WQ # 3: I love my potato!

 

Description

Last year, when the exchange team was visiting, the students had an opportunity to write about their family and share their writing with their partners. Students learned a lot about each other’s culture through this opportunity, except a few misunderstandings at the beginning. This is one of the hosting student’s daily journal entry about his American partner’s presentation. (Translated in English)

(…) Today, my friend Tommy and I worked together and discussed about our families. Tommy wrote about his family and read it to me, but at first I couldn’t understand what he was saying. He told me that he loved his potato, his potato loves him very much. His bears looked alike with his potato’s. His potato and he suckles loved (?) him always, since he was he drinks (or when he drinks?)… I was so confused and asked him to show me his writing. Then, guess what! I found that he just pronounced a few words incorrectly, which made me so confused. I told him what his pronunciation made the changes in meaning, and we both burst to laugh! He was laughing all the time, about what he had told me about his “potato”! It was such a joyful time we shared together. I wonder what I may sound in English. Will I say that I love my potato?

Hint: Papa, Papá, Ojos, Osos, Mama, Mamá, Bebe, Bebé

 

Task

Find at least 5 categories of Spanish sounds (e.g. vowel “a”, consonant “r”, etc.) and 5 example words from the category that are difficult to pronounce from the sample web sites. Practice your pronunciation carefully paying attention to how the sounds are different from English sounds. Record your pronunciation of the words and review with a native speaker.


Resources

A. Pronunciation Guides

Weekly Spanish Lesson by Tyler Jones – a short introduction to Spanish pronunciation.
http://www.june29.com/Spanish/lesson1.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A737723 - Pronunciation guide for English speakers

http://www.smartphrase.com/Spanish/sp_pronunciation.shtml - A pronunciation guide

B. Pronunciation Practice

http://www.studyspanish.com/pronunciation/index.htm - Pronunciation explanation and examples, including the comparison between native speaker and English speaker


Process

  1. First, read and learn the basic pronunciation guides from the provided websites.
  2. Visit pronunciation practice site and do the practice .
  3. Choose 5 most difficult sounds for you and make a list of them.
  4. Find 5 words for each sound that you found difficult to pronounce. (e.g. 5 words that contains ‘e’ sound, 5 words that for ‘rr’ sound, etc.)
  5. Practice the sample words. Please pay attention to the difference and similarity [insert] between English sounds and that of Spanish.
  6. Record your pronunciation of the words.(For example: “Practice of the consonant ‘ll’ sounds”).When recording, say the category before recording the sample words. You may use digital recording using the computer or any tape recorder. Submit a copy of your pronunciation tape to SEEDS administration for evaluation.
  7. Check your pronunciation with a native speaker of Spanish

Tips!

Pronunciation in Spanish
Spanish uses same alphabets but some of them are pronounced quite differently. Spanish consonants have different sounds, as well as the vowels do. The combination of sounds in words and the pronunciation usually follows the basic rules, while accent can change the stress in vowels. In Spanish, stress in vowels can make difference in meanings; you will find several words that share exact same spelling but the accent for two totally different meanings. Therefore, in order to communicate correctly it is important to pay attention to pronunciation.

Find more information from these sites;
http://www.tomzap.com/sp_key.html (Basic rules of pronunciation)
http://www.studyspanish.com/pronunciation/stress.htm (Pronunciation practice)
http://spanish.allinfo-about.com/pronunciation/pr-ac-acute.html (Use of accent)


Conclusion

Perfecto! Now you can correctly say the ‘expensive car’ (carro caro), ‘my mom drinks coffee’ (Mi mama bebe el café), and ‘your dog’ (su perro). Isn’t it fun to see how a single sound can make a whole lot of difference? Practice and find more words that are interesting to pronounce.


National Standards (ACTFL)

Comparisons
Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own.
Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.

Sunshine State Standards – Foreign Languages (9-12)

Comparisons (FL.D.1.4)
The student recognizes that languages have different patterns of communication and applies this knowledge to his or her own culture.


Evaluation

Your pronunciation recording can be reviewed using the criteria described below:

 
Excellent
Good
Weak
Note
Number of sound categories included More than 5 categories 4-3 categories Less than 3 categories  
Number of samples words included in each category More than 5 words 4-3 words Less than 3 words  
Clarity of pronunciation Very clear.All sounds are pronounced correctly. Clear enough to distinguish the sounds Sounds are not clear enough to distinguish each other  


Printable Version of the Evaluation Rubric (pdf)