Build a Spanish Study Plan in Notion

Design a CEFR A0-to-B1 Spanish workspace with databases and daily tracking.

Introduction

30 Second Summary

Learning a new language without structure leads to skipped days, random topics, and slow progress. A clear system that tells you exactly what to study each day turns motivation into real results.

In this project, you will build a complete Spanish study plan inside Notion that takes you from absolute beginner to B1 conversational level using the CEFR framework. You will create databases that track your progress, auto-generate daily study sessions, and organize free resources by skill and difficulty.

What You'll Build

When you open your workspace each morning, today's study session is already generated and waiting, your grammar is filtered to your current level, and your progress tracker shows exactly how far you have come.

By the end of this project, you'll have:

A phased roadmap showing your journey from A0 to B1 with hour targets, timelines, and clear descriptions of what you can do at each level, plus a daily routine broken into six skill blocks totalling 2 hours.
A study session database that auto-generates a new daily entry, tracks which skills you practiced, and displays your study history on a calendar you can scroll through week by week.
Filterable grammar, vocabulary, and resource databases where you select your current CEFR level and see only the topics and Spain-focused podcasts, videos, and exercises relevant to you right now.
Secret Mission: Add self-assessment checkpoints with CEFR can-do checklists and a progress dashboard that calculates your completion percentage per level.

Are there any prerequisites?

You just need a free Notion account. The free plan supports unlimited pages and databases, so no paid subscription is required.

Before We Start

Before we dive in, let's lock in what you're about to build and why it matters. Learning a language without structure leads to wasted time, skipped days, and plateaus.

Set Up Your Notion Workspace

Without a clear workspace structure, your study plan will become a disorganized mess of pages you can never find.

Starting with a clean hierarchy gives every piece of content a home. In this step, you will create a main page and five sub-pages that act as the skeleton for your entire Spanish learning system.

In this step, get ready to:

Create the main study plan page and five sub-pages in Notion.
Set up the main page as a dashboard with a table of contents, linked sub-pages, and a callout block.
Verify that all five sub-pages are accessible from the main page and visible in the sidebar.

Create the main page and sub-pages

Your main page is the hub for the entire study plan. Every section of your learning system will live inside it as a sub-page.

Open Notion in your browser by navigating to notion.so and signing in to your account.
In the sidebar on the left, click the + sign next to Private to create a new page.
Title the new page Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan and press Enter.

You now have your main page open. Next, you will create five sub-pages inside it.

Click into the body of your Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan page.
Type /page and press Enter to create a sub-page.
Title this first sub-page Roadmap and press Enter.
Click the back arrow (or the Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan breadcrumb at the top) to return to the main page.
Repeat the same process (/page then title) to create four more sub-pages: Schedule, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Resources.

After creating all five, check the sidebar. You should see a toggle arrow next to Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan that reveals all five sub-pages nested beneath it.

What is a sub-page?

A sub-page is a page nested inside another page. It appears both in the body of its parent page and in the sidebar under the parent's toggle. This keeps related content grouped together instead of scattered across your workspace.

While still on the main page, add a brief header describing the plan by typing this text at the top of the page body: Target: B1 | Method: 2h/day, 4 skills | Timeline: 6-7 months.

Don't see all five sub-pages?

Make sure you created each sub-page from inside the main Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan page. If a page ended up at the top level of your sidebar instead, drag it into the Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan page in the sidebar to nest it correctly.

help me fix my Notion page structure

Set up the main page as a dashboard

Right now the main page just has a header and five sub-page links scattered in the body. You will add a table of contents block, format the sub-page links as clickable cards, and add a callout with your timeline.

Click at the very top of the page body (above the header text you just added).
Type /table of contents and select Table of contents from the menu that appears.

What does the table of contents block do?

It automatically generates a list of clickable links to every heading on your page. As you add headings to the main page later, they will appear here. For now it may look empty, and that is expected.

Below the table of contents, confirm that each of the five sub-pages (Roadmap, Schedule, Grammar, Vocabulary, Resources) appears as a linked mention (a clickable card with an icon). If you created them with /page, they already show as linked cards.

Now add a callout block to display your study timeline at a glance.

