Meaningful Writing for Beginners
Content
Meaningful Writing for Beginners Author(s): Jeffery D. Stokes Reviewed work(s): Source: Hispania, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Sep., 2007), pp. 543-550 Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20063563 . Accessed: 25/04/2012 14:39
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Meaningful Writing forBeginners
JefferyD. Stokes Weber State University
Abstract:
the writing task and its effect on language acquisition. Both student reaction as well as the typical ultimate written product suggest that such an approach to writing is an excellent component in fostering general language acquisition and likely interest in pursuing further language study. Key Words: language first-year language study, process writing, proficiency, second-language acquisition,
the feasibility of a semester-long writing activity for beginning foreign This project explores and is carefully guided, but also contextualized, personalized language students. The type of writing proposed to the student. Further, several of the national Standards for Language and motivating therefore meaningful Learning are addressed through this activity. Included in the article are a description of how such a project can be developed, sample student writing in Spanish as well as results of a student survey on perceived usefulness of
standards for
learning, writing
Introduction Most language teachers do not have difficulty coming up with writing tasks for be ginning students. However, given the obvious lexical and syntactic limitations of lower-level students, these tasks often tend to be almost exclusively mechanical with a focus much more on form rather than on meaning. Of necessity, much of what such students writing in the target language, consists ofmemorized words and produce, both orally as well as in In thebeginning there can be a certain novelty inbeing able to access, utter and write formulae. a fewwords and phrases ina new language. This eventually wears thin,however, and classroom activities can easily become routine and dull.
A study by Omaggio (1982) clearly suggests that instructors who personalize their instruc tion are consistently judged to be most effective by both students and supervisors.While this study focused mainly on oral activities in the classroom, there is every reason to believe that similar perceptions result fromwritten activities thatare personalized and thereforecontextual more students are likely to find the ized and meaningful. As a result, motivation to practice the language and continue in theirquest toward acquisition. This article outlines how an extended writing project thatpersonalizes tasks for students in a meaningful way can be developed in a
first-semester foreign-language course.
Review ofLiterature Rivers (1975) described the distinction between what she called skill-getting activities and skill-using activit?s. The skill-getting part of this dichotomy refers to very controlled, often mechanical kinds ofwriting activities as a precursor tomore meaningful writing. Lee and Van Patten (2003) explain that there are "language practices that use writing" and that "these activities focus learners' attentionon the subcomponents ofwriting" (248). Dvorak ( 1986) refers to such activities as transcription-orientedpractice. Magnan (1985) suggests that studentswrite down something theymight produce orally in the target language, thus using writing for the purpose of enhancing speaking skills. Omaggio Hadley (1993) recommends what she calls "precommunicative" practice at the lower levels of proficiency, which "allows students to
"Meaningful Hispania Stokes, Jeffery D. Writing for Beginners" 90.3 (2007): 543-550
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Hispania 90 September2007
practice oral skillswithin a controlled framework and thus build confidence" (239) and recom mends similar kinds of practice for "writing as a support skill" (296). The notion that writing can, and perhaps should, be a support skill for practice of language forms, including in the speaking
mode, seems well established. If writing practice were to end there,nevertheless, we would have indeed fallen shortof the goal. Although some kinds ofmechanical practice can be more meaningful than others, it isvery difficult to produce activities of this type that are trulypersonalized and engaging for students.
Rivers (1975) referredto such kinds ofwriting tasks as skill-using activities, in which students go mere manipulation of forms. Instead of viewing writing as a support activity for far beyond the other skills, Seow (2002) suggests conversely that "teachers often plan appropriate classroom activities that support the learning of specific writing skills at every stage" (316). He suggests regularly incorporating such preliminary classroom activities as planning (pre-writing), group brainstorming, clustering, rapid freewriting and student generation of wh questions about a
topic. After their discussion of language practices thatuse writing, Lee and VanPatten (2003) "propose quite a different approach to second language writing, one that engages writers in will improve their writing." They go on tonote that"writing activities making good decisions that must help determinewriters' conceptualization of the rhetorical problem and engage higher level planning and reviewing processes" (251). The rhetorical problem is defined as "all aspects of the writing situation, including the purpose [...], the likely audience, the topic, the author's know writer's own goals in writing" (247). ledge of the topic and the
Very few in theprofession would argue thatproviding meaningful, communicative and per sonalized practice inwriting is not highly desirable. But doing this from the very beginning stages of language learning isnot so easy, given students' obvious lack of lexical,morphological and syntactic repertoire.The challenge lies innot guiding the writing activity so carefully on the one extreme that thewriting becomes mere reproduction ofmemorized elements, or on the other extreme, that the task is so general that the student flounders intounknown and unproductive write, there are thosewho territory.In spite of thisfine line thatone walks by asking beginners to an approach. Scott (1995) points to the benefit of the discoveries that students advocate such will make as they compose in the target language from the start. She had earlier proposed a developmental program forwriting at the first-year, second-year and third-year levels (1992). Although the topic might be the same, the precise language tasks and structures become pro gressively more complex. She stresses that "students who are taught to write from the start become better foreign-anguage learners" (1). Omaggio Hadley (1993) suggests "various kinds of creative writing activities, such as journal writing or cinquain poetry, inbeginning courses to en courage students to express theirown meaning within the limitsof theirdeveloping competence"
(292). Another way of making sure thatwriting assignments are of communicative value to students is to consider how such tasks might be designed to address the five goals of Com munication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities within the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (ACTFL). Shrum and Glisan (2005) point out that"these five goals interconnect to suggest the richness of human language; no one goal can be separated from the other, nor is any one goal more important than another" (45). The more goals that can be addressed ina writing assignment, then, the richer and more beneficial the assignment should be for the student.
Design of theTerm Paper and Project Results Students in the two beginning classes were fairlydiverse in termsof age and marital status. Their reason forbeing enrolled in the course ranged from a personal interest in learning Spanish to meeting the requirement for theB .A.degree. There were a number of false beginners among the true beginners in the course, but I will focus particularly on the level of success of the true beginners in the groups.
for Beginners 545 Meaningful Writing As pointed out earlier, a very carefully crafted studentproject is necessary in order to avoid either asking the students to go too far beyond where they are able to do so linguistically, or merely eliciting memorized words, phrases and sentences. Scott (1992) suggests that "in L2 writing, students should learn to allow familiarwords and expressions togenerate their ideas" (3), which seems to suggest a balance between using memorized elements and expressing original ideas, given a significant amount of linguistic constraints. The first step, then,was a careful were using (Caycedo Gardner, Rusch, and Dom?nguez 2004) analysis of the textbook the students assess what vocabulary, morphology and structure they could reasonably be expected to use to
in the writing process. This analysis yielded the following general topics for each paragraph they would eventually write, beginning after the first couple of chapters and ending with Chapter 6. (See Appendix A for the full version of topics and instructions to students.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Self description Daily routine me (with sample given due to thevarious A favorite subject I study and why it interests types of content studentswere to include) Elaboration on paragraph 3:What and whom I know in thisprofession; when and why there is a demand forpeople in thisfield Typical schedule of activities and attire forpeople in thefield described inparagraphs 3 and 4 How Spanish might be useful for someone in thefield described in the previous three paragraphs Concluding paragraph to sum up or to tie the paper together
Students completed a paragraph in this series of seven paragraphs about every 10 to 14 days during the semester in thefirst-semester Spanish course. There were three types of feedback that students received each time:
1. Language errorswere located that students could presumably correct on their own, such as with adjective agreement. 2. Corrections were made for language elements that students likely did not have the capacity to handle on theirown, such as with a tense they had not learned.
were 3. Comments provided about the organization and content, or lack thereof, and
studentswere asked to revise or add details for the next time around.
