S2.06 alphabet

6. El alfabeto

6.* El alfabeto The alphabet This section is marked “optional” because the alphabet is obviously of use primarily for reading and writing Spanish words. If you have decided to concentrate on speaking and listening activities, there will be little need for children to spell out words.

If you feel that it would be helpful for the class to learn the Spanish alphabet and practise a small amount of reading and writing, the activities outlined in this chapter will help pupils to do this in measured, gentle steps.

VIDEO Alphabet animation: - The opening sequence shows the animated letters A - Z performing as circus acrobats. Each letter is sounded as it enters the ring.

At the optician: - Marta is visiting the optician to have her eyes tested. She reads the alphabet letters shown on the projected screen: F E /H A N D T Z / R C V / S K O / P X F /H T A Children spelling their names: Yo soy Óscar - Ó S C A R Me llamo Ángela - Á N G E L A Spelling words in the classroom: -The teacher is asking pupils to spell words which begin with “bu”...

Teacher: “Rocío, escribe: ...buzo”.

(Rocío, write: ... diver.)

Rocío: “B U Z O” Teacher: “Muy bien, un aplauso para Rocío”.

(Very good, a round of applause for Rocío).

Teacher: “Escribe: ... burbuja”. (write: ... bubble) Raúl: “B U R B U J A” Teacher: “Muy bien, un aplauso para Raúl”.

(Very good, a round of applause for Raúl).

Teacher: “Tamara, escribe:... buscar”.

(Tamara, write: ... to look for/seek).

Tamara: “B U S C A R” Teacher: “Muy bien, un aplauso para Tamara” (Very good, a round of applause for Tamara).

Alphabet song: - The children sing a traditional Spanish song which uses letters of the alphabet.

The words and music for the song are presented at the end of this chapter.

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES We hear the Spanish names for the letters A - Z

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n ñ o pq r s t u v w x y z escribe... - write...

Un aplauso para ... a round of applause for....

Performing letters from video section 6: Letter “ñ”.

48

Scene from video section 6: Marta visits the optician.

6. El alfabeto ❑ Echoing: Ask pupils to spell out their own names as Óscar and Ángela do in the video.

At the early stages you may need to help by writing individuals’ names on the board and pronouncing the letters yourself whilst the pupil in question repeats them.

KEY SOUNDS Listen to these alphabet letters in groups of similar sounds.

a h k b c d e f l m n ñ

4. Responding with understanding

g p r s t x z

❑ Play “¿Cómo te llamas?” 1 When pupils have learnt how to spell their names they can play “¿Cómo te llamas?” in pairs.

Ask them to introduce themselves to each other as if they did not quite catch the name on first hearing and need it to be spelt out, e.g.

Pupil 1: “Hola, ¿cómo te llamas?”

Pupil 2: “Ángela”.

Pupil 1 (Gestures to show that she has not heard clearly) Pupil 2: “Á N G E L A - Ángela?”

Pupil 1: “Ángela! Hola! Me llamo Sandra” - and so on ...

i y j o q u v w (Listen to the native speakers on the video and audio CD - try to copy the typically Spanish sounds. There is also a pronunciation guide at the end of this chapter.)

Activities

❑ Play “¿Cómo te llamas?” 2 This is a variation of the previous game which can be played when pupils are confident with all the letters of the alphabet.

This time give each pupil a slip of paper with a Spanish name written on it. You could use the names of famous Spanish people or real Spanish first names. (See Early Start Spanish pack 1: “Tú y yo” chapter 4).

Pupils can also play this game using their puppets.

1. Warm up To prepare pupils for watching video section 6: “El alfabeto”, you could practise some very familiar vocabulary which involves the children in saying their names: Me llamo.../Yo soy...

This is useful as pupils will be learning how to spell their own names in Spanish.

2. Watch the video ❑ Watch video section 6: “El alfabeto”. Ask pupils to listen carefully to the sounds of the letters which spell their own names.

❑ Spell out simple, familiar words by giving the pronunciation of the letters. Pupils try to guess the word as they write each letter.

3. Get used to the sounds ❑ Following the examples shown in the classroom on the video, ask pupils to spell out familiar words. To begin with, while pupils are still becoming familiar with the letters, this could be a group activity, e.g. you say “Escribe: ...

Madrid” and each group takes it in turns to spell a word as you write it on the board.

❑ Echoing: Write the letters on the board in groups of 4 or 5 letters. Say each letter and ask pupils to echo it. Alternatively, you could replay the circus animation from the video and ask pupils to echo the pronunciation of each letter. ❑ Echoing: Write letters at random on the board, say each letter and ask pupils to echo it.

49

6. El alfabeto ❑ Play “hangman” - called “el ahorcado” in Spanish - using familiar words.

See chapter 16: “En la clase” for an example of a teacher starting a game of “hangman” with his class - the Spanish equivalent of saying, “Let’s play hangman”.

You could practise a Spanish style of handwriting as you write letters on the board, (see “talking points”).

Cultural awareness You will need to talk with the children about the extra letter ñ which is found in Spanish dictionaries. Older dictionaries may also include ch and ll as separate letters see “talking points”.

See www.earlystart.co.uk for some Spanish-English dictionaries we suggest are suitable for young learners.

5. Working in pairs ❑ When pupils are confident with the alphabet letters they can play “hangman” in pairs.

❑ Literacy: Play “look it up” Using the English-Spanish section of the dictionary, ask a pupil to suggest for example, an animal. Help the class to find the correct section in the dictionary and to identify the Spanish name of the animal.

