The Spelling Patterns of Words: Clusters Double Consonants in - - PDF document

How to Empower Hispanic First-Year College Students with Contrastive Analysis Strategies

Mercè Pujol, Hostos Community College, CUNY mp159@columbia.edu

The Seventeenth International Conference on the First-Year Experience June 15, 2004 Maui, Hawaii

The following linguistic aspects of Spanish and English have been researched, studied, and

• contrasted. A series of strategies, with accompanying exercises, have been created in order

to help native Spanish speakers to learn English and be prepared for college work. Examples

• f the spelling patterns of words and sentence structure follow. Tips on how ESL

students can deal with academic content on their own also follow. If you are interested in having the full presentation, please e-mail the author.

• The sounds of Spanish and English
• The spelling patterns of words
• Word forms
• Word meanings
• Sentence structure
• Communicative competence

The Spelling Patterns of Words: Clusters

Double Consonants in English:

Unlike Spanish, double consonants are very common in English and occur with almost all the consonants:

Spanish English

Común common Manera manner Acento accent Papá daddy Pasar pass Sufrir sufer You may know that in Spanish only the R, L, C, and N can double. Examples are: perro, carretera, terreno, llama, lluvia, llorar , lección, fjcción, acción, innecesario, connotación, and innegable. Remember that monosyllables (words containing one vowel between two consonants) in English and words whose accent is on the last syllable double the last consonant when adding an ending or a suffjx. Plan planned Fog foggy Put putting Swim Swimming Refer referred

Consonant Clusters in English:

Unlike Spanish, clusters of two and three (or even more) consonants are common at the end of English words: Enough, thorough Heart, hurt, blurt Hold, told, should

Lung, hang, sing, Blind, fnd, found Diferent, tolerant Caught, thought, bright Health, wealth Hundredth, width, length, eighth Distinct, instinct, precinct Thirst, frst, worst Clusters of two and three consonants are common in the middle of a word in Spanish. Some examples are: cambio, signifcado, complemento, cangrejo, and hambriento. However, the following words in English are diffjcult for a Spanish speaker to write correctly. Government, judgment, acknowledgment, diphthong Clusters of two consonants are common at the beginning of a word in Spanish. Some examples are: problema, trabajo, fmauta, crecer, and glucosa. However, English also has clusters of three consonants at the beginning of a word, which are diffjcult for a Spanish speaker to write correctly. Strawberries, through, sphere, shrug, phrase

Vowel Clusters in English:

Clusters of two vowels are as common in Spanish as in English. Some examples of Spanish vowel clusters are: resfriado, agrietar, claustrofobia, abuelo and sucio. However, unlike Spanish, clusters of three vowels are very common in English and pose problems for Spanish speakers. Courageous, outrageous, gorgeous Cautious, pretentious, precarious

Exercises: The Spelling Patterns of Words: Clusters

• Study the spelling of these fjfteen English words for one minute. Then cover the words.

How many can you remember and write without any spelling error? indistinct, relationship, communication, growth, shrimp, muffjn, refreshment, attempt, month, government, assassination, environment, beautiful, ambitious, fjfth ♦ Read the following paragraph written by a Spanish speaker learning English and correct the spelling problems that you identify: Last year my parents bougth a new home, and we all moved to a new neigborhood in the Bronx. At fst, I didn’t like my new neigborhood because it was too diferente and some areas seemed dangeros. Also, I thougth that people were not friendly enoug to

• us. My mother would come home depresed after shoping in the market. She used to

complain that many of the vendors were rude to imigrants who couldn’t speak English well.

Other spelling patterns to compare and contrast:

♦ Uses of m and n. ♦ Uses of b, v, f, and w. ♦ Uses of c, k, q, s, and z. ♦ Uses of h, ll, and y. ♦ Uses of g and j. ♦ Uses of r and rr. ♦ Uses of t and d

Sentence Structure: Simple Sentences

Even though Spanish and English sentences are similar in many ways, there are many structures which can be diffjcult for Spanish speakers to learn and use. Here you have a few to compare and contrast.

Structures with Verbs of State: Spanish English

Soy ingeniero. I am an engineer. Estoy agotada. I am exhausted. Me siento cansado. I am tired. Luisa se siente contenta. Louise feels happy. Carlos parece nervioso. Charles seems nervous. La sopa huele bien. The soup smells good. Natalia parece muy joven. Nathalie looks very young. Parece que va a llover. It looks like it is going to rain. Parece que no hay tiempo. It seems that there is no time.