Scott (1992) cites a study byKepner (1991), which indicates strongly that this last type of feed back may be the most important since "students who were given message-related comments on their written work performed better in termsof both the quality of their ideas and surface-level accuracy than studentswho were given errorcorrections combined with explicit rule reminders" (4). Semke (1984) discovered a similar relationship between comments and performance. Of
that if the idea seemed to be understandable to a general audience, it was leftalone. Every time students handed in a new paragraph, theywere expected to correct and revise previous paragraphs and turn them all in together as part of one single work. They were re quested to contact the instructorat least 24 hours before each installmentwas due inperson or were unable towrite, which a number of through email in order to get help with anything they them did. As the semester progressed, they were asked to add more details to earlier paragraphs after having learned additional vocabulary and structure.Of course, therewas also plenty of
which one realizes that the student interlanguage course, there is always ambiguous territoryin isnot typical of how a native speakerwould be likely to express an idea, but is also not technically a clear-cut grammatical, lexical or communicative error.The rule of thumb in these gray areas was
language practice thatused writing (precommunicative or skill-getting activities) leading up to thewriting of each paragraph as well as some brainstorming activities in class that focused on
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H?spanla 90 September2007
which students what might be included. This was clearly a recursive or process-writing project in work. Furthermore, itaddresses some of the added to and refined their progressively improved, five Goals from theStandards mentioned above. It included Communication, both presentational during theprocess). Itwas very (once theproduct was ready) and interactive (student/instructor a Connection with another discipline (paragraphs 3-6). For a strongly oriented towardmaking number of students,Communities was another goal that they addressed since they talked about with specific individuals who are involved professionally in theirown how theyhave interacted
present themselves well to speakers of Spanish ingeneral. End products typicallywere about two to four type-writtenpages. Although this may not seem like a sizable paper, in fact it is quite an for thosewho had never learned Spanish prior to the beginning of the process. accomplishment (Appendix C contains the final version of two sample termpapers written by studentswho had had no previous Spanish.) As will be seen later, many of these students ultimately felt a con siderable amount of pride forwhat theyhad accomplished during the semester.
whose population community, noting in some cases how Spanish isuseful inour university city, is roughly one-third Spanish-speaking. Although a rhetorical problem was not introduced inany formal kind ofway, especially in the sense of the instructorcreating an imagined context, purpose, hypothetical readers, etc. for the was emphasized throughout that they would would end up with a nice document that student, it
Student Perceptions of theProject At the completion of the project, students were administered an anonymous survey re a garding their attitudes toward the activity. A tally of student responses on a scale 0-3 and of student comments can be found in Appendix B. Students overwhelmingly summary responded positively to each item in the survey,with the vast majority responding "strongly
agree" or "agree" on each item.To summarize these results, thebulk of the students affirmed that doing the termpaper was a motivating activity for learning Spanish, was fun, enhanced their make a connection general acquisition of Spanish, was a valuable use of their time,helped them would recom and another academic discipline, and would be something they between Spanish
mend
made affirmed that the best thing about doing the project was learning how to better form sen tences and/orparagraphs, becoming convinced of theirability towrite in Spanish, being able to write about self and interests,being able towrite about a career/discipline of interest and in creasing vocabulary. Students were also asked to indicate theworst thing about the activity, to which themost frequent responses were that they didn't know all the vocabulary/grammar/ word language that theyneeded, the project was time-consuming and theydidn't have the right
processing resources.
that future beginning
students
do. The
most
common
positive
written
comments
students
Conclusion Although much still remains leftto do in the area of designing meaningful writing tasks for beginning students, the term-paper project seems like a very good next step, both from the was ultimately achieved. Although the task perspective of the student as well as in termsofwhat was limited from a lexical,morphological and syntacticperspective, the studentswere able touse what they had learned in class in a significantlymeaningful and satisfyingway to them per in an sonally. The activity also required them to ponder the importance of their target language academic or professional field,which, in turn, may provide additional motivation for some of them to continue in theirquest to acquire Spanish. At the very least, they should be able to say that a of theydidn't merely memorize some vocabulary and learn to conjugate few verbs in theirstudy Spanish.
Meaningful
Writing
for Beginners
547
WORKS CITED
American of Foreign Languages. Council on the Teaching (1999). Standards for Foreign in the 21st Century. Lawrence, KS: Allen P. Rusch, and Marcela Gardner, Lucia, Debbie (2004). ?Claro que Dom?nguez. Caycedo Houghton Mifflin. Trisha R. plication. 145-63. Kepner, Language Learning
s?!, 5th ed. Boston:
Dvorak,
(1986). "Writing in a Foreign Language." Listening, Reading and Writing: Analysis and Ap Ed. B. H. Wing. Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
to the in the Relationship of Types of Written Feedback Christine Goring. (1991). "An Experiment Skills." The Modern Journal 75: 305-13. of Second-Language Language Development Writing Boston: Communicative Lee, James F., and Bill VanPatten. Language (2003). Making Teaching Happen. McGraw Hill. Sally Language S. (1985). Classroom." "Teaching the Second C. Omaggio. Effectiveness Instruction.
Magnan,
and Testing Proficiency in Writing: Skills to Transcend Proficiency, Curriculum, Articulation: The Ties that Bind. Ed. Alice 109-36. of Foreign Languages. Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching Omaggio, Alice C. (1982). "The Relationship Between Personalized Classroom Talk and Teacher 15: 255-69. Annals Ratings: Some Research Results." Foreign Language Omaggio Hadley, Alice C. (1993). Teaching 2nd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Rivers, Wilga M. (1975). Scott, Virginia M. Language in Context: Proficiency-Oriented Language
A Practical Guide to the Teaching of French. New York: Oxford UP. "Write from the Start: A Task-Oriented (1992). Developmental Writing Program '91. Ed. R. Terry. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State U. Foreign Language Students." Dimension: Language 15. Within Reach II. Eds. V. Galloway and C. Herron. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta
for 1
?.
(1995). "Writing." Research U. 115-27.
State
Semke, Harriet D. Seow, Anthony. Anthology 20.
