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.

Dictate ten words that include diphthongs and hiatuses and ask students to write them on a piece of paper. Have students underline the diphthong and hiatus in each of the words. Then, write the words on the board and ask students to check their own spelling of the words.  

Further Explanation

Students should know that a diphthong is sound formed by combining a strong vowel (a, e, o) and a weak vowel (i, u) in a single syllable. Students should also know that a hiatus refers to two adjacent vowels within a word that do not belong to the same syllable.

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. 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 apply these rules consistently instead of using invented spelling because they may unknowingly write a word that is real but that they did not intend, causing confusion for their reader.
Students should be able to spell words that have diphthongs. A diphthong is sound formed by combining a strong vowel (a, e, o) and a weak vowel (i, u) in a single syllable. For example, in-jus-ti-cia, a-cei-tu-na, a-plau-so, de-fec-tuo-so, a-mue-blar, bai-lan-do, se-gui-mien-to. Diphthongs are always part of the same syllable.
Students should be able to spell words that have hiatuses. A hiatus refers to two adjacent vowels within a word that do not belong to the same syllable. Hiatuses may be formal or accented. A formal hiatus is composed of two strong vowels (a, e, o). For example, la-de-a-do, me-te-o-ri-to, co-e-xis-tir, co-o-pe-rar. An accented hiatus is composed of a weak vowel (i, u) and a strong vowel (a, e, o); however, the weak vowel must have a written accent: de-se-a-rí-a, dis-tra-í-do, psi-co-lo-gí-a, a-ta-úd.