10 Languages You'll Need Most in the Classroom

A Guide to Communicating with English Language Learners and Their Families

Garth Sundem, Jan Krieger, Kristi Pikiewicz

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781629146867
• eBook ISBN: 9781629148380
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

Break through language barriers and put ELL students at ease in your classroom! More than ever before, K–12 educators in today's classrooms teach students from diverse language backgrounds. This handy reference guide to the ten most common languages of students who do not speak English—Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Tagalog, Haitian Creole, Navajo, Hmong, Cantonese, and Korean—offers practical guidance for communicating with ELL students and their families. With a chapter dedicated to each language, this book provides a wealth of resources to help you make meaningful connections with ELL students, including: • Information about the traditions, religions, and celebrations of the family's country of origin
• Guides to common words and phrases in the student's native language
• Picture dictionaries that can be reproduced for use with students
• Sample parent letters that include both English and native language translations
• Basic reading tests in ten languagesLanguage can be an intimidating barrier to many students and teachers alike. Don't let it stand in the way of success. Help ensure that English Language Learners successfully transition into the school community and participate fully in the classroom learning environment!

1

Spanish

El saber no ocupa lugar

(One can never know too much)

CULTURAL FACTS

Spanish Speakers in the United States

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, in 2006 there were nearly 36 million foreign-born people of Latino descent living in the United States. This is approximately 12 percent of the country’s total population. Of these 36 million, just over half reported speaking English “less than well” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007). The boom in both legal and illegal immigration have made Latinos the largest minority in the United States, surpassing African Americans. About 60 percent of the Spanish-speaking students in the United States are from Mexico, 15 percent from Puerto Rico, 10 percent from Cuba, another 10 percent from Central and South America, and 5 percent are from other countries. However, your Spanish-speaking students are increasingly likely to have been born stateside (Greenberg, 2001)—and you may notice tension between those students who are recently arrived and those who have been living in the United States for some time. This group of recent arrivals has come to define the ELL (English Language Learner) population in the United States and to guide ELL teaching strategies.

The Spanish Language

Of the ten languages in this book, Spanish is by far the most closely related to English in pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and writing system. Spoken by about 350 million people worldwide, Spanish is an official language of the United Nations and is the most common second language throughout the United States. However, it’s not safe to assume that the newest non-English-speaking addition to your class, who happens to be from South America, speaks Spanish. Quechua and Portuguese, though phonetically rather similar to Spanish in Anglo ears, are distinct languages, and your well-meaning attempts at Spanish may be as useful as if you were speaking French.

Latino Religion and Culture

The Spanish speakers in your classroom might be as culturally different from one another as Siberia is to Cyprus, which represents the same geographical difference as that between Tijuana, Mexico and Santiago, Chile—nearly 5,500 miles! With this geographic and cultural plurality in mind, it is important to be especially aware of potential stereotyping in the classroom. First explore your students’ countries of origin before assuming cultural traditions.

That being said, Catholicism is the dominant religion in the majority of your Latino students’ countries of origin. This Mary-centered Catholicism creates instant respect for mothers and other females in authority roles, but lessens the respect given to or earned by female peers who have a less virginal image (Ortiz, 1995).

Latin American Holidays and Other Important Days

February or March: Carnaval is a celebration that takes place throughout the Spanish-speaking world before Lent.

March or April: Semana Santa, or the holy week of Easter, is the most important Catholic celebration in South America, with processions and prayer marking each day.

May 5: Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over the French army in 1862.

November 1: Día de Todos los Santos, or All Saints’ Day, also known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), is celebrated with food and family in most of the Latin American world.

December 12: Día de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is a feast honoring Mexico’s patron saint.

Pronunciation and Alphabet

Spanish can be pronounced passably using the sounds of the English language, with the following major differences:

• Stress falls on the last or second-to-last syllable unless marked with an accent

• Double r (rr) is rolled

• The letter ñ takes the place of ny, is pronounced like the first n in onion, and is distinct from the letter n alone

• Double l (ll) is pronounced like the y in you

• The letter j is pronounced like a guttural h

• The letter x is usually pronounced like ks between vowels and like s before a consonant

Communication With Home: Useful Phrases

English	Spanish	Pronunciation Guide
Parents	Los padres	Los pah-drays
Mother	La madre	Lah mah-dray
Father	El padre	El pah-dray
Aunt	La tía	Lah tee-ah
Uncle	El tío	El tee-oh
Brother	El hermano	El air-mah-noh
Sister	La hermana	Lah air-mah-nah
Cousin	La prima/El primo	Lah pree-mah/El pree-moh
Grandfather	El abuelo	El ah-bway-loh
Grandmother	La abuela	Lah ah-bway-lah
Boyfriend/Girlfriend	El novio/La novia	El noh-vyoh/Lah noh-vyah
Whom do you live with?	¿Con quién vives?	¿Con kee-en vee-vays?
What is your phone number?	¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono?	¿Kwal es too noo-mair-oh day te-lay-foh-noh?
Please show this note to your ____.	Muéstrale esta nota a tu ____.	Mwes-trah-lay ays-tah noh-tah ah too ____.
Please get this signed, and bring it back.	Por favor haz firmar esto, y me lo devuelves.	Por fahv-or ahz feer-mar ays-toh, ee may loh de-vwel-ves.
Please have your ____ call me at school.	Dile a tu ____ que me llame a la escuela.	Dee-lay ah too ____ kay may yah-may ah lah es-kway-lah.

Copyright © 2008 by Corwin Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Ten Languages You’ll Need Most in the Classroom: A Guide to Communicating With English Language Learners and Their Families, by Garth Sundem, Jan Krieger, and Kristi Pikiewicz. Reproduction authorized only for the local school site or nonprofit organization that has purchased this book.

Classroom Communication: Useful Phrases

English	Spanish	Pronunciation Guide
Sit down, please.	Siéntate, por favor.	Syen-tah-tay, por fah-vor.
The assignment is on the board.	La tarea está en la pizarra.	Lah tah-ray-ah es-tah en lah pee-zah-rrah.
Pay attention!	¡Presta atención!	¡Pres-tah ah-ten-...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Publisher’s Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Introduction
• 1. Spanish
• 2. Vietnamese
• 3. Hmong
• 4. Chinese (Cantonese)
• 5. Korean
• 6. Haitian Creole
• 7. Arabic
• 8. Russian
• 9. Tagalog
• 10. Navajo
• 11. Reading Tests
• References
• Additional Resources