Español
Spanish for Parents
© Rha
2
3
4
idea
1
araña
5
elefante
6
universo
9
7
cerdo
10
coche
13
España
olvidar
ciclista
11
cucaracha gimnasia
14
zumo
15
guitarra
8
casa
12
hamburguesa
16
llave
Tips for pronouncing Spanish
The good news about Spanish pronunciation is that it obeys clear
phonetic rules, although people do speak with different accents,
depending on their region and background.
Vowels
Each of the five vowels has its own clear sharp sound:
a as in hat
e as in pet
i as in feet
o as in clock
u as in drew
c's and z's
c + e = th
c + i = th
z + a, o, u = th
c + a = ka
c + o = ko
c + u = ku
cero, once
cinco, gracias
zapato, corazón, azul
casa, catorce
cómo, color
Cuba, cubano
j's and g's
J, as in jardines (gardens), is a harder, stronger version of the English
'h'. G, when followed by e and i, sounds exactly the same as j.
Otherwise, it is pronounced as the English 'g' in go.
ll's
The double ll, as in calle, is another characteristic Spanish sound. In
most parts of Spain it's like the 'lli' in the English million.
h’s
The h is silent in Spanish, so you won’t be blowing any candles out
when you pronounce words that begin with this letter. Best to imagine
it’s not there and pronounce the second letter in the word.
hablo, helado, ¡hola!, huevo
KS3 Spanish Core Language
tener – to have
Pronouns
yo – I
tú – you
él/ella – he/she
Usted – you
(polite, sing.)
nosotros – we
vosotros – you
(fam.pl.)
ellos/ellas – they
Ustedes – you
(polite, pl.)
ser – to be
tengo
I have
soy
I am
estoy
I am
tienes
you have
eres
you are
estás
you are
tiene
he/she/y
ou have
es
he/she
is/you are
está
he/she
is/you are
(pol.sing)
(pol.sing)
tenemos
we have
somos
we are
tenéis
you have
sois
you are
tienen
they/you
have
Time words
ahora – now
antes – before
después – after
hoy – today
ayer – yesterday
mañana – tomorrow
otra vez - again
siempre – always
a menudo – often
a veces – sometimes
nunca – never
la semana pasada –
last week
la semana que viene
– next week
puedo/puede
estar – to be
(fam.pl.)
(pol.pl.)
Referring to things
una cosa – a thing
esto – this
eso – that
algo (más) –
something (else)
otro – (an)other
mucho – a lot
(un) poco – (a) little
muy – very
todo –
all/everything
son
(pol.sing)
estamos
we are
(fam.pl.)
está
you are
they/you
are (pol.pl.)
están
they/you
are (pol.pl.)
Referring to places
aquí – here
allí - there
Making links
(fam.pl.)
Asking questions
¿Por qué? – why?
¿Qué? – what?
¿Cuándo? – when?
¿Dónde? – where?
¿Quién? – who?
¿Cuánto(s)? – how
much/many?
¿Cómo? – how?
y – and
o – or
también – also
pero – but
Opinions
porque – because
con – with
Pienso que – I think that
sin - without
Creo que – I believe that
Me parece que – it seems
Sentence building
that..
I can/he,she can
quiero/quiere
I want to/he,she wants to…
tengo que/tiene que
I have to/he has to…
voy a/va a
+ verb
I’m going to/he is going to…
(no) me (le) gusta
I (don’t) like to/he doesn’t like to
me (le) encanta
I love to/he loves to…
me (le) gustaría
I/he/she would like to…
Saying what you did
fui – I went
hice – I did
ví – I saw
jugué – I played
comí – I ate
bebí – I drank
How to say ‘a’, ‘some’ and ‘the’: definite and indefinite articles
un
a (masculine object)
una
a (feminine object)
unos
some (more than one masculine object)
unas
some (more than one feminine object)
el
the (masc object)
la
the (fem object)
los
the (more than one masc object)
las
the (more than one fem object)
NB: Sometimes the article is not needed in Spanish:
e.g. No tengo hermanos = I haven’t any brothers or sisters
e.g. Mi padre es profesor = My dad is a teacher
El abecedario español
A
a
J
jota
R
erré
B
bé
K
ka
S
essé
C
thé
L
ellé
T
té
D
dé
M
emé
U
oo
E
é
N
ené
V
oobé
F
effé
Ñ
eñé
W oobé doblé
G
jé
O
o
X
ekees
H
aché
P
pé
Y
ee griega
I
ee
Q
koo
Z
theta
NB: ch and ll are
no longer separate
letters in the
Spanish alphabet
but you still might
see them in older
dictionaries.