Click below the five sub-page links.
Type /callout and select Callout from the menu.
Inside the callout, type your start date and target date. For example: Start: [today's date] | Target B1: [~28 weeks from today]. Replace the bracketed dates with your actual dates.

Calculate your target date

Count roughly 28 weeks (about 7 months) from today. At 2 hours per day, that puts you at approximately 400 hours of study, which is the upper end of what research suggests for reaching B1 from zero.

Your main page now has three sections: a table of contents at the top, five linked sub-pages as clickable cards in the middle, and a callout block showing your timeline at the bottom.

Verify the structure

Before you move on, confirm that everything is wired up correctly.

In the sidebar, click the toggle arrow next to Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan. You should see all five sub-pages listed: Roadmap, Schedule, Grammar, Vocabulary, Resources.
Click each of the five sub-page links on the main page body. Each one should open to its own blank page with the correct title.
Navigate back to the main page using the breadcrumb at the top. Confirm you see the table of contents block, the five sub-page cards, and the callout with your dates.

A sub-page opens but has the wrong title?

Click into the sub-page and edit the title text at the top. Make sure it exactly matches one of the five names: Roadmap, Schedule, Grammar, Vocabulary, or Resources.

help me fix my Notion sub-page titles

Your workspace skeleton is ready. Next up, you will fill the Roadmap page with your phased learning plan showing exactly what each CEFR level looks like and how long it takes to reach.

Build the Learning Roadmap

Your workspace structure is ready with five sub-pages waiting to be filled. The first page you will build is the Roadmap.

Without knowing what each CEFR level actually means and how long it takes to reach, you will either set unrealistic goals and quit, or drift without direction. The roadmap anchors every future decision in your study plan.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a phase overview table showing target hours and timelines for each CEFR level.
Add detailed milestone descriptors with can-do statements and grammar topics for each phase.
Build a visual month-by-month timeline showing expected progression.

Create the phase overview table

The phase overview gives you a high-level map of the entire journey from absolute zero to B1. Each row represents a milestone with concrete hour targets so you always know how far you have come.

In the Notion sidebar, click into your Roadmap sub-page.
Type /heading 2 and press Enter to add a heading block.
Type Phase Overview as the heading text.

Now you will add a simple table below the heading. A simple table is a static grid of cells. It is not a database.

Below the heading, type /table and select Table (the simple table option, not "Database").
Set up 4 columns with these headers: Phase, Hours from Zero, Timeline (2h/day), Key Milestone.
Fill in the first row: A0 to A1 | 80 hours | ~6 weeks | Can introduce yourself and ask basic questions.
Fill in the second row: A1 to A2 | 200 hours total | ~14 weeks total | Can handle routine tasks and describe your surroundings.
Fill in the third row: A2 to B1 | 350 hours total | ~25 weeks total | Can handle most travel situations and express opinions.
Fill in the fourth row: B1 (complete) | 400 hours total | ~28 weeks total | Can understand main points of clear speech on familiar topics.

Your table now shows the full journey from zero to B1 at a glance. You can see exactly how many hours separate each milestone.

Why these hour estimates?

Spanish is a Category I language for English speakers, meaning it is among the fastest to learn. The 350-400 hour range to B1 aligns with guided learning hour estimates from Cambridge Assessment and language school data.

At 2 hours per day, that works out to approximately 6-7 months. Your table now makes this concrete.

Add milestone descriptors for each phase

The table tells you how long each phase takes, but it does not explain what you can actually do at each level. Toggle blocks let you expand detailed descriptors without cluttering the page.

Below the Phase Overview table, type /toggle and press Enter to create a toggle block.
Title the first toggle A1 - Basic User.
Create three more toggles below it titled: A2 - Basic User, B1 Threshold - Independent User, and B1 Complete - Independent User.

Now fill each toggle with can-do descriptors and grammar topics. Start with the A1 toggle.

Click the arrow on the A1 - Basic User toggle to expand it.
Inside the toggle, type the heading Can-Do Descriptors in bold.
Add these four lines, one per skill:
Below the descriptors, add a bold heading Grammar Topics and list: articles and gender, present tense (regular and irregular), ser vs estar, ir a + infinitivo, possessives, adjective agreement, basic pronouns, numbers, question formation.

Where do these grammar topics come from?