17: 195-202. Annals (1984). "Effects of the Red Pen." Foreign Language in Language (2002). "The Writing Process and Process Writing." Methodology Teaching: An of Current Practice. Eds. J. C. Richards and W. A. Renandya. New York: Cambridge UP. 315 (2005). Teacher's Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction. 3rd
Shrum, Judith L., and Eileen W. Glisan. ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
1010 Spanish Instructions for Term
AppendixA
Project Important! Turn in all previous versions each time a new paragraph and revised paragraphs are due, always with the newest on top. Suggestion: First write as much as you can, then consult with the instructor (at least a day before it is due) during office hours or by e-mail for help with anything you may be unable to write. 1f 1. Describe yourself in Spanish. You can include information on your name, where you're from, how old you look in are, who your parents and friends (amigo/amiga) are, and what you do (student, secretary, etc). Also, your glossary or dictionary for at least three (3) descriptive adjectives which describe you (tall, smart, blonde, pretty, etc.), and use these to tell what you are like (with "ser"). if 2. (Correct and revise #1.) Then and work. Tell various activities
tell about you daily routine on the various days of the week, including studies in the entire work (both paragraphs you do and do not like to do. Hand together), newest version on top of older (corrected) version. | 3. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Your topic this time is: "A favorite subject I study, and why it interests me." The subject you choose could be your major, your minor, or simply something that you studied that you really enjoyed. It should be a subject other than Spanish. You may need to look up some words, but try to use what you know in Spanish as the basis of your paragraph. A sample paragraph follows, but keep that you don't necessarily have to follow the structure and organization of this particular paragraph: En inmind
ser enfermera alg?n ("some") d?a. Me gus la Universidad de XXX estudio anatom?a y salud. Deseo tar?a ser enfermera porque tenemos muchos enfermos en nuestro pa?s. Ellos necesitan buenos m?dicos y enfermeras. Voy a trabajar en un hospital peque?o en un pueblo peque?o porque es m?s personal. No me gustan los hospitales grandes e impersonales. Las enfermeras no ganan mucho dinero, pero reciben mucha satisfacci?n cuando trabajan con personas enfermas. Por eso deseo ser una enfermera muy buena y dedicada. ?Voy a recibir mi t?tulo ("degree") en s?lo dos a?os m?s!
K Hand
in the entire work
(all three paragraphs
together), newest version
on top of older
(corrected)
versions.
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H?spanla 90 September2007
times of the day does you are writing about. What field? Then describe the typical clothing that people situation? Hand versions. \ 6. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) someone in the field you are describing. Be Spanish understanding/speaking/writing/reading version on top of older (corrected) versions. \ 7. (Correct and revise previous together your term project. Hand older (corrected) versions. in the entire work
indicate whether or not there is a seasonal aspect to this line of work. Is there more demand for it in the fall? The that relate to the weather, or some other factor? Try to use the vocabulary and grammatical spring? (etc.). Does structures you are familiar with. Hand in the entire work (all four paragraphs together), newest version on top of older (corrected) versions. the typical daily schedule of someone in the field that f 5. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Describe one generally do the various activities associated with this in this field generally wear. Does this vary according to the together), newest version on top of older (corrected) for
\ 4. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Elaborate on the field of study you talked about in paragraph in this field, and whom you know something about three. Tell whom you know (conocer) that is a professional (saber) in this area. Also, tell one or two interesting things that you know (saber) about this profession. Then,
(all five paragraphs Explain
how the study/knowledge of Spanish specific about what a person might be able Hand in the entire work (all six paragraphs
can be useful
to accomplish by together), newest
paragraphs.) Conclusion: Write a brief concluding paragraph to sum up or tie in the entire work (all seven paragraphs together), newest version on top of
Espa?ol Student Evaluation You
1010
Appendix B
and Comments (with Summary of Results) instructor will not look at this sheet until after
need not identify yourself grades have been turned in. A. Please 1. circle
anywhere
on this survey. The
the answer
that best describes the term paper was agree and my agree
your point of view a motivating disagree
for each of the following
statements:
I found that doing strongly agree
activity for learning Spanish. strongly disagree fun.
2.
Writing
about myself
interests in the term paper was disagree
strongly agree 3. Doing the term paper strongly agree 4. Working Spanish. strongly agree 5. Doing the term paper strongly agree 6. I would recommend on
strongly disagree of the Spanish language. strongly disagree time in learning to express myself strongly disagree between Spanish and another academic in
enhanced my general acquisition agree disagree a valuable use of my
the term paper was agree
disagree a connection disagree
helped me make agree
discipline. strongly disagree
that Spanish agree
1010 students in the future do a similar term paper disagree strongly disagree
strongly agree
Table Results item of Survey: (x3) Tally of Responses (x2)
1 and Averages (xl) (All Students Included) (xO) average
strongly agree
agree
disagree
strongly disagree
15 1 11 2 20 3 20 4 13 5 23 6
23 26 18 17 21 13
1 1 2 1 2 0 3 0 6 0 3 0
2.30/3.00 2.18/3.00 2.49/3.00 2.43/3.00 2.18/3.00 2.49/3.00
Meaningful
B. Please 1. 2. Summary The 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. One write brief comments was was on the following What What
Writing
for Beginners
549
two topics:
the best thing about doing the term project? the worst thing about doing the term project?
of Student Comments the term project: 9)
best thing about doing
Writing about career/discipline of interest (5) Increased vocabulary (5) Learning to express self better (5) Being able to revise the work (4) Correlation Required with some course/text content (2) thinking (2) Spanish through actual use
= (n Learning how to better form sentences/paragraphs Became convinced of ability to write in Spanish (6) Writing about self and interests (5)
No
(2) Learning student for each of thefollowing: Thinking more about selecting a major Provided writing practice grade given until the end sentences into Spanish Translating Fostered circumlocution
Seeing progress over the semester Increased understanding of Spanish Fostered frequent active use of Spanish Learned The worst 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. One Not No how useful Spanish is
thing about doing knowing negative all
the term project: (12)
comment,
the vocabulary/syntax/language or left blank (7)
(5) Time-consuming resource Not having the right word-processing Some topics difficult to write about (2) student for each of thefollowing:
(for diacritics)
(5)
Difficulty with some topics due to lack of a major Not knowing how many points itwas worth Not being able to go over it and ask questions Some paragraphs were repetitive ("but not really") Tying the paragraphs together Did not own a dictionary Having
little time between paragraph Coming up with things to write about Not a favorite assignment Spanish and student's specific major
assignments
have
little in common
AppendixC Samples ofPapers by True Beginner Students
The following samples are exact reproductions for the disguising of identifying vital data. 1 of the final product without further editing by the author except
Sample
Me llamo L. Soy de Layton, Utah. Soy estadounidense. Mi familia es de origen norteamericano, alem?n, ingl?s y franc?s. Tengo veinticuatro a?os. Yo soy casada. Mi esposo se llama H. ?l tiene veintiocho a?os. ?l es alto, moreno, y muy guapo. Tenemos un perro y ?l se llama Samii. A nosotros nos gusta mucho Samii. Me gusta bailar y escuchar m?sica, pero no me gusta cantar. A mi esposo, H., no le gusta bailar pero le gusta escuchar m?sica y cantar. Me gusta leer las novelas de Danielle Steele. Tengo treinta y seis novelas de ella. Me gusta comer en Olive Garden. Las comidas italianas son muy buenas. Yo soy estudiante. Tengo cinco clases en la Universidad graf?a, antropolog?a y espa?ol. Me gusta estudiar los pueblos de Weber. Tengo que estudiar mucho. Estudio geo y los sitios por eso estudio antropolg?a y geograf?a.
