Discusses approaches to teaching reading skills in Spanish to native Spanish speaking children before transfer to reading skills in English. (BK)

Mnemonic devices summarize and simplify grammar rules, especially when applied to the verb forms found in Romance languages. The article presents two mnemonic devices helpful in summarizing the uses of two verb tenses. These include coining a word to illustrate a rule and projecting irregular verb forms on a Mexican "sombrero." (four references)…

Argues that the similarities between Italian and French are not as substantial as they seem and that they don't necessarily facilitate the language-learning process. The types of errors made by Italians learning French are analyzed. (CFM)

Tests retention of two types of words, words that have to be inferred and words glossed in a text in an interactive program on the Internet for the practice of reading skills for academic purposes. Confirmed theories that retention of inferred words is higher than retention of words where the meaning is given, and that incidental vocabulary…

Three examples are given of cases where differences between Spanish and English syntax and intonation patterns are taught best through direct translation. Grammatical difficulties caused by "gustar" are overcome through the use of translation using "appeal" rather than "please". Similarly, problems for native speakers of English arising with…

Outlines a lesson in a college Spanish class in which the students were shown the close relationship between Spanish and Portuguese. This kind of class not only makes the students more conscious of the relatedness of languages but also can stimulate their interest in studying another language. (CFM)

Outlines a preservice training program designed for graduate teaching assistants in foreign languages. (CLK)

This study examines the effectiveness of teachers' incidental focus on form on vocabulary learning. Seventeen 45-minute audio-recorded teacher-led conversation, 204 learners' diaries (17 sessions x 12 learners) reporting what the participants had learned after each conversational class, 204 post-test translations, and 204 delayed post-test…

These materials illustrate the ideas presented in the "Guide for Foreign Languages in Utah." Learning activities, materials, and evaluation procedures have been written to help the language teacher who has never had a methods course, as well as the experienced teacher who is searching for new ideas. The materials begin with a basic unit similar to…

Italian pedagogical texts in general hold the position that the partitive is not obligatory as it is in French. However, some of these texts devote a great deal of time to repetition and transformation drills while others never mention the construction at all until the chapters on the pronoun replacement of accusative complements. Italian phrase…

Suggestions on how to improve apperception, motivation, and the presentation of materials in the teaching of Italian tenses, vocabulary, and famous names focus on the use of literary devices largely derived from folklore. For teaching tenses, the author illustrates the use of riddles, "passerotti", "filastrocche", songs, tongue-twisters, rebuses,…

Problems encountered at Black Hawk High School, Wisconsin, in an attempt to expand the French curriculum to include a level 3 and a level 4 course are examined in this article. Solutions to the difficulties caused by inadequate classroom space and insufficient funds lead the author to propose the elimination of the traditional, advanced-course…

It is important for the Romanian language teacher to teach the language as a cultural entity, to convey the exact values of the language. If translation cannot be dropped entirely, it is very important for the student to accept what is typical and untranslatable in itself and to identify himself with the native speaker. Although every language has…

This annotated bibliography lists books printed and published in the United States of America for use in teaching Spanish and Portuguese in high school and college by students whose first language is English. As a sequel to the Arjona "A Bibliography of Textbooks of Spanish Published in the United States (1795-1939)," this publication contains…

Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese will find varied information in 27 articles related to their profession. Articles pertain to the following general categories: (1) language learning theory, (2) teacher education, (3) teaching methodology, (4) program articulation, (5) student evaluation, (6) instructional materials, and (7) professional…