The grammar progression follows the Instituto Cervantes Plan Curricular and the University of Malaga Centro Internacional de Espanol curriculum. These are the standard references for Spain-Spanish CEFR-aligned teaching.

Expand your A1 toggle to confirm the descriptors and grammar list appear correctly. Then move on to A2.

Expand the A2 - Basic User toggle and add the same structure inside it.
Add Can-Do Descriptors:
Add Grammar Topics: preterito perfecto, preterito indefinido, futuro simple, preterito imperfecto, imperativo, reflexive verbs, direct/indirect object pronouns, comparatives, por vs para, prepositions.

Expand the A2 toggle to check your work. Then fill the B1 toggles.

Expand the B1 Threshold - Independent User toggle and add:
Add Can-Do Descriptors:
Add Grammar Topics: presente de subjuntivo, condicional, pluscuamperfecto, temporal clauses, conditional clauses (indicativo), concessive clauses, relative clauses, reported speech.

Expand the B1 Complete - Independent User toggle and add:
Add Can-Do Descriptors:
Add Grammar Topics: advanced ser/estar uses, passive constructions, subjuntivo in subordinate clauses, all past-tense contrasts in narration.

Collapse all four toggles. Your Roadmap page now shows the Phase Overview table followed by four clean toggle headings that expand on demand.

Toggles not collapsing?

Click the arrow icon to the left of the toggle title to collapse it. If you do not see an arrow, you may have created a regular heading instead of a toggle block. Delete it and type /toggle again to get the correct block type.

Help me fix my toggle blocks in Notion.

Add a visual timeline

The table gives exact hours and the toggles give detailed descriptors. A month-by-month timeline adds one more perspective: a simple, scannable view of where you should be at each calendar milestone.

Below the four toggle blocks, type /numbered list and press Enter.
Add these items to the numbered list:

Finally, add a callout below the timeline to remind yourself that these estimates are not fixed deadlines.

Below the numbered list, type /callout and press Enter.
In the callout, type: These timelines are estimates based on consistent 2h/day study. Your actual pace depends on consistency, prior language experience, and how much immersion you get outside study sessions. Adjust as you go..

Before you check the final result, take a moment to predict what your Roadmap page looks like from top to bottom. Can you name all three sections in order?

Scroll to the top of your Roadmap page. You should see the Phase Overview table with 4 rows, four collapsed toggle blocks (A1, A2, B1 Threshold, B1 Complete), a numbered month-by-month timeline, and a callout at the bottom. Click any toggle to confirm the can-do descriptors and grammar topics appear inside.

Read your own roadmap out loud

Try reading through the A1 milestone and its can-do descriptors. You now have a clear answer to the question: what does it actually mean to reach A1? That clarity keeps you motivated when daily study feels repetitive.

Your Roadmap page is complete. You now have a clear picture of the destination, the time investment, and what success looks like at each stage. Next up, you will build the daily routine and weekly schedule that turns this plan into daily action.

Create the Daily Routine and Weekly Schedule

Your roadmap shows where you're headed. But knowing you need 350 hours to reach B1 doesn't tell you what to do when you sit down tomorrow morning.

A 2-hour study block feels overwhelming without structure. In this step, you'll break it into focused skill blocks and create a weekly schedule that varies your practice across days.

In this step, get ready to:

Write the daily routine as 6 skill-based toggle blocks totalling 2 hours.
Build a weekly schedule with varied focus for each day of the week.
Test whether this static approach works beyond a single week.

Write the daily routine as toggle blocks

Each day you'll split 2 hours across 6 different skill areas. Toggle blocks let you show the time allocation at a glance while hiding the detail until you need it.

Open the Schedule sub-page from your sidebar or main dashboard.
Type Daily Routine (2 hours) as a Heading 2 block at the top of the page.
Below the heading, type /toggle and press Enter to create your first toggle block.
Title the toggle: Grammar Study (30 min).

Click the toggle arrow to expand it.
Inside the toggle, type /to-do to create a checklist.
Add these example activities as checklist items:

Complete one textbook chapter or structured lesson.
Review yesterday's grammar notes.
Do 5-10 practice exercises on today's topic.

You should now see one toggle block that expands to reveal a checklist of grammar activities.