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H?spanla 90 September2007
es muy dif?cil pero es interesante. Geograf?a es interesante tambi?n. Deseo ser geogr?fico antrop? Antropolog?a lico alg?n d?a. A m? me gusta viajar. Alg?n d?a, voy a estudiar y viajar por todo el mundo. estudian los pueblos y sus culturas alrededor del mundo. Ellos escriben y hablan mucho sobre Antrop?logos
su trabajo. El trabajo es muy dif?cil. Yo conozco a Dr. R. C. Ella es directora de departamento antropolg?a en la Universidad de Weber. Ella es profesora tambi?n. La Dra. C. visita y trabaja por todo el mundo. A ella le gusta visitar China y Espa?a. Ella es muy inteligente, simp?tica y buena. Ella es mi amiga tambi?n. Yo s? sobre africa nos y ?rabes y asi?ticos y sus lenguas y sus religiones. Yo conozco a Charles Darwin y a Franz Boas. Ellos son En cambio los ge?grafos la tierra o el tiempo y los pueblos. La geograf?a es interesante y es diversi?n. Yo conozco a Dr. E. de Weber. ?l es profesor tambi?n. A ?l le gusta ?l es director de departamento geograf?a en la Universidad estudiar mapas viejos y geograf?a hist?rica. El Dr. E. es muy simp?tico. Yo s? mucha geograf?a hist?rica. Estoy estudiando geograf?a hist?rica este semestre. Yo conozco a H. A. ?l pron?stico del tiempo en la televisi?n para estudian m?s el canal famosos. El Sr. Darwin es el padre de la antopolg?a. antropol?gicos Los ge?grafos estudian los pueblos tambi?n pero no estudian las culturas mucho.
trece. ?l trabaja bajo la lluvia o el sol y durante cualquier tiempo. Lo antrop?logos y los ge?grafos trabajan casi todos los d?as t?picamente. Ellos dan clases parecidas a las de Dra. C. y Dr. E. Ellos no trabajan los fines de semana pero ellos trabajan horas largas. Por ejemplo, ellos trabajan por ocho horas en la universidad al d?a pero entonces regresan a su casa y trabajan tambi?n por dos o tres horas. Los profesores llegan en la universidad a las seis o seis y media m?s o menos y salen de la universidad a las tres, m?s o menos. Ambos antrop?logos y ge?grafos pueden trabajar al aire libre y ellos llevan ropa seg?n el trabajo y el tiempo. Si ellos dan clases, pueden llevar ropa pr?ctica. Ellos llevan que prefiera. La Dra. C. lleva vestidos y trajes un poco elegantes. El Dr. E. lleva pantalones y camisas pr?cticas. Sabemos que otras lenguas son buenas siempre. Hablar y entender el espa?ol es muy bueno porque el espa?ol es el idioma oficial de veinte pa?ses del mundo. Hoy aproximadamente doscientos setenta y seis millones de per sonas hablan
espa?ol. Los antrop?logos estudian las gentes alrededor del mundo. En los pa?ses de habla espa?ola saber el espa?ol ayuda. La geograf?a usa los nombres de espa?ol para el tiempo. Por ejemplo, el ni?o, la ni?a o hurac?n Edwardo, Jos? etc. Ellos pueden hablar espa?ol a otros profesionales y la gente que habla espa?ol tam cosas por hablar a otras personas en espa?ol. Ellos pueden aprender el bi?n. Ellos pueden aprender muchas tiempo, del lugares o de las noticias. El espa?ol es muy ?til por muchas razones.
Una raz?n por qu? yo aprendo espa?ol es porque yo deseo aprender otra lengua que es ?til para todos los d?as. El espa?ol es ?til en Utah y en los Estados Unidos en general hoy porque nosotros tienemos muchas perso nas que hablan espa?ol ?nicamente. Alg?n d?a cu?ndo termine mis estudios y yo trabaje en la geograf?a o en la antropolog?a, yo voy a viajar y estudiar el mundo. Entonces puedo usar la lengua espa?ola para ayudar el enten dimiento Sample 2 (mutuo).
Yo me llamo D., soy de Bountiful, Utah. (Yo) tengo veinticuatro a?os. Mi n?mero de tel?fono es [000], cincuenta y nueve, cero, seis. Me gusta ser aficionada de los desportes y me gustan los caballos. Me gusta ser cam pista y me gusta ir de pesca. Me gusta el esqu? acu?tico tambi?n. Me gusta bailar y nadar. Me gusta escuchar m?sica de guitarra. No me gusta estudiar mucho. Me gustan los s?bados y los domingos porque no trabajo esos los d?as. Me gustan los fines de semana. Me gusta hablar con mis amigos gruesos. En y correr en la ma?anas. la Universidad Me gusta jugar a los bolos con mi familia. No me gusta leer mucho
los libros
Esto es ense?ar todo el a?o, el verano, el oto?o y el invierno y la primavera. No impor ta el tiempo. Un d?a t?pico para alguien en el campo de salud es muy diferente. Yo quiero trabajar en negocios o en una escuela con el proposito de ayudar y ense?ar a las personas acerca salud y nutrici?n. Yo quiero trabajar en las como a las ocho y luego ir al trabajar. Con este ma?anas. De esa manera yo puedo hacer ejercicios en la ma?ana como por ejemplo puedo usar zapatos de trabajo yo puedo vestirme formal y tambi?n puedo vestirme casual, tenis o ropa para ejercicio. El espa?ol es muy importante en este campo porque si aprendo espa?ol yo puedo ayudar a la gente que no habla ingl?s. Por ejemplo yo puedo usar espa?ol en los colegios o en la comunidad. En Utah cada vez hay m?s his a esta gente con su salud. panos que no hablan ingl?s, y eso va requevir que you aprenda espa?ol para ayudar Finalmente, yo pienso que es importante aprendar otro idiona. Aunque mi carrera no necisite mucho es comunicarme con otras personas. Por pa?ol, yo pienso que es importante saber espa?ol porque as? you puedo no habla ingl?s. ejemplo yo trabajo con gente que habla espa?ol que h?bitos de alimentaci?n.
