English 311,"Introduction
to Linguistics"
How To Teach The Alphabet To Spanish Speakers
by Rudy A. Carrera
Introduction
I have been teaching English as a Second Language for about three years and
during that time, I have observed that the way we are teaching our Spanish
speaking students could be improved. The specific problem area I will discuss is
the teaching of vowels. I realize that those students are learning English
(reading, writing, and speaking), but their main problem is in its
pronunciation. Most Spanish speaking students have a problem with developing an
accent in their pronunciation of words in the English Language. The development
of an accent is due to the pronunciation of the primary language. The difference
in accents or pronunciation is do to the difference in the languages. English is
derived from German, which produces sounds which are more guttural than Spanish.
This is why the sound is deeper. In Spanish the sound, for the most part, comes
from the chest and has a softer sound. In Spanish, for the most part, there are
two rules concerning pronunciation of letters. One is to pronounce the sound,
and the other is not to pronounce the sound, commonly referred to as the silent
sound. On the other hand, the English system has three sounds for all its
vowels. Those three sounds are: a) the long sound, b) the short sound, and c)
the silent sound. The problem area is in the short-sound area. In contrast, the
long and the silent sound can quickly be learned or mastered. In Spanish you
usually don’t hear the short sound of the alphabetic letter or vowel letters.
Because these students do not hear it, they have a tendency to omit it and not
pronounce it at all.
Another problem that they develop is a tendency to read and pronounce every
letter they see. This problem develops when students attempt to use their
primary language in the same manner. To resolve this problem, the ESL instructor
has to have some understanding of the Spanish language, the structure, and the
sound patterns. If the instructor has an understanding of such patterns and
sounds, he/she will be able to teach the Spanish-speaking student the English
vowels and consonants. By accomplishing that goal, the teacher and the students
will have an excellent result when pronouncing the words in English.
Bilingual Education
The understanding of bilingual education was of monumental importance because
in times passed we learned English by the process of sink-or-swim. In the early
1970’s, bilingual education was starting. In this process, it was decided that
the best method of teaching bilingual education was to teach the student
primarily in his own language, then it later changed to a 50/50 combination of
English and the student’s primary language. This new method of teaching had
grown out of the 1960’s atmosphere that generally stated that the primary
language was as important as a necessary language and that the individual
student needed a vehicle as a transition from one language to another. Because
it wasn’t properly explained and presented to the general population, people
were outraged and felt that education was catering to those minority students
who were in bilingual programs. By the 1990’s, the friction between the two
groups, the minority and minority, had climaxed into a situation that demanded
that all bilingual students be immersed in English-only classes, and that the
old bilingual programs were to be done away with. The current bilingual program
was created by a majority vote in favor of the now famous Proposition 227 Bill.
The majority of the population felt that if we were to immerse the student for
six months to a year, it would be sufficient for that bilingual student to
survive in the all-English classes. In the evaluation of the new bilingual
program, I felt that we needed to make some other changes in our teaching to
Hispanic bilingual students, as well as any other bilingual student. We assumed
too much. We think that an individual, especially an adult, can learn English as
fast and easily as a child can. I know that this is not the case. It is my
reasoning that we cannot teach them in six months. There is an inherit problem
of the difference in language. This is to say that English and Spanish are
different languages with different grammar and pronunciation systems. They share
some things in common, such as the Latin alphabet and the pronunciation of many
of the letters. But at the same time, there are differences in that there are
common sounds in Spanish are not the same in English or exist in the English
language. One of the most important things that we have to remind our students
about is that there is not a 100% rule of anything in the English grammar
system. Therefore, the best we can say or do is to state that this or that rule
exists or is followed most of the time. Sounds like the vowels and the final
"e", the digraphs, and the diphthongs and some of the consonants too.
The two vowels system with the final "e" pronounces the vowel with the
long sound and the final "e". Below are the rules for the
pronunciation of those vowels:
- "—" This symbol represents the long sound of the vowel.
- "È " This symbol represents the
short vowel system.
- "Ï " This symbol is the silent
symbol.
"∂" This symbol is for the Schwa sound. It states that on a word
that has two vowels the first one is long or sort and the second is the
schwa sound or silent sound of the vowel. ( a =sofa, (The "a" has the
short sound, the other vowels are silent or not pronounce).