Create five more toggle blocks below the first one, each with its own checklist of example activities:

Vocabulary (15 min): Review flashcards using spaced repetition. Add 10 new words from today's reading. Quiz yourself on yesterday's words.
Listening (30 min): Listen to one podcast episode at current level. Watch a short video without subtitles. Re-listen with transcript and note new words.
Reading (15 min): Read one graded reader chapter. Highlight unknown words. Summarize the passage in your own words.
Speaking/Pronunciation (15 min): Shadow one minute of native audio. Record yourself and compare. Practice tongue twisters for problem sounds.
Writing (15 min): Write a short journal entry about your day. Complete a grammar exercise in writing. Describe a photo in 5 sentences.

Why 6 separate skill blocks?

Language learning research shows that varied practice (switching between skills within a session) produces stronger long-term retention than massed practice (spending all your time on one skill).

The time split (30-15-30-15-15-15 = 120 min) gives extra weight to grammar and listening because those are the foundation skills that unlock the others.

Collapse all six toggles by clicking each toggle arrow.

Your Schedule page now shows 6 clean toggle headings. Each one expands to reveal a checklist of activities for that skill block.

Toggles not appearing?

Make sure you typed /toggle (not /callout or /heading). Toggle blocks have a small triangle arrow on the left that you click to expand or collapse.

If your checklists are outside the toggle, select them and drag them inside (indent them under the toggle heading).

Still stuck? Help me fix my toggle blocks in Notion.

Build the weekly schedule

The daily routine tells you what skills to practice. The weekly schedule tells you which skill gets extra time on which day, keeping your practice fresh across the week.

Below your toggle blocks, type Weekly Schedule as a Heading 2 block.
Below the heading, type /table and select Table (the simple table, not a database).
Set up 5 columns: Day, Focus Area, Grammar Topic, Listening Source, Notes.

Fill in 7 rows, one per day, with varied focus areas:

Monday: Grammar-heavy (45 min grammar, reduce listening to 15 min).
Tuesday: Listening-heavy (45 min listening, reduce grammar to 15 min).
Wednesday: Balanced (standard 2h split as written in the daily routine).
Thursday: Speaking-heavy (30 min speaking, add pronunciation drills).
Friday: Writing-heavy (30 min writing, journal plus grammar exercises).
Saturday: Immersion day (1h podcast/video, 30 min reading, 30 min review).
Sunday: Review and rest (1h review weak areas, 30 min fun content, 30 min off).

For the Grammar Topic column, leave it as a placeholder for now (e.g. Current A1 topic). You'll fill this in each week based on your progression.
For the Listening Source column, add a placeholder like Coffee Break Spanish ep. X or Dreaming Spanish. You'll build a full resource library in a later step.

Your table should now show 7 rows with different focus areas. Each day emphasizes a different skill while still covering 2 hours of total practice.

Table not showing all columns?

Notion simple tables can be narrow on smaller screens. Hover over the right edge of a column header and drag to resize. You can also click the ··· menu on any column to insert or delete columns.

Need help? Help me set up my weekly schedule table in Notion.

Test the limitation of static checklists

Your Schedule page looks complete. But will this actually work for Week 2, Week 3, and beyond?

Expand the Grammar Study (30 min) toggle and check off all three checklist items as if you completed Monday's session.
Now imagine it's next Monday. Look at the same toggle.

Before you think about what happens next week, ask yourself: where does your completed Monday go?

Uncheck those items to reset for next Monday.

Notice the problem. You just erased your own progress. There's no record that you studied on Monday. You can't see a streak of completed days. You can't filter by which skills you practiced. You can't auto-generate tomorrow's session.

Why does this matter?

Static checklists work for a single week. But language learning takes months. Without a history of what you've done, you lose motivation (no visible streak), miss patterns (which skills are you skipping?), and waste time recreating the same page each day.

This is the exact gap that a Notion database solves. In the next step, you'll build a Study Session tracker that remembers every day, shows your history on a calendar, and auto-generates fresh entries.

Your daily routine and weekly schedule are solid. They tell you exactly what to practice and when. The missing piece is tracking and automation. Next up, you'll turn this static plan into a living system with a database that remembers every session and generates new ones automatically.