uno a?o y medio. Yo conozco al se?or G. G., el jefe de departamento de salud. Creo que la salud y la nutrici?n son muy intere santes. Yo s? que comer y hacer ejercicios es saludable. S? que comidas que son saludables comidas [son mejores] que [los que] no son saludables. Mi tarea es de ense?ar les a las personas el beneficio de la buena salud y buenos
ense?ar alg?n d?a, posiblemente de Weber estudio salud y nutrici?n. Deseo ejercicios alg?n d?a. Me gusta el ejercico mucho tambi?n. Espero trabajar en una gran compa??a y ense?ar. Yo ofrecer?a clases de salud y nutrici?n. Muchas compa??as contratan a personas para ense?ar a sus empleados sobre la salud. Las profesoras no ganan mucho dinero, pero ganan suficiente para vivir. Voy a recibir mi t?tulo en s?lo aer?bicos
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Meaningful Writing forBeginners
JefferyD. Stokes Weber State University
Abstract:
the writing task and its effect on language acquisition. Both student reaction as well as the typical ultimate written product suggest that such an approach to writing is an excellent component in fostering general language acquisition and likely interest in pursuing further language study. Key Words: language first-year language study, process writing, proficiency, second-language acquisition,
the feasibility of a semester-long writing activity for beginning foreign This project explores and is carefully guided, but also contextualized, personalized language students. The type of writing proposed to the student. Further, several of the national Standards for Language and motivating therefore meaningful Learning are addressed through this activity. Included in the article are a description of how such a project can be developed, sample student writing in Spanish as well as results of a student survey on perceived usefulness of
standards for
learning, writing
Introduction Most language teachers do not have difficulty coming up with writing tasks for be ginning students. However, given the obvious lexical and syntactic limitations of lower-level students, these tasks often tend to be almost exclusively mechanical with a focus much more on form rather than on meaning. Of necessity, much of what such students writing in the target language, consists ofmemorized words and produce, both orally as well as in In thebeginning there can be a certain novelty inbeing able to access, utter and write formulae. a fewwords and phrases ina new language. This eventually wears thin,however, and classroom activities can easily become routine and dull.
A study by Omaggio (1982) clearly suggests that instructors who personalize their instruc tion are consistently judged to be most effective by both students and supervisors.While this study focused mainly on oral activities in the classroom, there is every reason to believe that similar perceptions result fromwritten activities thatare personalized and thereforecontextual more students are likely to find the ized and meaningful. As a result, motivation to practice the language and continue in theirquest toward acquisition. This article outlines how an extended writing project thatpersonalizes tasks for students in a meaningful way can be developed in a
first-semester foreign-language course.
Review ofLiterature Rivers (1975) described the distinction between what she called skill-getting activities and skill-using activit?s. The skill-getting part of this dichotomy refers to very controlled, often mechanical kinds ofwriting activities as a precursor tomore meaningful writing. Lee and Van Patten (2003) explain that there are "language practices that use writing" and that "these activities focus learners' attentionon the subcomponents ofwriting" (248). Dvorak ( 1986) refers to such activities as transcription-orientedpractice. Magnan (1985) suggests that studentswrite down something theymight produce orally in the target language, thus using writing for the purpose of enhancing speaking skills. Omaggio Hadley (1993) recommends what she calls "precommunicative" practice at the lower levels of proficiency, which "allows students to
"Meaningful Hispania Stokes, Jeffery D. Writing for Beginners" 90.3 (2007): 543-550
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Hispania 90 September2007
practice oral skillswithin a controlled framework and thus build confidence" (239) and recom mends similar kinds of practice for "writing as a support skill" (296). The notion that writing can, and perhaps should, be a support skill for practice of language forms, including in the speaking
mode, seems well established. If writing practice were to end there,nevertheless, we would have indeed fallen shortof the goal. Although some kinds ofmechanical practice can be more meaningful than others, it isvery difficult to produce activities of this type that are trulypersonalized and engaging for students.
Rivers (1975) referredto such kinds ofwriting tasks as skill-using activities, in which students go mere manipulation of forms. Instead of viewing writing as a support activity for far beyond the other skills, Seow (2002) suggests conversely that "teachers often plan appropriate classroom activities that support the learning of specific writing skills at every stage" (316). He suggests regularly incorporating such preliminary classroom activities as planning (pre-writing), group brainstorming, clustering, rapid freewriting and student generation of wh questions about a
topic. After their discussion of language practices thatuse writing, Lee and VanPatten (2003) "propose quite a different approach to second language writing, one that engages writers in will improve their writing." They go on tonote that"writing activities making good decisions that must help determinewriters' conceptualization of the rhetorical problem and engage higher level planning and reviewing processes" (251). The rhetorical problem is defined as "all aspects of the writing situation, including the purpose [...], the likely audience, the topic, the author's know writer's own goals in writing" (247). ledge of the topic and the
Very few in theprofession would argue thatproviding meaningful, communicative and per sonalized practice inwriting is not highly desirable. But doing this from the very beginning stages of language learning isnot so easy, given students' obvious lack of lexical,morphological and syntactic repertoire.The challenge lies innot guiding the writing activity so carefully on the one extreme that thewriting becomes mere reproduction ofmemorized elements, or on the other extreme, that the task is so general that the student flounders intounknown and unproductive write, there are thosewho territory.In spite of thisfine line thatone walks by asking beginners to an approach. Scott (1995) points to the benefit of the discoveries that students advocate such will make as they compose in the target language from the start. She had earlier proposed a developmental program forwriting at the first-year, second-year and third-year levels (1992). Although the topic might be the same, the precise language tasks and structures become pro gressively more complex. She stresses that "students who are taught to write from the start become better foreign-anguage learners" (1). Omaggio Hadley (1993) suggests "various kinds of creative writing activities, such as journal writing or cinquain poetry, inbeginning courses to en courage students to express theirown meaning within the limitsof theirdeveloping competence"
(292). Another way of making sure thatwriting assignments are of communicative value to students is to consider how such tasks might be designed to address the five goals of Com munication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities within the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (ACTFL). Shrum and Glisan (2005) point out that"these five goals interconnect to suggest the richness of human language; no one goal can be separated from the other, nor is any one goal more important than another" (45). The more goals that can be addressed ina writing assignment, then, the richer and more beneficial the assignment should be for the student.
Design of theTerm Paper and Project Results Students in the two beginning classes were fairlydiverse in termsof age and marital status. Their reason forbeing enrolled in the course ranged from a personal interest in learning Spanish to meeting the requirement for theB .A.degree. There were a number of false beginners among the true beginners in the course, but I will focus particularly on the level of success of the true beginners in the groups.
for Beginners 545 Meaningful Writing As pointed out earlier, a very carefully crafted studentproject is necessary in order to avoid either asking the students to go too far beyond where they are able to do so linguistically, or merely eliciting memorized words, phrases and sentences. Scott (1992) suggests that "in L2 writing, students should learn to allow familiarwords and expressions togenerate their ideas" (3), which seems to suggest a balance between using memorized elements and expressing original ideas, given a significant amount of linguistic constraints. The first step, then,was a careful were using (Caycedo Gardner, Rusch, and Dom?nguez 2004) analysis of the textbook the students assess what vocabulary, morphology and structure they could reasonably be expected to use to
in the writing process. This analysis yielded the following general topics for each paragraph they would eventually write, beginning after the first couple of chapters and ending with Chapter 6. (See Appendix A for the full version of topics and instructions to students.) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Self description Daily routine me (with sample given due to thevarious A favorite subject I study and why it interests types of content studentswere to include) Elaboration on paragraph 3:What and whom I know in thisprofession; when and why there is a demand forpeople in thisfield Typical schedule of activities and attire forpeople in thefield described inparagraphs 3 and 4 How Spanish might be useful for someone in thefield described in the previous three paragraphs Concluding paragraph to sum up or to tie the paper together
Students completed a paragraph in this series of seven paragraphs about every 10 to 14 days during the semester in thefirst-semester Spanish course. There were three types of feedback that students received each time:
1. Language errorswere located that students could presumably correct on their own, such as with adjective agreement. 2. Corrections were made for language elements that students likely did not have the capacity to handle on theirown, such as with a tense they had not learned.
were 3. Comments provided about the organization and content, or lack thereof, and
studentswere asked to revise or add details for the next time around.