Then ask them in groups to find the names of four more animals. (You could choose any kind of groups of words - fruit, vegetables, shops etc.)

Write up some of the words pupils have found on the board. As a class, use your knowledge of “key sounds” to work out how to say the new Spanish words.

6. Watch the video ❑ Show video section 6: El alfabeto again for reinforcement.

❑ Literacy: Make your own dictionary Each child makes a booklet with pages labelled with the letters of the Spanish alphabet. When they learn a new word in Spanish they add it to their dictionary with suitable illustrations.

CROSS CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES ❑ Music: Ask pupils to make up tunes or chants for the Spanish alphabet.

❑ Art and design: Pupils could prepare an illustrated alphabet frieze for the classroom wall.

Encourage them to use as many familiar words as possible, for example: a - adiós/abril/azul; b - buenos días/la biblioteca/un boli etc.

If they are stuck for a word beginning with a particular letter, they could use the dictionary to find a suitable one.

❑ Music: If you are confident with your Spanish, you could teach them the alphabet song heard on the video. ❑ Literacy: Dictionary skills Show pupils how a Spanish-English dictionary works. Ask them to look through an English dictionary first. As they turn over the pages ask them what letter they have arrived at.

Now repeat this with a Spanish-English dictionary. When they reach the middle point of the dictionary where the alphabet starts again, talk about the difference.

Note: Most adult foreign language dictionaries use abbreviations to indicate whether a word is “masculine” or “feminine” and whether it is a noun or an adjective.

If you look up the word “pencil”, for example, in the English section of the dictionary, you will find ... n lápiz m. The “n” shows that this is a noun, the “m” identifies that the word “lápiz” is masculine.

50

6. El alfabeto EXTRA WORDS AND PHRASES

Talking point

una mayúscula an upper case (capital) letter

EVERYDAY LIFE IN SPAIN The Spanish alphabet

una minúscula a lower case letter

Pupils watching the video will have noticed that there is an extra letter in the Spanish alphabet ñ. If pupils are exploring Spanish dictionaries, they will see that very few words actually begin with ñ, but it does have a very distinctive sound which can be heard in two very familiar words which pupils encountered in Early Start Spanish pack 1: “Tú y yo” - “años” and “cumpleaños” .

The computer industry is lobbying hard to suppress the ñ. This would save the manufacturers from having to produce special keyboards for the Spanish market. Many Spanish people object to this as the suppression of ñ would affect the word for “Spanish”,“español” and Spain, “España”.

una vocal - a vowel una consonante - a consonant The pronunciation of these additional phrases can be heard on the audio CD for teachers.

Extension activity ❑ When pupils are familiar with the pronunciation of all the letters of the alphabet, you can ask them to identify vowels and consonants.

Make a set of flashcards showing each letter of the Spanish alphabet and spread these out on a table. If possible make several duplicate flashcards of the vowels. Ask different pupils to come to the table. When you say “una vocal”, the pupil at the table selects a vowel and tells the class the name of the letter. When you say “una consonante”, s/he selects a consonant and tells the class the name of the letter.

Until recently, ch and ll were also included in Spanish dictionaries as separate letters.

Talking point EVERYDAY LIFE IN SPAIN Spanish handwriting The activity sheet shows the alphabet written in a typical Spanish style of handwriting. Pupils who have received handwritten communications from children in Spanish schools may have noticed the distinctive way the letters are formed.

■ Using the activity sheet as a model, pupils can try using this way of forming the letters to write familiar words and phrases.

This is the way a Spanish child would write the way the letters are pronounced:

Aa B be C ce D de E e F efe G ge H hache I i J jota K ka L ele M eme

N ene Ñ eñe Oo P pe Q cu R erre S ese T te Uu V uve W uve double X equis Y y griega Z ceta

Listen to the video and audio CD. Spanish children have distinctive handwriting.

51

6. El alfabeto Alphabet song El

sa - ben bail-ar

-

gá - cha - te

H

I

I

J

ten - dré

jo - ta

es

y

K ka

K ka

par-ti - cu - lar,

vuél-ve-te a aga-char

cuan-do

que

llue - ve

se

mo - ja

los a - ga-cha - di - tos no

L e - le

M e - me

N e - ne

A

que si

tú

no me quie-res o-tro a-

M

N

O

que si

tú

no me quie res o - tro a-

e - le

e - me

e - ne

L

)

ha-che

-man - te

J jo - ta

- sa

)

H ha-che

-man-te me que-rrá

de mi ca

)

co-mo los de-más. A

pa-tio

If the words of the song are too difficult for your pupils, they can sing along with the alphabet letters as the Spanish children sing the song on the video and CD.

yo

El patio de mi casa es particular cuando llueve se moja como los demás.

Agachate y vuélvete a agachar que los agachaditos no saben bailar.

H, I, J, K, L, M, N, A, que si tú no me quieres otro amante me querrá H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, que si tú no me quieres otro amante tendré yo.

As with many traditional songs, the impact of the words is inevitably lost in translation - but here is a paraphrase to give teachers an idea of the basic gist of the song: The yard in my house is very special it gets wet when it rains just like any other.

Crouch down and crouch down again, people crouching down can’t dance.

H, I, J, K, L, M, N, A, if you don’t love me, someone else will H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, if you don’t love me, I’ll find someone else.

52

El alfabeto

This page may be photocopied for classroom use

Š2002 Early Start Languages