Build the Study Session Tracker Database

Your daily routine and weekly schedule are in place. You know exactly what to do each day for 2 hours of focused Spanish study.

The static toggles and table cannot record what you completed, show which skills you are neglecting, or auto-generate tomorrow's session. A Notion database solves all three problems and turns your schedule into a living, trackable system.

In this step, get ready to:

Create a Study Session database with tracking properties.
Add calendar and board views for different perspectives.
Set up a repeating daily template for auto-generated entries.

Create the Study Session database

Your static checklists reset every week with no history. An inline database keeps every session on record and lets you filter, sort, and view your data in multiple ways.

Return to the Schedule sub-page in Notion.
Click below the Weekly Schedule table to place your cursor there.
Type /heading 2 and enter Study Session Log.
On the next line, type /Database - Inline to insert a new inline database.

A blank database table appears directly on your page with a default Name column.

What is an inline database?

Inline databases live inside the page rather than as a separate page. This means your study tracker sits alongside your static schedule for easy reference without leaving the page.

Click the + icon in the database header to add a new property.
Name the property Date and set the type to Date.
Add another property named Skills Practiced with type Multi-select.
Click into Skills Practiced and add six options: Grammar, Vocabulary, Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing.

Your database now has three columns. Four more properties to go.

Add a Duration property with type Number.
Add a Phase property with type Select.
Click into Phase and add three options: A0-A1, A1-A2, A2-B1.
Add a Completed property with type Checkbox.
Add a Notes property with type Text.

Your database header now shows all seven properties as columns.

Click + New in the database to add a row.
Fill in today's date, select 2-3 skills, enter 120 for Duration, set Phase to A0-A1, and add a brief note.
Add 2-3 more sample entries for different days this week, varying the skills and notes for each.

Your database now shows a table with several rows, each displaying the date, skills practiced, duration, phase, and notes.

Don't see the database on your page?

Make sure you typed /Database - Inline (not just /Database). The inline version embeds the database directly on the page. The full-page version creates a separate page in your sidebar instead.

If you accidentally created a full-page database, delete it and try again with the inline option. Help me set up my inline database

Add views for different perspectives

A table is useful, but a calendar shows your study streaks at a glance and a board reveals which skills get the most attention.

Click the + icon next to the current view tab at the top of your database.
Select Calendar.
Set the date property to Date if Notion asks which property to use for the timeline.

Your sample entries now appear as cards on a monthly calendar grid.

Click + again to add another view.
Select Board.
Set the group property to Skills Practiced.

Each skill now has its own column with relevant entries grouped under it. You can see at a glance which skills have more sessions logged.

Click directly on the default table view tab name at the top of your database.
Rename it to All Sessions.

You now have three view tabs at the top of your database: All Sessions (table), Calendar, and Board.

Can't find the + for adding views?

The + icon appears as a small button at the far right of the view tabs row at the top of your database. If your database is narrow, you may need to hover over the tab area to reveal it.

Help me add views to my database

Create a repeating daily template

Views help you see past sessions, but you still have to manually create each day's entry. A repeating template auto-generates a pre-filled entry every morning so your daily session is waiting for you when you open Notion.

In the database, click the dropdown arrow next to New.
Select + New template.
Title the template Daily Study Session.

What is a database template?

A template pre-fills properties and page content for every new entry. Instead of manually setting duration, selecting skills, and writing your checklist from scratch each morning, the template does it all in one click.

In the template's properties panel, set Duration to 120.
Set Skills Practiced to all six options: Grammar, Vocabulary, Listening, Reading, Speaking, Writing.
Leave Completed unchecked.

Now add the checklist body that will appear inside each generated entry.

Click into the template body (the page content area below the properties).
Type /to-do to insert a to-do checkbox, then enter Grammar Study (30 min).
Press Enter after each item to add the next to-do.
Add five more items: Vocabulary (15 min), Listening (30 min), Reading (15 min), Speaking/Pronunciation (15 min), Writing (15 min).

Your template now has six to-do items matching the daily routine from earlier in this page.

Click Back or click outside the template to save it.
Click ... next to the template name in the dropdown menu.
Select Repeat.
Set the frequency to Every day.

The template now displays a "Repeat: Every day" badge next to its name.

Don't see the Repeat option?

