you’re actually reading to learn the language and instead just enjoy what you’re reading. This was the opposite of my experience with this book. I was very aware that I was reading for language acquisition, because it was the only thing that kept me reading.
To be clear, this book is useful, and the vocabulary is definitely important. But selling it as “Story Learning” with the tagline “Learn Spanish the Fun Way” set certain expectations for me that it did not meet.
November 2, 2022
I enjoyed this book as I am interested in both learning Spanish and in climate change. If climate change is an interest to you I doubt you will learn anything new here. But that isn’t the point. You get a book like this to learn Spanish. If you are just beginning your Spanish learning journey you will want to wait a bit. Mr. Richard’s wants you to read without constantly referring to a dictionary so you need to be beyond the early beginner stage. As he suggests you can figure most new words from context, but you need have a big enough vocabulary to be able to do that.
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July 20, 2025I’ve been wanting to improve my Spanish on topics I’m passionate about, what better way than to do it in my 2nd language. Although I’d say i’m pretty advanced & know more than the average about the Climate Crisis I was glad to catch on to Spanish words relating to the topic that I don’t hear everyday.
Some of the conversations were unnecessary but it was simple to follow. Glad it mentioned topics such as limiting meat & fish to reduce your carbon footprint, plastic pollution, the possibility of having to migrate, reducing our carbon emissions by having less food waste. All conversations we should be having in any language.
Knowledge is power.
🌎 🌱 💧 ♻️
Some of the conversations were unnecessary but it was simple to follow. Glad it mentioned topics such as limiting meat & fish to reduce your carbon footprint, plastic pollution, the possibility of having to migrate, reducing our carbon emissions by having less food waste. All conversations we should be having in any language.
Knowledge is power.
🌎 🌱 💧 ♻️
October 23, 2025
This graded-reader is less of a story and more of a series of conversations about climate change.
It seems to be well researched (with a bibliography for each chapter) although there are many statements which are a bit too over-generalised and some are even totally incorrect:
(In reality, organic farms don’t use synthetic chemicals, but do use, for example, biological pesticides - which are still chemicals!)
The intermediate level is about right – although a bit too easy for B2 learners. The main problem is that the conversations are rather forced and long-winded, so I found myself drifting off frequently. Although the topic is interesting, the concepts were quite basic (and often oversimplified: drinking oat milk in your coffee without thinking about the environmental impacts of coffee).
All this makes the book feel to be aimed at much younger readers, or people with virtually no knowledge of climate change — but I imagine a 10-year-old B1-Spanish-speaker is a bit of a niche market, so I don’t really understand why it wasn’t written for a more adult (and knowledgeable) audience.
Like many graded-readers, it is a good resource for people who enjoy reading in the language they are learning. Each chapter has a summary of the main climate change topics and a vocabulary list (with English translations).
Personally, I would have preferred more variety: an article, a webpage, an email, and not just stilted conversations – do people really talk like this?! (Most annoying part: everyone constantly saying “guau!”)
So was this book educational? Slightly: I learnt a few new words but very little about climate change - although a lot of information was there, it was very general and only covered the basics. Was it “fun” as suggested in the description? For me, not particularly, but I am sure others might enjoy it.
It seems to be well researched (with a bibliography for each chapter) although there are many statements which are a bit too over-generalised and some are even totally incorrect:
Las granjas ecológicas no le echan productos químicos al suelo.
(In reality, organic farms don’t use synthetic chemicals, but do use, for example, biological pesticides - which are still chemicals!)
The intermediate level is about right – although a bit too easy for B2 learners. The main problem is that the conversations are rather forced and long-winded, so I found myself drifting off frequently. Although the topic is interesting, the concepts were quite basic (and often oversimplified: drinking oat milk in your coffee without thinking about the environmental impacts of coffee).
All this makes the book feel to be aimed at much younger readers, or people with virtually no knowledge of climate change — but I imagine a 10-year-old B1-Spanish-speaker is a bit of a niche market, so I don’t really understand why it wasn’t written for a more adult (and knowledgeable) audience.