Scott (1992) cites a study byKepner (1991), which indicates strongly that this last type of feed back may be the most important since "students who were given message-related comments on their written work performed better in termsof both the quality of their ideas and surface-level accuracy than studentswho were given errorcorrections combined with explicit rule reminders" (4). Semke (1984) discovered a similar relationship between comments and performance. Of
that if the idea seemed to be understandable to a general audience, it was leftalone. Every time students handed in a new paragraph, theywere expected to correct and revise previous paragraphs and turn them all in together as part of one single work. They were re quested to contact the instructorat least 24 hours before each installmentwas due inperson or were unable towrite, which a number of through email in order to get help with anything they them did. As the semester progressed, they were asked to add more details to earlier paragraphs after having learned additional vocabulary and structure.Of course, therewas also plenty of
which one realizes that the student interlanguage course, there is always ambiguous territoryin isnot typical of how a native speakerwould be likely to express an idea, but is also not technically a clear-cut grammatical, lexical or communicative error.The rule of thumb in these gray areas was
language practice thatused writing (precommunicative or skill-getting activities) leading up to thewriting of each paragraph as well as some brainstorming activities in class that focused on
546
H?spanla 90 September2007
which students what might be included. This was clearly a recursive or process-writing project in work. Furthermore, itaddresses some of the added to and refined their progressively improved, five Goals from theStandards mentioned above. It included Communication, both presentational during theprocess). Itwas very (once theproduct was ready) and interactive (student/instructor a Connection with another discipline (paragraphs 3-6). For a strongly oriented towardmaking number of students,Communities was another goal that they addressed since they talked about with specific individuals who are involved professionally in theirown how theyhave interacted
present themselves well to speakers of Spanish ingeneral. End products typicallywere about two to four type-writtenpages. Although this may not seem like a sizable paper, in fact it is quite an for thosewho had never learned Spanish prior to the beginning of the process. accomplishment (Appendix C contains the final version of two sample termpapers written by studentswho had had no previous Spanish.) As will be seen later, many of these students ultimately felt a con siderable amount of pride forwhat theyhad accomplished during the semester.
whose population community, noting in some cases how Spanish isuseful inour university city, is roughly one-third Spanish-speaking. Although a rhetorical problem was not introduced inany formal kind ofway, especially in the sense of the instructorcreating an imagined context, purpose, hypothetical readers, etc. for the was emphasized throughout that they would would end up with a nice document that student, it
Student Perceptions of theProject At the completion of the project, students were administered an anonymous survey re a garding their attitudes toward the activity. A tally of student responses on a scale 0-3 and of student comments can be found in Appendix B. Students overwhelmingly summary responded positively to each item in the survey,with the vast majority responding "strongly
agree" or "agree" on each item.To summarize these results, thebulk of the students affirmed that doing the termpaper was a motivating activity for learning Spanish, was fun, enhanced their make a connection general acquisition of Spanish, was a valuable use of their time,helped them would recom and another academic discipline, and would be something they between Spanish
mend
made affirmed that the best thing about doing the project was learning how to better form sen tences and/orparagraphs, becoming convinced of theirability towrite in Spanish, being able to write about self and interests,being able towrite about a career/discipline of interest and in creasing vocabulary. Students were also asked to indicate theworst thing about the activity, to which themost frequent responses were that they didn't know all the vocabulary/grammar/ word language that theyneeded, the project was time-consuming and theydidn't have the right
processing resources.
that future beginning
students
do. The
most
common
positive
written
comments
students
Conclusion Although much still remains leftto do in the area of designing meaningful writing tasks for beginning students, the term-paper project seems like a very good next step, both from the was ultimately achieved. Although the task perspective of the student as well as in termsofwhat was limited from a lexical,morphological and syntacticperspective, the studentswere able touse what they had learned in class in a significantlymeaningful and satisfyingway to them per in an sonally. The activity also required them to ponder the importance of their target language academic or professional field,which, in turn, may provide additional motivation for some of them to continue in theirquest to acquire Spanish. At the very least, they should be able to say that a of theydidn't merely memorize some vocabulary and learn to conjugate few verbs in theirstudy Spanish.
Meaningful
Writing
for Beginners
547
WORKS CITED
American of Foreign Languages. Council on the Teaching (1999). Standards for Foreign in the 21st Century. Lawrence, KS: Allen P. Rusch, and Marcela Gardner, Lucia, Debbie (2004). ?Claro que Dom?nguez. Caycedo Houghton Mifflin. Trisha R. plication. 145-63. Kepner, Language Learning
s?!, 5th ed. Boston:
Dvorak,
(1986). "Writing in a Foreign Language." Listening, Reading and Writing: Analysis and Ap Ed. B. H. Wing. Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
to the in the Relationship of Types of Written Feedback Christine Goring. (1991). "An Experiment Skills." The Modern Journal 75: 305-13. of Second-Language Language Development Writing Boston: Communicative Lee, James F., and Bill VanPatten. Language (2003). Making Teaching Happen. McGraw Hill. Sally Language S. (1985). Classroom." "Teaching the Second C. Omaggio. Effectiveness Instruction.
Magnan,
and Testing Proficiency in Writing: Skills to Transcend Proficiency, Curriculum, Articulation: The Ties that Bind. Ed. Alice 109-36. of Foreign Languages. Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching Omaggio, Alice C. (1982). "The Relationship Between Personalized Classroom Talk and Teacher 15: 255-69. Annals Ratings: Some Research Results." Foreign Language Omaggio Hadley, Alice C. (1993). Teaching 2nd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. Rivers, Wilga M. (1975). Scott, Virginia M. Language in Context: Proficiency-Oriented Language
A Practical Guide to the Teaching of French. New York: Oxford UP. "Write from the Start: A Task-Oriented (1992). Developmental Writing Program '91. Ed. R. Terry. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State U. Foreign Language Students." Dimension: Language 15. Within Reach II. Eds. V. Galloway and C. Herron. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta
for 1
?.
(1995). "Writing." Research U. 115-27.
State
Semke, Harriet D. Seow, Anthony. Anthology 20.