Make sure you clicked Back to save the template first. Then open the dropdown arrow next to New again and look for the ... menu icon next to your template name.

Help me set my template to repeat daily

Before you verify, predict: when you switch to the Calendar view, what should you see on today's date and the other days you added entries for?

Switch to the Calendar view tab.

Your sample entries appear as cards on their respective dates across the calendar grid. Tomorrow, a new "Daily Study Session" entry will auto-appear in your database thanks to the repeating template.

What did you just build?

Your static schedule could only show one week at a time with no memory. This database tracks every session you ever complete, shows your history on a calendar, reveals skill balance on a board, and generates tomorrow's entry without you lifting a finger.

The three views give you three questions answered at a glance: "When did I study?" (Calendar), "Which skills am I covering?" (Board), and "What are all my sessions?" (All Sessions table).

Your study plan is no longer a static document. Every morning a fresh session entry appears, ready for you to fill in. Next, you will build the grammar, vocabulary, and resource databases that tell you exactly what to study during each session.

Build Grammar, Vocabulary, and Resource Databases

Your Study Session database can now track when and how you study each day. But it cannot tell you what to study at your current level.

Knowing which grammar topics and resources match your current CEFR phase is the difference between efficient progress and random guessing. In this step, you will build filterable Notion databases that show only what is relevant right now.

In this step, get ready to:

Build a Grammar Progression database with 30+ topics tagged by CEFR level.
Build a Vocabulary Topics database with 12+ thematic groups across three levels.
Create a Resource Library of free Spain-Spanish materials organized by skill.

Build the Grammar Progression database

Your Grammar sub-page will hold a database of every grammar topic from A1 through B1, so you can filter it to see only topics at your current level.

In the Notion sidebar, click on the Grammar sub-page to open it.
Type /Database - Inline and press Enter to create a new inline database on the page.

You should see an empty table with a single "Name" column. Now you will set up the properties.

Click on the Name column header and rename it to Topic.
Click + next to the right-most column to add a new property.
Name it CEFR Level and set the type to Select. Create three options: A1, A2, and B1.
Add another property called Category with type Select. Create five options: Verbs, Nouns, Pronouns, Sentences, Other.
Add a property called Status with type Status. Notion creates three main categories (To Do, In Progress, Complete) that you cannot rename. Under To Do, add a sub-category called Not started. Under In Progress, add In progress. Under Complete, add Mastered.
Add a final property called Notes with type Text.

Your database now has five columns: Topic, CEFR Level, Category, Status, and Notes. Time to fill it with grammar topics.

Why a Status property instead of a Select?

The Status property type gives you built-in progress tracking. Notion groups your entries into To Do, In Progress, and Complete behind the scenes, which lets you use Board views and automations later if you want to visualize what you have mastered versus what is still ahead.

Add these A1 grammar topics as new rows in your database (set CEFR Level to A1 for each):

A1 grammar topics to add

Articles and gender.
Present tense - regular verbs.
Present tense - irregular verbs.
Ser vs estar.
Ir a + infinitivo.
Possessives.
Adjective agreement.
Basic pronouns.
Numbers.
Question formation.

After entering all ten rows, you should see them listed in the table with their CEFR Level set to A1.

Now add these A2 grammar topics (set CEFR Level to A2 for each):

A2 grammar topics to add

Preterito perfecto.
Preterito indefinido.
Futuro simple.
Preterito imperfecto.
Imperativo.
Reflexive verbs.
Direct/indirect object pronouns.
Comparatives.
Por vs para.
Prepositions.

Finally, add these B1 grammar topics (set CEFR Level to B1 for each):

B1 grammar topics to add

Presente de subjuntivo.
Condicional.
Pluscuamperfecto.
Temporal clauses.
Conditional clauses (indicativo).
Concessive clauses.
Relative clauses.
Reported speech.
Ser/estar advanced.
Passive constructions.

Your database should now contain 30+ rows spanning three CEFR levels. Scroll through to confirm entries from all three levels are present.

Create a filtered view by clicking + next to your existing database view name at the top of the database.
Select Table as the view type and name it Current Level.
Open the settings menu at the top of the database and select Filter under View settings.
Choose CEFR Level as the property to filter by, set it to is, and select A1.
Click Save for everyone so the filter persists in this view.