Like many graded-readers, it is a good resource for people who enjoy reading in the language they are learning. Each chapter has a summary of the main climate change topics and a vocabulary list (with English translations).
Personally, I would have preferred more variety: an article, a webpage, an email, and not just stilted conversations – do people really talk like this?! (Most annoying part: everyone constantly saying “guau!”)
So was this book educational? Slightly: I learnt a few new words but very little about climate change - although a lot of information was there, it was very general and only covered the basics. Was it “fun” as suggested in the description? For me, not particularly, but I am sure others might enjoy it.
March 7, 2021
Brilliant book for learning and improving your Spanish. I love how unlike other fiction Spanish readers this was topic-based so you learn about climate change whilst also practising the language. Chapters are short which keeps you motivated, and there's a handy list of phrases at the end of each one. Really recommend!!
June 21, 2025
A fantastic approach to introducing readers to the vocabulary and concepts of climate change in Spanish. Aunque el vocabulario científico en español es generalmente similar al inglés, es difícil saber cómo usarlo en una conversación. Having the book follow various conversations was a great way to overcome this! Looking forward to checking out more books in this series.
For anyone reading this review wanting additional details, I listened to the audiobook version as I felt I'd get the most out of the conversations that way. I found it quite good! It's set in Spain and so that's the style of Spanish used in the writing and narrating. That isn't the Spanish I'm focused on learning, but I don't think it hurts at all to have exposure to various dialects and accents.
For anyone reading this review wanting additional details, I listened to the audiobook version as I felt I'd get the most out of the conversations that way. I found it quite good! It's set in Spain and so that's the style of Spanish used in the writing and narrating. That isn't the Spanish I'm focused on learning, but I don't think it hurts at all to have exposure to various dialects and accents.
June 24, 2024
Es un libro con el que uno puede mejorar su comprension de la lectura del idioma español y el tema de cambio climático. Es un método de aprendisaje de idiomas extranjeras a través de "lectura extensiva".
A veces es muy difícil de encontrar materiales adecuadas como textos de nivel intermedio con contenidos entretenidos. En este aspecto, Olly Richards ha conseguido ofrecer libros de este indóle.
En mi caso, utilizo el material auditiva de Audible del mismo libro para mejorar la comprension auditiva también.
A veces es muy difícil de encontrar materiales adecuadas como textos de nivel intermedio con contenidos entretenidos. En este aspecto, Olly Richards ha conseguido ofrecer libros de este indóle.
En mi caso, utilizo el material auditiva de Audible del mismo libro para mejorar la comprension auditiva también.
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January 15, 2025Audiobook
Word for word comprehension > 90%
The conversation format was fine, although seemed unnecessary as a way to share a lot of basic facts about sustainability and climate change. But I didn't like how there was only one narrator, even though the whole book was based on conversations between different people.
Word for word comprehension > 90%
The conversation format was fine, although seemed unnecessary as a way to share a lot of basic facts about sustainability and climate change. But I didn't like how there was only one narrator, even though the whole book was based on conversations between different people.
May 19, 2022
This was amazing!!! Although it was nonfiction, I didn't get bored at all and I have learned alot of fun facts and improved my spanish also it made me conscious of what I do and how simple things can be very harmful to the the environment. Highly recommend🤩🤩
November 25, 2022
I enjoyed reading this book learning about climate change while learning Spanish. Usually I find the graduated (sp) books pretty boring. I'm going to search for other books written this way. Highly recommend it for lower intermediate maybe some advanced beginners. Not a book for beginners.
October 15, 2023
It was quite an enjoyable way to practice Spanish and enhance the importance of climate change.
3.5 ⭐⭐⭐
3.5 ⭐⭐⭐
August 20, 2024
Fun read in Spanish
August 30, 2024
awesome but boring. fix the formatting and editing errors.
Read
April 7, 2023Sometimes, it was tougher to push through because of the very dialogue focused writing, but I learned a lot! Both in Spanish and on climate change, so this is nice.
May 26, 2021
A great way to learn language if not for the typos. When I’m learning something new I really need it to be reliable.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews