An observation of a native Spanish-speaker learning the English language.

LANGUAGE COMPARISON

THE STUDENT

-15 year old male

-moved to Pennsylvania from Honduras in the spring of 2009

-had very little exposure to English prior to arriving in the U.S.A.

-Is the only member of his household studying English

-there is no English spoken at home.

-this student has no internet access at home

-Upon arrival, the student was reading on a 7th grade level in his native language

-Area of strength in English is listening.

-placed in Level 1 as a result of his WIDA assessment.

Data Analysis Summary*Data was collected from two writing pieces.

*spoke with the student in Spanish to gather information about his learning experience.

*expressed that he is frustrated by all the rules.

*expressed that spelling and verb tenses are difficult for him

*expressed that he is proud of the progress he’s made since he started studying English.

*finds it easier to communicate with his peers each day!

TYPES OF ERRORS FREQUENCY

Spelling 6

Tense 2

Grammar 5

Alternate Spelling 3

Word order 3

Word Choice 2

Spelling

Tense

Grammar

Alternate Spelling

Word Order

Word Choice

DATA

ERRORS CORRECTIONS

practises practices

your you're

Has hair dark has dark hair

a apple an apple

to too

I saw the movie never I never saw the movie

the weekend past last weekend

its it's

the shoes were wite and blue the shoes were white and blew

went shopping through the mall went shopping at the mall

There are many friends that I like to play basketball. I like to play basketball with many of my friends.

We played until it went dark. We played until dark.

I watched TV, then I am tired. I watched TV until I got tired.

I and my family went My family and I went

I like the church not like I like the church from the past. I like my previous church better

fone phone

doshen dozen

some of my frends some of my friends

ERRORS AND CORRECTIONS

English vs. Spanish-Many of the student’s errors were made as a result of interference from his L1.

-Spelling in Spanish is easier because every letter is pronounced.

-Spanish has fewer letter combinations that create a single sound.

-Spanish is a syllable-timed language whereas English is a stress-timed language.

-Although English and Spanish have the same vowels, they are pronounced differently.

-For example, the letter “e” in English has the same sound as the letter “I” in Spanish..

English vs. Spanish cont.-English and Spanish share many consonants and they are pronounced similarly.

-Word order is different in these two languages. In Spanish, an adjective typically follows the noun it modifies, opposite from the English language.

-A single Spanish verb provides the person, number and tense. English verbs are often more complex.

-expressing possession is also very different in these two languages. The use of the ‘s does not exist in the Spanish language.

A Learning ExperienceThrough this experience, I learned…

*It is important to be conscious of the confusing letter sounds, specifically the vowels, when teaching the alphabet.

*Significant time should be taken to teach the difficult English letter combinations, like “sh”.

*When teaching English to a native Spanish-speaker, it is important to explain the differences with word order and possession.

*With a better understanding of the key differences between English and the ELL’s native language, an ESL teacher can be better prepared when approaching some challenging aspects of learning English..