COGNATES AND FALSE COGNATES IN ACADEMIC VOCABULARY PRESENTER

COGNATES AND FALSE COGNATES IN ACADEMIC VOCABULARY PRESENTER MAGDA MARTINEZ

Laredo History The Republic of the Rio Grande was a sovereign “country” in 1840, lasting 283 days from January 17 to November 6. This country was formed by the northeastern Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Founded in 1755

How much do I know? • With a partner: 1. Convert your plain piece of paper into a T CHART 2. Label the left side: Cognates Label the right side: False Cognates 3. You will categorize the words (found in next slide) into Cognates or False Cognates

Figure it Out! • • • Casualty Leader Congress Compromise Agriculture Suffrage Independence Representative Consent

YIKES…What the heck are cognates and false cognates? ? ?

Today’s Goals • Brief overview of state statistics and their implications • Differences between social and academic vocabulary • Differences between cognates and false cognates • State Assessments (Hmm, so that’s why kids got that question wrong…) • Graphic Organizers • Tips! • Links and Resources

Texas Racial and Ethnic Composition, 2000 and 2010 Hispanic or Latino 38% NH Other 6% Source: U. S. Census Bureau. 2000 and 2010 Census count NH White 45% NH Black 11%

WHAT CAN WE INFER?

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

% of Growth Due to Each Ethnicity in Texas, 1980 -1990, 1990 -2000, 2000 -2007, and 20002040 Source: Census Bureau 2007 Population Estimates; Texas State Data Center 2008 Population Projections, 0. 5 Scenario

Vocabulary: What is the difference? Social Language • Simpler vocabulary • Face to Face conversations • Uses gestures • Informal • Takes 2 years to acquire Academic Language • Technical-content specific vocabulary • Difficult to read and understand • Require background knowledge • Takes 5 to 7 years to acquire

Let Us Check Ourselves! False Cognates • • Suffrage Compromise Casualty Consent Cognates • • • Independence Leader Representative Agriculture Congress

What are cognates? • English words that look alike and have the same meaning in Spanish are cognates. • 40% of all English words have similar cognates in Spanish. • Therefore, if English Language Learners learn to recognize these cognates, bridging the gap will be more attainable.

Example • The computer is a modern invention. • La computadora es una invencion moderna.

Examples of Cognates • • • Family Familia Center Centro Gorilla Gorila Alarma Circle Circulo Cognates and False CognatesEnglish Spanish Cognates. pdf

What are false cognates? • These are words that look alike but do not have the same meaning in English and Spanish. • ELLs directly translate while they are reading and often misinterpret the true meaning of what they are reading. • If English Language Learners learn to recognize these false cognates, bridging the gap will be more attainable.

Examples of False Cognates • • • Suffrage Compromise Fabric Union Carpet Sufrir Compromiso Fabrica Unión Carpeta (funny story)

• • • In Spanish, “Pay” is a pie. In Spanish, “Pie” is a foot. It is not likely you would advertise “Frito Foot” • • • In Spanish, there is no “th” sound. The “th” is usually pronounced as “t” In Spanish, the “J” as in Joe, is nonexistent. In Spanish, the “J” is pronounced like “H” as in house. It is not likely that your business card would read “Hunk Yard”

How Can We Help? STATE ASSESSMENTS

10 th Graders: State Level A. 4 B. 4 C. 73 D. 20 LBJ H. S. A. B. C. D. 8% 7% 48 % 37 %

11 th Graders State Level F. 66 G. 3 H. 13 J. 19 F. G. H. J. 35 % 4 % 21 % 41 % LBJ H. S.

10 th Graders State F. 7 G. 60 H. 11 J. 22 LBJ H. S. F. G. H. J. 11 52 13 24

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Title • Bullet Points

So how does this fit in with CSCOPE?

Teaching Tips! • Use pre-reading strategies before you begin to read. • Set the tone in your classroom so that students do not make fun of struggling readers…(story: speaking with an accent and misconceptions) • Explain cognates and false cognates to students and have them identify them while they read. • This can be an oral overview with a pictorial powerpoint. • Students should hi-light topics and subtopics • By looking at the pictures, students predict what the section will be about.

Guess Who? (small groups)

More Tips! • When assigning vocabulary, don’t use the conventional method of: copy the words and define them; memorize them for a matching quiz… • INSTEAD: Assign five to ten words; Use the Frayer Model for each word by assigning students to groups and allowing students to discuss, use their textbook or other resources to fill in the Frayer Model. • Place words in a box or jar. Student selects a word and (acts it out/charade, draws a picture on the board or mimes it) Class has to guess the word! • Use close caption when possible (Industrial RevolutionIntroduction_to_the_Industrial_Revolution. asf

Resources • http: //www. colorincolorado. org/ • dreamhistory. org (Magda's website) • NTC’s Dictionary of Spanish False Cognates (Marcial Prado) • NTC’s Dictionary of Spanish Cognates: Thematically Organized (Rose Nash) • U. S. Census Bureau • Texas State Data Center Population Projections • Texas Education Agency • http: //www. diputados. gob. mx/Leyes. Biblio/pdf/1. pdf • http: //streaming. discoveryeducation. com/