The Current Level view now shows only A1 topics. As you progress through levels, you will change this filter to A2 or B1 to see only the topics relevant to your current phase.

Don't see only A1 topics in the filtered view?

Make sure you clicked Save for everyone after adding the filter. Without saving, the filter resets when you switch views.
Confirm the filter condition says CEFR Level is A1, not is not.
Check that you are looking at the Current Level view tab, not the default table view.

Why isn't my filtered view showing the correct topics?

Build the Vocabulary Topics database

With grammar covered, you need a companion database for vocabulary themes. This database groups words by topic and level so you study the right vocabulary for your current phase.

In the Notion sidebar, click on the Vocabulary sub-page to open it.
Type /Database - Inline and press Enter to create an inline database.
Rename the default Name column to Theme.
Add a CEFR Level property with type Select and options A1, A2, B1.
Add a Word Count Target property with type Number.
Add a Status property with type Status. Add the same sub-categories as the Grammar database: Not started, In progress, Mastered.

Now add thematic vocabulary groups. Each row is a topic with a word count target you can set based on your needs.

Add these vocabulary themes as new rows:

Vocabulary themes by level

A1 themes (set CEFR Level to A1):

Greetings and introductions.
Family.
Numbers/Time.
Food/Drink.
Home/Furniture.

A2 themes (set CEFR Level to A2):

Travel/Transport.
Shopping/Clothes.
Health/Body.
Weather/Nature.
Work/Occupations.

B1 themes (set CEFR Level to B1):

Emotions/Opinions.
Media/Technology.
Education.
Society/Politics.
Environment.

You should now have 15 rows in the Vocabulary database, at least 5 per level. Each theme represents a group of related words you will learn together.

Set your own word count targets

A common starting target is 30-50 words per A1 theme, 50-80 for A2, and 80-120 for B1. Fill in the Word Count Target column based on your personal goals.

Database not appearing on the page?

Make sure you typed /Database - Inline (with a capital D). If you selected a full-page database instead, it opens as a separate page rather than appearing inline.
If you accidentally created a full-page database, delete it, return to the Vocabulary page, and try again with the inline option.

My database isn't showing inline on the Vocabulary page. How do I fix it?

Build the Resource Library

The final piece of your workspace is a curated list of free resources for Spain-Spanish, organized by skill. Toggle blocks keep this page scannable while holding detailed links inside.

In the Notion sidebar, click on the Resources sub-page to open it.
Type /toggle and press Enter to create a toggle block. Title it Listening.
Click the toggle to expand it, then add these resources as bullet points inside:

Listening resources to add

Coffee Break Spanish (beginner podcast, free). Level: A1-A2.
Lightspeed Spanish (Spain-based, free on Spotify). Level: A2-B1.
Dreaming Spanish (comprehensible input YouTube). Level: A1-B1.
ProfeDeELE (free videos and exercises). Level: A1-B1.
News in Slow Spanish (intermediate, some free). Level: A2-B1.
RTVE A la Carta (authentic Spanish TV, free). Level: B1.

Expand the toggle to confirm your Listening resources are listed with their levels. Now create the remaining skill toggles.

Create a new toggle block titled Speaking and add these resources inside:

Speaking resources to add

Language Transfer Complete Spanish (free audio course, builds grammar from English). Level: A1-A2.
Forvo (pronunciation dictionary, free). Level: All.
Shadowing technique (repeat after native audio to train pronunciation). Level: All.

Create a toggle titled Reading and add:

Reading resources to add

ProfeDeELE reading exercises. Level: A1-B1.
Lingua.com graded readers (free). Level: A1-B1.
El Pais (for B1+ reading practice). Level: B1.
Short stories collections online. Level: A2-B1.

Create a toggle titled Writing and add:

Writing resources to add

Exercise prompts per level (create a set of 5-10 prompts for A1, A2, and B1). Level: All.
Journal template linked to your Study Session log. Level: All.

Create a toggle titled Vocabulary and add:

Vocabulary resources to add

Anki (free flashcard app with shared Spanish decks). Level: All.
Quizlet Spanish frequency lists. Level: A1-B1.