There are four major symbols with sound rules:
Rule 1 example:
Long Letter Sound Word Rule
Ā =
S/ei cake (2-vowels in a word or syllable = 1 is
long, "e" is silent)
Ē = S/i P
ete (Same as above but the English "e"
sounds like the Spanish "e")
Ī = S/ai h
ide (Same as above but the English "i"
sounds like the Spanish "ai")
Ō = S/o, ou c
oat (Same as above but the English
"o" sounds like the Spanish o, or ou)
Ū = S/u, iu
cute (Same as above but the English
"u" sounds like the Spanish u or iu)
W= S/u went (W sounds like a = Spanish U)
Wh= S/Ju When (Wh sounds like a Spanish soft "J" and the
"U")
Y= S/ai cry (Y in the middle of a word, and at the end on a word with
no vowels = S/ai)
S/i bunny (Y at the beginning of the word or the word has two
Vowels = S/i).
Rule 2 example:
Short Letter Sound Word Rule
Ă = S/ea
and (1-vowel in the word or syllable = The
English a sounds like the Spanish soft "ea")
S/ae ask (Same as above but the English "a" sounds like the
Spanish soft ae)
Ĕ = S/e egg (Same as above but the English "e" sounds
like the Spanish "e")
Ĭ = S/i in (Same as above but the English "i" sounds
like the Spanish soft "i"t)
Ŏ = S/a box (Same as above but the English "o" sounds like the
Spanish "a")
Ŭ = S/a up (Same as above but the English "u" sounds like the
Spanish "a")
Rule 3 example:
Silent Letter Sound Word Rule Ï Has no sound
house (No letter sound)
Rule 4 Example:
Schwa Letter Sound Word Rule "∂" S/a sofa (This
symbol is for the Schwa sound. It states that on a word that has two vowels the
first one is long or sort and the second is the schwa sound or silent sound of
the vowel. (a =sofa, (The "a" has the short sound).
"∂" e label (The second vowel has no sound)
"∂" i Pencil (The second vowel has no sound)
"∂" o censor (The second vowel has no sound)
"∂" u focus (The second vowel has no sound)
There are also three other rule sounds that we have to consider. They are the
following:
Rule 1 Example: (The Digraphs)
Letter Sound Word Rule
Ai nail (2-v = 1 is long, 2 is silent)
Ay spray (Same as above)
Ea stake (Same as This is an exception because the 1 is
silent and the 2 is long)
Ee bee (Same as number 1)
Ea peach (Same as above)
Oa coat (Same as above)
Ue Blue (Same as above)
Ui Fruit (Same as above)
Rule 2 Example: (The Diphthongs)
Letter Sound Word Rule
Au fault (2-v = 1 is short, 2 is long)
Aw law (Same as above)
Ew dew (same as above)
Oi join (2-v = both are long)
Oy boy (Same is above)
Ou loud (2-v = 1 is short, 2 is long)
Ow brown (2-v =1 is short, 2is a long "u")
Rule 3 Example: (R-Sound)
Letter Sound Word Rule
Ar car (ar = makes the ar sound)
Or fork (or = makes the or sound)
Er after (er = only the "r" makes the sound)
Ir girl (ir = only the "r" makes the sound)
Ur turn (ur = only the "r" makes the sound)
The vowels include a, e, i. In the consonants there are the, "a,"
double "ll" in Spanish to a certain fact didn’t. By the 70’s
because we had grown to be a political force as well as the outcomes of the
civil rights gains accomplished by The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Spanish-speakers as well as blacks and other minorities found themselves with
new freedoms and political power that were not readily available before. This
well-deserved freedom was a blessing in disguise as well as a curse to
Hispanics. It was a blessing because it finally gave them the rights and the
recognition that they so desperately wanted and deserved. The curse was that
they were left as outsiders because the native tongue was different to the new
language (English). Bilingual education was taught using the sink-or-swim
method. Because parents were of low social economic background, they ended up
learning in Spanish and using Spanish primarily.
Objectives
This paper has several goals and objectives:
- To state the role bilingual education
- To assess the bilingual student and the role it plays
- To teach the Hispanic bilingual student the Alphabet using his own
language and vowel sound system.
The Spanish Speaking Student
The Spanish Speaking Student of today is different than in the past. For the
most part, one was well or reasonably well educated, this is to say educated
from kindergarten to high school. The second group had very little education.