17: 195-202. Annals (1984). "Effects of the Red Pen." Foreign Language in Language (2002). "The Writing Process and Process Writing." Methodology Teaching: An of Current Practice. Eds. J. C. Richards and W. A. Renandya. New York: Cambridge UP. 315 (2005). Teacher's Handbook: Contextualized Language Instruction. 3rd
Shrum, Judith L., and Eileen W. Glisan. ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
1010 Spanish Instructions for Term
AppendixA
Project Important! Turn in all previous versions each time a new paragraph and revised paragraphs are due, always with the newest on top. Suggestion: First write as much as you can, then consult with the instructor (at least a day before it is due) during office hours or by e-mail for help with anything you may be unable to write. 1f 1. Describe yourself in Spanish. You can include information on your name, where you're from, how old you look in are, who your parents and friends (amigo/amiga) are, and what you do (student, secretary, etc). Also, your glossary or dictionary for at least three (3) descriptive adjectives which describe you (tall, smart, blonde, pretty, etc.), and use these to tell what you are like (with "ser"). if 2. (Correct and revise #1.) Then and work. Tell various activities
tell about you daily routine on the various days of the week, including studies in the entire work (both paragraphs you do and do not like to do. Hand together), newest version on top of older (corrected) version. | 3. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Your topic this time is: "A favorite subject I study, and why it interests me." The subject you choose could be your major, your minor, or simply something that you studied that you really enjoyed. It should be a subject other than Spanish. You may need to look up some words, but try to use what you know in Spanish as the basis of your paragraph. A sample paragraph follows, but keep that you don't necessarily have to follow the structure and organization of this particular paragraph: En inmind
ser enfermera alg?n ("some") d?a. Me gus la Universidad de XXX estudio anatom?a y salud. Deseo tar?a ser enfermera porque tenemos muchos enfermos en nuestro pa?s. Ellos necesitan buenos m?dicos y enfermeras. Voy a trabajar en un hospital peque?o en un pueblo peque?o porque es m?s personal. No me gustan los hospitales grandes e impersonales. Las enfermeras no ganan mucho dinero, pero reciben mucha satisfacci?n cuando trabajan con personas enfermas. Por eso deseo ser una enfermera muy buena y dedicada. ?Voy a recibir mi t?tulo ("degree") en s?lo dos a?os m?s!
K Hand
in the entire work
(all three paragraphs
together), newest version
on top of older
(corrected)
versions.
548
H?spanla 90 September2007
times of the day does you are writing about. What field? Then describe the typical clothing that people situation? Hand versions. \ 6. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) someone in the field you are describing. Be Spanish understanding/speaking/writing/reading version on top of older (corrected) versions. \ 7. (Correct and revise previous together your term project. Hand older (corrected) versions. in the entire work
indicate whether or not there is a seasonal aspect to this line of work. Is there more demand for it in the fall? The that relate to the weather, or some other factor? Try to use the vocabulary and grammatical spring? (etc.). Does structures you are familiar with. Hand in the entire work (all four paragraphs together), newest version on top of older (corrected) versions. the typical daily schedule of someone in the field that f 5. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Describe one generally do the various activities associated with this in this field generally wear. Does this vary according to the together), newest version on top of older (corrected) for
\ 4. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Elaborate on the field of study you talked about in paragraph in this field, and whom you know something about three. Tell whom you know (conocer) that is a professional (saber) in this area. Also, tell one or two interesting things that you know (saber) about this profession. Then,
(all five paragraphs Explain
how the study/knowledge of Spanish specific about what a person might be able Hand in the entire work (all six paragraphs
can be useful
to accomplish by together), newest
paragraphs.) Conclusion: Write a brief concluding paragraph to sum up or tie in the entire work (all seven paragraphs together), newest version on top of
Espa?ol Student Evaluation You
1010
Appendix B
and Comments (with Summary of Results) instructor will not look at this sheet until after
need not identify yourself grades have been turned in. A. Please 1. circle
anywhere
on this survey. The
the answer
that best describes the term paper was agree and my agree
your point of view a motivating disagree
for each of the following
statements:
I found that doing strongly agree
activity for learning Spanish. strongly disagree fun.
2.
Writing
about myself
interests in the term paper was disagree
strongly agree 3. Doing the term paper strongly agree 4. Working Spanish. strongly agree 5. Doing the term paper strongly agree 6. I would recommend on
strongly disagree of the Spanish language. strongly disagree time in learning to express myself strongly disagree between Spanish and another academic in
enhanced my general acquisition agree disagree a valuable use of my
the term paper was agree
disagree a connection disagree
helped me make agree
discipline. strongly disagree
that Spanish agree
1010 students in the future do a similar term paper disagree strongly disagree
strongly agree
Table Results item of Survey: (x3) Tally of Responses (x2)
1 and Averages (xl) (All Students Included) (xO) average
strongly agree
agree
disagree
strongly disagree
15 1 11 2 20 3 20 4 13 5 23 6
23 26 18 17 21 13
1 1 2 1 2 0 3 0 6 0 3 0
2.30/3.00 2.18/3.00 2.49/3.00 2.43/3.00 2.18/3.00 2.49/3.00
Meaningful
B. Please 1. 2. Summary The 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. One write brief comments was was on the following What What
Writing
for Beginners
549
two topics:
the best thing about doing the term project? the worst thing about doing the term project?
of Student Comments the term project: 9)
best thing about doing
Writing about career/discipline of interest (5) Increased vocabulary (5) Learning to express self better (5) Being able to revise the work (4) Correlation Required with some course/text content (2) thinking (2) Spanish through actual use
= (n Learning how to better form sentences/paragraphs Became convinced of ability to write in Spanish (6) Writing about self and interests (5)
No
(2) Learning student for each of thefollowing: Thinking more about selecting a major Provided writing practice grade given until the end sentences into Spanish Translating Fostered circumlocution
Seeing progress over the semester Increased understanding of Spanish Fostered frequent active use of Spanish Learned The worst 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. One Not No how useful Spanish is
thing about doing knowing negative all
the term project: (12)
comment,
the vocabulary/syntax/language or left blank (7)
(5) Time-consuming resource Not having the right word-processing Some topics difficult to write about (2) student for each of thefollowing:
(for diacritics)
(5)
Difficulty with some topics due to lack of a major Not knowing how many points itwas worth Not being able to go over it and ask questions Some paragraphs were repetitive ("but not really") Tying the paragraphs together Did not own a dictionary Having
little time between paragraph Coming up with things to write about Not a favorite assignment Spanish and student's specific major
assignments
have
little in common
AppendixC Samples ofPapers by True Beginner Students
The following samples are exact reproductions for the disguising of identifying vital data. 1 of the final product without further editing by the author except
Sample
Me llamo L. Soy de Layton, Utah. Soy estadounidense. Mi familia es de origen norteamericano, alem?n, ingl?s y franc?s. Tengo veinticuatro a?os. Yo soy casada. Mi esposo se llama H. ?l tiene veintiocho a?os. ?l es alto, moreno, y muy guapo. Tenemos un perro y ?l se llama Samii. A nosotros nos gusta mucho Samii. Me gusta bailar y escuchar m?sica, pero no me gusta cantar. A mi esposo, H., no le gusta bailar pero le gusta escuchar m?sica y cantar. Me gusta leer las novelas de Danielle Steele. Tengo treinta y seis novelas de ella. Me gusta comer en Olive Garden. Las comidas italianas son muy buenas. Yo soy estudiante. Tengo cinco clases en la Universidad graf?a, antropolog?a y espa?ol. Me gusta estudiar los pueblos de Weber. Tengo que estudiar mucho. Estudio geo y los sitios por eso estudio antropolg?a y geograf?a.
