TEKS Talk - SLA Vocabulary image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary. The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.

Los estudiantes buscan en sus diccionarios diez palabras homógrafas. Es decir, palabras que se escriben y se pronuncian de la misma manera, pero que significan dos o más cosas distintas. Por ej., banco (institución financiera), banco (asiento sin brazos o respaldo), banco (conjunto de peces). Escribirán las palabras en sus libretas, anotando también el significado de cada una de ellas. Cada estudiante comparte una de sus palabras con el grupo evitando que se repitan. Observe y tome nota.


Further Explanation

Los estudiantes identifican que hay palabras que se escriben y se pronuncian de la misma manera, pero que tienen un diferente significado. Estos términos pueden resultar confusos cuando se leen en un texto. Los estudiantes deben de considerar el contexto en que se usa la palabra para poder saber exactamente lo que significa.

Students are expected to differentiate and correctly use commonly confused terms such as por qué, porqué, por que, porque, and también/ tan bien whose subtle differences in spelling and pronunciation make them difficult to identify without context. For example, “Jaime también es bueno para las matemáticas. Resuelve los problemas tan bien como la maestra”.
Students should be able to comprehend the differences between closely related words, like homographs, homophones, and commonly confused terms. By distinguishing their peculiarities, students have a better understanding of the meaning of such words and how they affect the ideas in a text.
Homographs are words that have the same spelling, but different meanings. For example, the words borrador (eraser) and borrador (initial drafts of a written essay). Due to the phonetic nature of the Spanish language, homographs are also homophones. That is, apart from being spelled the same, they also sound the same.
Homophones are words that sound alike, are not spelled the same, and have different meanings. For example, the words hacia (preposition) and Asia (continent). Contrary to homographs, homophones don’t have the same spelling. When students are presenting information orally, they should provide enough context for the homophones they may be using so their audience may determine which form of the word is being used. Consider the following example, “Los animales de caza (cacería) están en la casa (hogar)”. Without the appropriate context, it’s hard to determine the meaning of the sentence. The same sentence is clarified when some context is added: “Los animales atrapados durante la caza están en el jardín de la casa”.
In fourth grade, students should be able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of how homographs, homophones, and commonly confused terms carry specific meanings despite their similar spelling and/ or pronunciation. Students should be able to incorporate these terms into their own written and oral communications. They should be able to provide adequate context to support the recipient of the message in determining the intended use of a homograph, a homophone, or a commonly confused term.
Palabra que se pronuncia igual a otra, pero no se escribe igual, y que tiene un significado diferente (por ej., tubo – cilindro largo y hueco para contener líquidos y tuvo – pasado del verbo tener).
Palabra que se escribe y se pronuncia igual que otra, pero tiene diferente significado, (por ej., vino - la bebida y vino pretérito del verbo venir, saco presente del verbo sacar y saco la prenda de ropa).