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Luna Chica · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 177 Location: Trujillo, Peru

What are some classic problems that Spanish speaking students have? I am planning to go to Peru next year to teach. I lived and taught in Japan previously and there were problems that nearly all Japanese students shared. The classic trouble with "R" and "L" trouble understanding that you don't play skiing etc.

What's your experience in Latin America?

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

If you do a Google search, you'll find quite a few web sites dedicated to this topic. Here's one: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/espanglishtips/ .

MixtecaMike · Joined: 19 Nov 2003 Posts: 643 Location: Guatebad

It

/v/ and /b/

S-V-O order

to name but three.

(Edited to move a misplaced close bold tag)

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

There's a book called "Learner English" that compares other languages with English and gives really good information about what problems to expect.

http://www.cambridge.org/elt/elt_projectpage.asp?id=2500393

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Go rent (or download?) the movie Born in East LA. The Hollywood steroetypes of Spanish-speakers speaking in English often apply correctly.

As stated above, and some from my experience...

B/V
words that end in -ed (fitted, fixed, faced)
Z
dipthongs (ie, ei, ea, ou, etc, etc)
long and short vowel sound (hill, hive, heel, hell)
TH
Wood, would, good
G
J
Y

Among many others...

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:22 pm Post subject:

Make and do.

Minimal pairs. (Ship and sheep.)

Understanding the present perfect for unfinished situations or actions.

Regards,
Justin

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 5:39 pm Post subject:

I use a classroom variation of the classic drinking game, "Have you ever?," also sometimes called "I've never..." in order to try to get that one across. And yes, New Interchange is EVERYWHERE in Latin America. Level one, unit 10 and I are well aquainted.

Justin

Cdaniels · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 4:55 pm Post subject: Riding the bus

For some reason a question from an advanced EFL student from Peru in the US sticks in my mind: "why do you ride 'on' the boos, not 'in' the boos?"
I found the pronounciation of "bus" to be great- I wish we did pronounce it with a long 'u' in English because it sounds better. It was a very practical and immediate question too, since the student "took" a bus to class (another English idiom)
Generally Peruvians seem to think of English speakers as being distant and cold. Kissing the cheeks when saying goodbye is quite common. I imagine its quite, quite different from Japan.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Luna Chica · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 177 Location: Trujillo, Peru

Yes, if English seems cold than Japanese would be positively Antarctic. It is very, very hard to get Japanese students to have a real conversation together and a debate? Forget it!

I have quite a few Peruvian friends who are married to Japanese women and they say they find Japanese women in general very beautiful, but very cold. They often like the convenience of a Japanese wife (Japanese Visa) and the warmth of another foreign bit on the side.

Ms. Atondo · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:42 pm Post subject:

Have you ever ridden a camel....that just gave me horrible flashbacks...I was teaching kids and they would not move on until they knew what a camel was. Picture and all they couldn't seem to grasp why anyone would ride one.

Biggest pet peeve - the -ed ending. To me that is the biggest give away that they are not a native English speaker

P.S. Have they changed the section on Hip Hop clothing yet in New Interchange? Please tell me they have, that was almost unbearable to teach as it is so out of date!