550
H?spanla 90 September2007
es muy dif?cil pero es interesante. Geograf?a es interesante tambi?n. Deseo ser geogr?fico antrop? Antropolog?a lico alg?n d?a. A m? me gusta viajar. Alg?n d?a, voy a estudiar y viajar por todo el mundo. estudian los pueblos y sus culturas alrededor del mundo. Ellos escriben y hablan mucho sobre Antrop?logos
su trabajo. El trabajo es muy dif?cil. Yo conozco a Dr. R. C. Ella es directora de departamento antropolg?a en la Universidad de Weber. Ella es profesora tambi?n. La Dra. C. visita y trabaja por todo el mundo. A ella le gusta visitar China y Espa?a. Ella es muy inteligente, simp?tica y buena. Ella es mi amiga tambi?n. Yo s? sobre africa nos y ?rabes y asi?ticos y sus lenguas y sus religiones. Yo conozco a Charles Darwin y a Franz Boas. Ellos son En cambio los ge?grafos la tierra o el tiempo y los pueblos. La geograf?a es interesante y es diversi?n. Yo conozco a Dr. E. de Weber. ?l es profesor tambi?n. A ?l le gusta ?l es director de departamento geograf?a en la Universidad estudiar mapas viejos y geograf?a hist?rica. El Dr. E. es muy simp?tico. Yo s? mucha geograf?a hist?rica. Estoy estudiando geograf?a hist?rica este semestre. Yo conozco a H. A. ?l pron?stico del tiempo en la televisi?n para estudian m?s el canal famosos. El Sr. Darwin es el padre de la antopolg?a. antropol?gicos Los ge?grafos estudian los pueblos tambi?n pero no estudian las culturas mucho.
trece. ?l trabaja bajo la lluvia o el sol y durante cualquier tiempo. Lo antrop?logos y los ge?grafos trabajan casi todos los d?as t?picamente. Ellos dan clases parecidas a las de Dra. C. y Dr. E. Ellos no trabajan los fines de semana pero ellos trabajan horas largas. Por ejemplo, ellos trabajan por ocho horas en la universidad al d?a pero entonces regresan a su casa y trabajan tambi?n por dos o tres horas. Los profesores llegan en la universidad a las seis o seis y media m?s o menos y salen de la universidad a las tres, m?s o menos. Ambos antrop?logos y ge?grafos pueden trabajar al aire libre y ellos llevan ropa seg?n el trabajo y el tiempo. Si ellos dan clases, pueden llevar ropa pr?ctica. Ellos llevan que prefiera. La Dra. C. lleva vestidos y trajes un poco elegantes. El Dr. E. lleva pantalones y camisas pr?cticas. Sabemos que otras lenguas son buenas siempre. Hablar y entender el espa?ol es muy bueno porque el espa?ol es el idioma oficial de veinte pa?ses del mundo. Hoy aproximadamente doscientos setenta y seis millones de per sonas hablan
espa?ol. Los antrop?logos estudian las gentes alrededor del mundo. En los pa?ses de habla espa?ola saber el espa?ol ayuda. La geograf?a usa los nombres de espa?ol para el tiempo. Por ejemplo, el ni?o, la ni?a o hurac?n Edwardo, Jos? etc. Ellos pueden hablar espa?ol a otros profesionales y la gente que habla espa?ol tam cosas por hablar a otras personas en espa?ol. Ellos pueden aprender el bi?n. Ellos pueden aprender muchas tiempo, del lugares o de las noticias. El espa?ol es muy ?til por muchas razones.
Una raz?n por qu? yo aprendo espa?ol es porque yo deseo aprender otra lengua que es ?til para todos los d?as. El espa?ol es ?til en Utah y en los Estados Unidos en general hoy porque nosotros tienemos muchas perso nas que hablan espa?ol ?nicamente. Alg?n d?a cu?ndo termine mis estudios y yo trabaje en la geograf?a o en la antropolog?a, yo voy a viajar y estudiar el mundo. Entonces puedo usar la lengua espa?ola para ayudar el enten dimiento Sample 2 (mutuo).
Yo me llamo D., soy de Bountiful, Utah. (Yo) tengo veinticuatro a?os. Mi n?mero de tel?fono es [000], cincuenta y nueve, cero, seis. Me gusta ser aficionada de los desportes y me gustan los caballos. Me gusta ser cam pista y me gusta ir de pesca. Me gusta el esqu? acu?tico tambi?n. Me gusta bailar y nadar. Me gusta escuchar m?sica de guitarra. No me gusta estudiar mucho. Me gustan los s?bados y los domingos porque no trabajo esos los d?as. Me gustan los fines de semana. Me gusta hablar con mis amigos gruesos. En y correr en la ma?anas. la Universidad Me gusta jugar a los bolos con mi familia. No me gusta leer mucho
los libros
Esto es ense?ar todo el a?o, el verano, el oto?o y el invierno y la primavera. No impor ta el tiempo. Un d?a t?pico para alguien en el campo de salud es muy diferente. Yo quiero trabajar en negocios o en una escuela con el proposito de ayudar y ense?ar a las personas acerca salud y nutrici?n. Yo quiero trabajar en las como a las ocho y luego ir al trabajar. Con este ma?anas. De esa manera yo puedo hacer ejercicios en la ma?ana como por ejemplo puedo usar zapatos de trabajo yo puedo vestirme formal y tambi?n puedo vestirme casual, tenis o ropa para ejercicio. El espa?ol es muy importante en este campo porque si aprendo espa?ol yo puedo ayudar a la gente que no habla ingl?s. Por ejemplo yo puedo usar espa?ol en los colegios o en la comunidad. En Utah cada vez hay m?s his a esta gente con su salud. panos que no hablan ingl?s, y eso va requevir que you aprenda espa?ol para ayudar Finalmente, yo pienso que es importante aprendar otro idiona. Aunque mi carrera no necisite mucho es comunicarme con otras personas. Por pa?ol, yo pienso que es importante saber espa?ol porque as? you puedo no habla ingl?s. ejemplo yo trabajo con gente que habla espa?ol que h?bitos de alimentaci?n.
uno a?o y medio. Yo conozco al se?or G. G., el jefe de departamento de salud. Creo que la salud y la nutrici?n son muy intere santes. Yo s? que comer y hacer ejercicios es saludable. S? que comidas que son saludables comidas [son mejores] que [los que] no son saludables. Mi tarea es de ense?ar les a las personas el beneficio de la buena salud y buenos
ense?ar alg?n d?a, posiblemente de Weber estudio salud y nutrici?n. Deseo ejercicios alg?n d?a. Me gusta el ejercico mucho tambi?n. Espero trabajar en una gran compa??a y ense?ar. Yo ofrecer?a clases de salud y nutrici?n. Muchas compa??as contratan a personas para ense?ar a sus empleados sobre la salud. Las profesoras no ganan mucho dinero, pero ganan suficiente para vivir. Voy a recibir mi t?tulo en s?lo aer?bicos
