beginning reading and writing Spanish strand TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--beginning reading and writing. The student develops word structure knowledge through phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology to communicate, decode, and spell.

Coloque en el salón carteles con las diferentes sílabas: que, qui, gue, gui, güe, güi. Los estudiantes, por equipos de trabajo, escriben palabras que contengan estas sílabas y las colocan en los diferentes carteles. Pueden usar sus diccionarios o listas de palabras para esta actividad. Posteriormente, los equipos toman turnos para leer las palabras de los carteles y, junto con el maestro, revisan que se han escrito correctamente y que se encuentran en el cartel correspondiente. Tome nota de la actividad.


Further Explanation

Los estudiantes identifican que las partes de las palabras ayudan en la decodificación y escritura de éstas. Reconocen que hay palabras que contienen las sílabas que-, qui-, gue-, gui- y güe-, güi-. Como algunas palabras pueden ser largas y difíciles de leer, los estudiantes deben aprender a dividir las palabras en partes más pequeñas. Identifican que hay sílabas en las que no se pronuncia la letra “u” y que, cuando se usa la diéresis, sí se pronuncia la letra “u”. El saber que estas palabras tienen sílabas parecidas, pero que se pronuncian de manera diferente, ayuda a los estudiantes a escribirlas correctamente.

Both decoding and encoding skills are needed to build a foundation in reading. Decoding is the process of translating written speech into verbal speech sounds by applying knowledge of letter-sound correspondences. It is the ability to recognize letters, apply their associated sounds, and blend sounds to form words. Encoding is the process of using letter-sound knowledge to write or spell words. Students must understand the various spelling patterns and rules of the Spanish language to correctly construct words in their written products. It is important that students demonstrate their knowledge by applying these rules consistently instead of using invented spelling because they may unknowingly write a real word they did not intend, causing reader confusion.
In Spanish, the letter h is silent regardless of its position in a word. For example, hoja, ahijado, or zanahoria. Students need to use their visual memory to correctly spell words with a silent h. However, students may improve their spelling of these type of words if they are exposed to terms that belong to the same group. For example, humo, ahumado, ahumar, or humeante.
Students are expected to use their phonetic knowledge to spell words with the syllables gue, gui and güe, güi. The digraph gu represents the hard sound of the letter g or /g/. Thus, when combined with the vowels e and i makes the syllables gue and gui that are present in words such as guerrero, agregue, guiso, or perseguir. It is important to realize that, in these syllables, the u is always silent. However, students should know that there are some words where the u is required to sound. In those cases, a double point (known as dieresis) must be placed over the vowel u: ü. Consider the following examples: paragüitas, güiro, güero, or bilingüe.
Students should be able to spell words with the syllables que and qui. They should understand that the digraph qu represents the sound /k/. Therefore, when combined with the vowels e and i the result is the syllables que and qui. These syllables can be found in words like querer, quieto, equilibrar, or bloque.