Sol

¿Puedes elegir palabras más fuertes o más específicas para mostrar la grandeza de Kamala a tus lectores? 

 Sol was a fourth grader learning how to write to inform through biographies. Ramira was a student teacher. Sol’s teachers carried out a unit about how to write biographies, showing mentor texts and engaging the students in choosing important people to write about. During Spanish language arts, Ramira observed as Sol wrote about Kamala Harris, using  a graphic organizer containing sections for introduction, events, and significance, and talking through her ideas with a peer. Sol was encouraged to choose important points and to use language thoughtfully with powerful verbs and adjectives that conveyed the historical figure’s character. Sol’s audience would be her family.  

Later that week, in English language arts, Sol was presented the same writing assignment --in English-- and was guided to choose a different female leader. Intrigued by how Sacagawea used her bilingualism to foster peace, Sol selected her as the focus of the English essay. Sol drafted a historical recount, attempting to communicate what made her a powerful woman leader. Ramira observed, collected both writing samples, and analyzed them cross-linguistically.

Ramira used the Transliteracy observation framework  to compare Sol’s writing behaviors across languages. In English, Sol started and ended her paragraph with carefully constructed sentences that portrayed Sacagawea’s attributes, but her composition of Vice President Harris was not as strong. Sol’s English writing included key points, used word choice to convey character (e.g. hero, courage, peace), and action verbs phrases like “learned to adapt” and “guided them,” which helped portray Sacagawea’s active contributions. Since Sol demonstrated these aspects of writing more effectively in English than in Spanish, Ramira sought to harness this strength across languages. 

Teacher:  Maestra Ramira                                                        Student:  Sol  

Skill/strategy/objective:   I can use language to convey character.    

Standard: CA CCSS 4.2.d Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. 

ELD standard: grade 4, Part 1.12. Selecting and applying varied and precise vocabulary and other language resources to effectively convey ideas 

Steps/Teacher script

Honor

Your Sacagawea paragraph shows what a powerful person she was. The reader knows she was unique. You used words like "hero" and the phrase “A Shoshone woman" to refer to her. You chose strong action verbs that show her brave actions (e.g. “adapt”, “harvest”, “guide”). Your first and last sentences are thoughtful and share what's most important for readers to know.

Apply 

You can do that in Spanish, too. Remember, we want to showcase what they did that made them so brave. Saying the specific actions they did and using powerful words can help. You can do it in Spanish just like you did in English.

Demonstrate how to apply in the other language

In your Kamala writing, you include some interesting points, but the reader wants to know more. Can we think of an important event in her life to include?

Circle the verbs you include (e.g. “es”, “le encanta”, “es”), ... how can we make them more precise? 

En tu párrafo sobre Sacagawea, utilizaste palabras poderosas para comunicar su genialidad. Hagamos una lluvia de ideas de palabras/frases para describir a Kamala (por ejemplo, líder, sabia, luchadora por la justicia, se preocupa por la comunidad).

Identify differences or nuances

Para averiguar palabras poderosas, podemos pensar en cognados. Por ejemplo, si sabes “passion,” sabes “pasión,” o “inspire” y “inspirar.” Diferente que en inglés, en español debemos asegurarnos que la palabra descriptiva coincide con el género y el número (plural o singular).

Por supuesto, no todas las palabras son cognados. Si piensas en una palabra en inglés que te gustaría usar, ¿cuáles son algunos recursos que podrías usar para encontrar la traducción al español?

Invite

Lee de nuevo tu párrafo de Kamala. ¿Puedes elegir palabras más fuertes o más específicas para mostrar la grandeza de Kamala a tus lectores?