The individual that had the education did learn much faster than the one that
did not. This was due to the educated student having some background in
education, and being familiar with at least the basic format of English in its
grammatical structure. The others didn’t. He or she primarily had to work in
the fields or didn’t like school or had no education. The ones who had some
education did well and assimilated to the American culture. The other group did
not. They, as well as their parents, put more emphasis in employment than in
education. This group did very badly. They stayed primarily with the language of
their parents. There were very little opportunities for those individuals. The
times didn’t help them as well. In the 50’s and 60’s there was enough
employment for every one and the advancement in technology wasn’t as fast as
today’s.
Today’s student still comes from those two groups but the numbers are
different. The uneducated is coming in order to find gainful employment. The
educated group ceased coming in large numbers until the mid 1990’s. This was
due to political unrest in their home country, or lack of employment. In the
past year, I have noticed a larger number of educated individuals, primarily
from Central and South America, as well as Mexico. If I find that an individual
had a profession or trade in their country, I try to encourage the student to
learn English as soon as possible and then pursue the same career objectives as
in his own country. I tell them that you know what it takes to succeed in the
chosen carrier, don’t let anything or anyone stop you from fulfilling their
goals and esperations. The English language should not stop you from attaining
;your goals in life.
The Alphabet
English is not a hard language to learn one knows and understands the
structure and sound system of the alphabet. Fortunately, the English and Spanish
language systems have a lot of similarities in sound and structure, which should
make it easier to learn, in comparison to non-Indo-European languages.
The commonalities of the Spanish language system with English are:
- The alphabet. There are only three different letters in the Spanish
alphabet that are not part of the English alphabet. This letters are (ll,
ñ, and rr )
- The sounds of the letters are almost the same in some of the letters.
- The word spelling and meaning is about the same.
- A number of words are spelled exactly the same in English as in Spanish.
The Instruction Method
In order to instruct the Spanish-speaking student properly, the instructor
has to have an understanding of the Spanish language and word pronunciation. If
we start by explaining the vowel system, as well as the consonant system, that
individual will quickly learn the sound system in English. The instructor should
first explain that in English there are actually three sounds to the vowel
system. These three vowel systems are the long vowel sound, the short vowel, the
silent vowel and the "schwa" sound. The instructor must further
explain the written symbols for those sounds. Example:
¾ : This symbol makes the long sound and the long
sound of that vowel is the same as the alphabet sound.
È : This is the short sound and it has a sound
like in Spanish.
Ï : This symbol is for the silent sound. This
vowel is used in combination where the first vowel makes the long sound or in
some cases it can make the short sound.
You must first teach the alphabetic sound so that the student is familiar
with the sound of the alphabet, and then start teaching the student that there
are two sounds that are heard in most languages. These two sounds are the
alphabetic sounds, which is the sound of the alphabet when you pronounce the
letters individually. The second alphabetic sound that you here is the phonetic
sound. This is the sound that you normally hear when the letter is in a word. If
the letter sound is long, then that letter usually makes the long sound but if
the letter is short or silent, then it makes the short or silent sound. It is
fortunate for Spanish speakers that the long and the short sounds are the same
or almost the same as those sounds similarly made in Spanish. Of monumental
importance is the teaching first of the alphabet and it sounds: It is also
important to have them pronounce the letters so that they can hear themselves in
the pronunciation of those letter sounds. You should have a list of words for
each sound in order to work with their pronunciation.
Once you have taught the vowel sounds to the student and before you start
working with words. You should also teach the consonant sounds, diphthongs,
syllables, blending etc. Once finished with that, you need to go back to the
vowel sounds and latter the consonants. You will find that the students will
learn the difference in sounds between the long, short and the silent sound of
the vowels. When you are covering each vowel you should repeat the Spanish
equivalent sound so that the student hear it and recognize it. It is extremely
important that the individual pronounces the exact sound so that he knows what
the sound is as well as recognize it and is able to pronounce it and use it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I ask you this question about teaching and the teacher. Whose
fault is it when the student fails? Is it the fault of the student or the
teacher? Let me say that the student does not know any better to start with, but
there will be a time where the student will appreciate what you, as the teacher,
were trying to accomplish with the student.
References
Webster’s Worldwide Dictionary: English-Spanish – Spanish-English
©1998 Minerva Books, Ltd.
Promotional Sales Books, LLC New
York, New York pp. 7-9
Phonics Reproducible Workbook Grades 1-2 ©1996 Bryan Haines, Inc.
Fresno, California p. 26
Phonics Chart 99 ©1971 Dreier Education Systems Highland Park, New
Jersey pp. 51-53, 55-56, 59-60, 67-68