Create a final toggle titled Grammar and add:

Grammar resources to add

ProfeDeELE grammar exercises. Level: A1-B1.
SpanishDict conjugation tool. Level: All.
Instituto Cervantes AVE (some free content). Level: A1-B1.

Your Resources page should now have six toggle blocks. Expand each one to confirm the resources are listed inside with their target levels.

Why toggle blocks instead of a database?

Resources are reference material you browse, not entries you track over time. Toggle blocks keep the page clean and scannable. You expand a skill section only when you need it, and you can easily add or remove links as you discover new materials.

Toggle block not expanding?

Click the triangle arrow to the left of the toggle title. If you click the title text instead, Notion enters edit mode on the title.
If the toggle appears empty, click inside the expanded area and start typing your resource list. You need to click below the title line within the toggle.

How do I add content inside a Notion toggle block?

Before you verify, think about what you expect to see when you switch the Grammar database filter from A1 to A2. Will the same topics appear, or different ones?

Return to the Grammar sub-page and click the Current Level view.
Open the filter settings and change the CEFR Level filter from A1 to A2.

The table now shows only A2 topics like Preterito perfecto and Imperativo. The A1 topics are gone from this view, but still safe in the full database. Switch back to A1 when you are done checking.

On the Resources page, expand the Listening toggle to confirm your six resources are listed with their level tags.

You now have three content databases powering your study plan. Your Grammar and Vocabulary databases filter by level so you always know what to study next. Your Resource Library gives you free Spain-Spanish materials for every skill. In the Secret Mission, you will add self-assessment checkpoints that tie all of this progress together.

Secret mission

Add Self-Assessment Checkpoints and a Progress Dashboard

Your study plan tracks what you do each day, but how do you know when you have actually levelled up? In this secret mission, you will build a self-assessment system using CEFR can-do descriptors and a progress dashboard that shows your completion percentage per level.

Clean Up Your Resources

This project runs entirely on the free Notion plan, so there are no ongoing costs. Decide whether to keep your workspace ready to use, hide it from your sidebar for now, or delete it entirely.

Resources you used:

Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan main page (with all six sub-pages and databases).
Your free Notion account.

Keep everything running

No action needed. Choose this if you are ready to start studying on Day 1.

Your workspace is ready to use immediately. Open it each morning and follow the daily study session that auto-generates from your repeating template.
Adjust time allocations, add or remove resources, or change the phase timeline to match your actual pace as you progress.
You can share your Notion page as a template link if you want others to duplicate your system.

Pause - I'll come back to this later

Hide the study plan from your sidebar so it is out of the way until you are ready to begin.

In the Notion sidebar, hover over the Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan page.
Click the ••• icon that appears.
Select Remove from sidebar. The page stays in your workspace but no longer clutters your sidebar.
To find it again later, use Notion's search (Cmd+P on macOS or Ctrl+P on Windows) and type the page name.

Delete - I don't want to use this again

Remove the entire study plan and all its sub-pages permanently.

In the Notion sidebar, hover over the Spanish A0-B1 Study Plan page.
Click the ••• icon that appears, then select Delete.
This moves the page and all nested sub-pages (Roadmap, Schedule, Grammar, Vocabulary, Resources, Progress Checkpoints) to Trash.
To permanently remove it, open Trash at the bottom of your sidebar, find the page, and select Delete permanently. Otherwise, pages in Trash are automatically deleted after 30 days.

What about my Notion account?

Your Notion account is a general-purpose tool you likely use for other things. There is no need to delete it. The free plan has no charges regardless of how many pages you create.

Nice Work!

Nice work! You just built a complete, interactive Notion workspace that guides your Spanish learning from absolute zero to B1 conversational level.

You've learned how to:

Design a phased CEFR roadmap with hour targets, timelines, and can-do milestone descriptors that show you exactly what each level means and how long it takes to reach.
Build a dynamic Study Session database with calendar views, board views, and a repeating daily template that auto-generates your study log every morning.
Create filterable Grammar and Vocabulary databases organized by CEFR level alongside a curated free resource library of Spain-Spanish podcasts, videos, and exercises.
Secret Mission: Add self-assessment checkpoints with CEFR can-do descriptors and a progress dashboard calculating your completion percentage per level.

Ready to quiz yourself?