In Spanish most
words are written
as they are said –
you just need to
know the key
sounds!
España
norte
noreste
noroeste
oeste
centro
este
suroeste sur sureste
ca
a
i
len
as
res
st
ri
ba
le
tu
le
lla
as
va
na
ón
cia
las
ri
as
cia
ca
mur
is
1.
4.
2.
5.
3.
6.
Websites
http://www.combertonvc.org
CVC school website
http://spanish.typeit.org
This is an excellent site – you can type any text
with Spanish accents in here and then
copy/paste to word. Very easy to use!!!!
http://www.videojug.com/webvideo/how-to-describepersonality-in-spanish
¿Cómo eres? Soy + character adjectives in
Spanish. (5 minute video)
http://www.spanishrevision.co.uk/ks3
This site is excellent for revision – it has
listening material too!
http://oye.languageskills.co.uk
This site is free at all times and has lots of
interactive activities for the basics. Definitely
worth visiting – easy to navigate too.
http://www.linguascope.com
Students have a school username and password
for this site
http://www.asisehace.net
This site is free – most of its material is more
advanced but the Relaciones personales section
is useful to you now.
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric
/hotpotatoes/
This site is called Languages Online – it has lots
of language learning activities for Spanish,
French, German & Italian.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/
http://www.freerice.com/index.php?&t=18127850318&s=
Spanish
The BBC website has a lot – it has a course
called Spanish Steps for beginners, and a real
Spanish drama series called ‘Mi Vida Loca’ which
is brand new, as well as some slang and holiday
phrases to learn.
For each answer you get right on this website 10
grains of rice are donated to help the world’s
hungry.
http://www.espanol-extra.co.uk/index2.html
Students are given a login for this website as we
hold a subscription to it. Lots of interactive
activities. Choose CORE once you’ve logged in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clipsl
Archived 2-3 min digitized video clips in a
database sorted by theme – easy search facility –
some v good things in here to use! Search for
Anansi y la tortuga
http://www.digitaldialects.com/Spanish.htm
Click on Spanish (there are lots of other
languages too) and follow the links to different
activities.
Learning Styles
What is a learning style?
A learning style is simply a preference for the method by
which you learn and remember what you learned.
Where do learning styles come from?
Your learning style will be influenced by your genetic make-up,
your previous learning experiences, your culture and the society
you live in.
You may have some scores in each of the 3 learning styles
but you will usually have a preference for 1 style.
Why is it important to know about them?
Your learning style will indicate how you (prefer to) learn, the
types of learning activities that work best for you. If you know
about your own learning style you can be more independent and
more successful in your learning.
Is my learning style fixed?
You will always have the natural strength in your preferred
learning style(s) but you can increase your learning power and
use more of your brain by adding other learning style
strategies to your preferred style.
NB: Exams are mostly given in the visual, written learning
style. Visual input and retrieval strategies work best for
those types of exams.
If you want to do a very short learning styles inventory to see which your preferred
learning style is, go to www.howtolearn.com - you will have to register with your
email address. I have done this and you receive further emails from the site, which
are easy to ignore/delete. It has not led to any increase in SPAM!
Visual Learning Style
• learns best by seeing
•neat, orderly
• speaks quickly, holds head up, shoulders erect
• good long range planners
• good spellers
• memorises by strong visual associations
• functions best with overall view before proceeding
• has trouble remembering verbal instructions – unless written down
Auditory Learning Style
• learns best through hearing
• likes to listen to talks, music or lectures
• good story tellers
• talks to self
• likes talking more than writing
• easily distracted by noise – generally can’t listen to someone talk on phone and
listen to another person talking to them at the same time
• may have problems with projects involving visualisation
• likes jokes better than comics
Kinaesthetic Learning Style
• learns best by doing and through movement
• often good athletes
• speaks more slowly
• memorises by moving around, walking etc..