Structures with Verbs of Result: Spanish English

Pedro se enojó con ella. Peter got angry at her. Paco se emborrachó ayer. Paco got drunk yesterday. Juana se enfermó. Joanne got sick. Mi vecino se volvió ciego. My neighbor became blind. Lola se puso furiosa con el cartero. Lola became furious with the mailman. (Se) ha engordado. He/she has gotten fat. (Se) ha envejecido. He/she has grown old.

Sentences with Direct and Indirect objects: Spanish English

Le enseñé los libros a María. I showed the books to Mary. Le enseñé a María los libros. I showed Mary the books. Se los enseñé. I showed them to her. Le expliqué la lección a José. I explained the lesson to Joseph. Le expliqué a José la lección. I explained Joseph the lesson. Se la expliqué. I explained it to him.

Structures with the Verb To Be plus Adjectives: Spanish English

Es imprescindible saber inglés. It is essential to know English. Es importante que aprendas inglés. It is important for you to learn English. Es aburrido estudiar solo. It is boring to study alone. Es interesante que viajes. It is interesting for you to travel.

Simple and Complex Sentences with WANT: Spanish English

Quiero viajar mucho. I want to travel a lot. (Ella) se quería ir temprano. She wanted to go early. Quiero que me ayudes. I want you to help me. (El) quería que su padre le visitara. He wanted his father to visit him.

Double Negative Structures in Spanish: Spanish English

No creo nada de lo que dices. I don’t believe anything of what you say. No quiero verte nunca jamás. I don’t want to see anymore/ ever again. Nadie ha dicho nada de ti. No one has said anything about you.

Exercises: Sentence Structure: Simple Sentences

♦ Why would all of the above sentence structures in English pose problems for Spanish speakers learning English? Explain the difgerences you observe as far as sentence structure is concerned. ♦ Read the following paragraph written by a Hispanic ESL student. Identify problems with simple sentence structure in English. Correct them if you can. Why do you think the student made such mistakes? A few years ago my father wanted that I went to college, but I refused. I wanted hang out with my friends and wasn’t interested in studying. To me I liked spend too much time with my friends, and I didn’t have no time for nothing more substantial. My father got very angry at me and wanted punish me. He actually decided not give no money until I found a decent job. I had to struggle for a while. Finally, I realized that I had to study. My father showed to me a good lesson. Now I know that is important go to college and receive an education.

Other sentence structure issues to compare and contrast:

♦ Compound sentences ♦ Complex Sentences ♦ Passive Structures ♦ Direct and Indirect Speech ♦ Punctuation

Tips for Dealing with Content Material

Reading and understanding literature and academic content in a second language can be intimidating and sometimes frustrating. Here you have some advice on how you can approach the reading process so that it becomes enjoyable, interesting, and productive. You will become an active, independent, and effjcient reader. ♦ Relax and have an open attitude of mind before you start. ♦ Read the heading a few times and see what comes to your mind. (If nothing comes to your mind, it is just fjne. Relax and continue.) ♦ Read the passage to yourself, either silently or aloud, for the fjrst time slowly, but without

• stopping. (It is important to grasp the general idea of the passage.)

♦ Repeat the same procedure once or twice. (Do not use any dictionary at this point.) ♦ By the third reading, you still want to read slowly. However, use your imagination, intuition, native language, personal experience, and prior knowledge to make connections and guess the meaning of the passage. You are very resourceful. Use your resources. ♦ In your next reading, you want to fully interact with the text. You may want to circle and underline important or diffjcult words and phrases. You may want to write on the margins and ask questions. You may even want to write a journal entry about whatever comes to your mind as far as this passage is concerned.

♦ Feel free to use a dictionary at this point if it helps you clarify words or phrases. Do not

• veruse it.

♦ By the fourth or fjfth reading, you should be able to identify the following information about the passage: ♦ General idea ♦ Major claims ♦ Details or evidence accompanying each claim ♦ Final statements or conclusions ♦ By now, you should also have developed an opinion about the topic, and you should have related it to your experience and prior knowledge. However, you may still have questions that you would like to pose to your professor and/or classmates. Write everything down in your journal. Be ready to share your thoughts and concerns with them all in class. Don’t be shy! What you have to say is very valuable and can benefjt others a great deal.