This study explores the pedagogical potential of using construction grammar to teach light verb constructions (LVCs), focusing on the Spanish verb tomar when used with event nouns (e.g., tomar una decisión). Drawing on a corpus–based analysis of Spanish, English, and Japanese, this study emphasizes the importance of token frequency over type frequency and proposes a contrastive linguistic approach. The findings revealed that tomar strongly co–occurred with a limited set of event nouns, particularly in the semantic domains of cognition and preventive action. The comparisons with English (take) and Japanese (toru) highlighted both cross–linguistic similarities and language–specific patterns. This paper argues that teaching should prioritize high frequency prototypical collocations to enhance learners’ understanding and prevent negative transfer. By demonstrating how corpus data can inform instructional strategies, this study contributes to the more effective teaching of LVCs in foreign language education.