• gestures a lot
• doesn’t mind clutter/mess in workspace
• using action words when speaking
• wants to act things out
Some strategies for the 3 learning styles
Visual
Concept maps with pictures to represent words
Spider diagrams also using images
Mental movies
Auditory
Talk out loud
Listen to others explaining material
Read notes out loud
Use rhymes
Learn with music
Make tapes of the material and listen to them
Teach others out loud
Kinaesthetic
Walk or pace around (regular, steady
steps)
Learn in groups
Create games
Make notes on post-its and arrange on a
big sheet (A3)
Act out material you are learning
The key is to match the learning strategy
and input style to the way in which you
are going to be tested on that material:
• if you are going to take a test out loud
(oral) then study the material aloud and
rehearse it aloud
• if you are taking a test by acting things out
or demonstrating physically that you
understand something then study the
material in the same way. (you would not
rehearse a stage production by writing lots
of notes)
• if you are taking written tests, make sure
you are making visual pictures as you learn
the material so you can retrieve these later
in the test. Rehearse the test in writing
while practising visual images and this will
help to fix the learning in your long-term
memory.
The importance of Visual Memory Techniques
Because most tests are written, and retrieval of verbal
information (words) is greatly enhanced when the
learner has stored pictures/is using visual memory, all
learners will want to improve their ability to ‘visualise’
when they learn.
Research has found that one way to do this is by making
use of the natural eye-brain connection that exists.
Visual learners look upward and to the side when recalling
or processing information and project images onto an
imaginary screen.
To locate your own visual memory, do the following with a partner:
Answer one or several of the following questions:
Get a picture of your best friend in your mind. Tell me exactly how he or she looks.
What colour is his/her hair, eyes etc.? What does his/her favourite item of clothing
look like?
What was your mother/friend/teacher/brother/sister wearing yesterday? Get a
picture of him/her in your mind and describe what he/she is wearing.
Describe your favourite film to me. Tell me exactly how a favourite character or
scene looked. What were they wearing? How did they look when a certain event
happened? Describe the location. Was there any interesting equipment in the film?
A specific car, plane, boat, jet ski? Describe it to me exactly. Colour, type, specific
markings etc…
What does a picture in your room look like? Describe it to me exactly.
Watch your partner’s eyes carefully. When he/she begins to create a
picture and describe it to you, he/she will look upwards either to the right
or the left, (or very occasionally up and in front) Recreating this eye
movement when trying to visualise new knowledge whilst learning and
then again when trying to recall it will greatly enhance your ability to
remember.
Brain researchers have shown many times that the power of
memory is multiplied many times if we connect an association to
the picture asking What does this sound like/remind me of?
An association is simply something that is connected to and reminds us of
something else. Author David Sousa says, “Whenever two events, actions
or feelings are learned together they are said to be associated or bonded,
so that the recall of one prompts the spontaneous recall of the other. The
word Romeo elicits Juliet, Batman gets Robin.”
Word-Picture association
1. Choose a word, look at it and say it out loud.
2. What does the sound of the word remind you of? (at this stage don’t
think of the real meaning of the word, only what the sound of the word
makes you think of)
3 Now think of the actual meaning of your new word. Create a picture
(looking up and to the side) in your mind of your association and the
real meaning of the word – make the mental image as humorous and
detailed as you can and hold the picture in your mind.
4 Now draw the picture – use as much colour as you can as this also
enhances memory!
5
Now write the word under the picture you have drawn.
6 In another colour write the English meaning of the word in the top
corner (right or left depending on where your visual memory is) of the
card.
7 Hold your card up above eye level in your own visual memory position
and say the word and the English meaning several times.
8 Now you are going to be tested on this vocabulary – sit as if you are
successful!
9 As you are recalling each word, use your visual memory – look upward
and to the right/left.
Step – by – step successful spelling
1. Write the word onto a piece of coloured card, using
different coloured pens to emphasise unique letters
which do not sound as they are spelled.
2. Hold the card up in your visual memory location – up to
the left or up to the right.
3. Trace the letters with a finger (still holding card in visual
memory position) and saying the word aloud.
4. Take a mental snapshot of the word – imagine a camera
in your brain taking a picture of the word and storing it
on your visual memory screen.
5. Write the word down on your paper. Look up and
remember (visualise) how it looked on the visual
memory screen.
6. Compare what you wrote down with the word card.
Expect success!
Ideas and strategies for the leaflet were drawn from many sources and teacher
experiences but the website www.howtolearn.com was a key source.
Learning styles &
memory
How to improve your
ability to learn and retain
new words
A booklet for parents and students