High School Spanish Research Articles

A List of Slang and Colloquial Expressions of Mexico City

U NDOUBTEDLY all language teachers at one time or another have had students ask them the meaning of certain slang or colloquial expressions either in their own language or in the particular foreign language they are studying. Frequently, in reading Mexican literature, the student runs across terms and expressions which are peculiar to the country and even to a certain region or locality. Sometimes these expressions may be classified as colloquial and others they may be classed as slang or even cal6 or germania. The visitor in Mexico constantly hears expressions that are not part of his college or high school Spanish. With this in mind, I decided to compile the following list. In gathering material for it I came across a similar compilation for the southwestern part of the United States.' The similarity is amazing at first, but when we think of the influx of Mexicans into that section of the country, it is understandable. However, many changes in the meaning of a word or expression can be pointed out. A great many expressions which may seem contemporary to modern Mexicans are already found in Fernandez de Lizardi, Guillermo Prieto, Cuellar, etc. The slang and colloquial terms presented here are the product of my high school and college days in Mexico City and my familiarity with the language during subsequent visits as well as a study of vocabulary used by contemporary Mexican novelists. No attempt has been made at compiling a definitive Vocabulario de mexicanismos, but merely an introductory glossary is here presented. Many vulgar terms are included which should be used in public only under expert guidance to avoid embarrassment. The list includes expressions which have been used in or around Mexico City in the past twenty or twenty-five years; though, of course, many of these terms have come directly from Spain and have thrived for centuries in Mexico. Some have suffered Aztec influence; others retained their old Spanish flavor and meaning. We leave it up to more expert linguistic students to make a scientific study of these and similar terms. Our task is limited to the presentation of these words and the clarification of their

Teaching Spanish in a Small High School

Teaching Spanish in a Small High School

Language or Grammar?

THIS study was motivated by the novel concepts presented in a recent Spanish series for grades seven to twelve. The aim was to test the premises and techniques underlying the series on past consumers of foreign language in widely separated school systems. For this purpose fifty veterans were chosen ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-six with an average age of twenty-three. Each had completed two years of high school language: thirty-five in California, ten in the Middle West and five in the South. The individuals were asked the same set of diagnostic questions so that their responses would yield a general trend or set of conclusions. The study was concerned with the following issues: Is grammatical terminology vague or unintelligible to the average person? If so, is it a necessary framework for foreign language teaching? Can a non-native learn to speak, understand and write a foreign language satisfactorily for real-life purposes without benefit of grammatical terminology? Is it necessary for an individual to master the language of grammatical terminology in order to learn to communicate in school, or can this intermediate step be removed, or at least de-emphasized, by the teacher? Only non-native students who had taken two years of high school Spanish were studied. The interviews were conducted in as simple and elementary a way as possible in order to insure lucid responses. To prevent boredom or uneasiness on the part of the individuals a short questionnaire was constructed. The questions and the responses are summarized in the following paragraphs:

Spanish in the Junior High School

Spanish in the Junior High School

A Validated Grade‐Placement Outline of the Basic Essentials of Spanish

This article outlines by semesters the fundamentals of grammar that deserve special stress in the first three years of high school Spanish (ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades) as determined from (1) a survey of current practice and opinion in cities of 365,000 population or over,1 and (2) a regrouping of the grammatical topics (thus derived) in terms of their merit‐ratings in Keniston's Spanish Syntax List.2

Latin, a Basis for French and Spanish Study as Evidenced by Teachers' Marks

Author's Summary.— A scientific investigation of the value of a year's study of Latin prior to the study of French or Spanish in high school, as evidenced by teacher's marks.

Latin, A Basis for French and Spanish Study as Evidenced by Teachers' Marks

Author's Summary.— A scientific investigation of the value of a year's study of Latin prior to the study of French or Spanish in high school, as evidenced by teacher's marks.

Integration of High-School and College Spanish

Integration of High-School and College Spanish

A Silent Reading Test in Spanish

The test is designed to measure achievement in comprehension of the printed Spanish language at successive stages under varying conditions and with varying methods of teaching. It is not based upon any single textbook in Spanish but upon a background vocabu lary which was prepared by the writers to serve as a suggested basis for unstandardized tests in Spanish. This vocabulary included only words of common frequency in a number of lists of Spanish words which were prepared by their several authors after they had exam ined a large number of elementary textbooks in Spanish, tabulating in each case the words common to all of the Spanish grammars and Spanish readers which they had examined. In so far as was possible, the exercises of the standardized test were arranged to include only words found in this word list. In this way, the authors sought to limit the vocabulary of the test to words of com mon occurrence in high-school courses in Spanish. Although there may be more desirable criteria for the validation of test materials than the one used in this study, it is nevertheless true that teaching practice in any subject follows very closely the organization and materials of the available textbooks. This very practical considera tion is held to be a sufficient justification of a test which embodies the materials of common frequency in the books which must be used by students of high-school Spanish. The test was prepared in two forms, now designated as Form A and Form B. These forms originally included many more exercises than were later submitted as a final preliminary form of the test to high-school students. This was considered necessary, since it was 357

Philology in High School Spanish

The Modern Language JournalVolume 7, Issue 3 p. 173-177 PHILOLOGY IN HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH J. P. Wickersham Crawford, J. P. Wickersham Crawford University of PennsylvaniaSearch for more papers by this author J. P. Wickersham Crawford, J. P. Wickersham Crawford University of PennsylvaniaSearch for more papers by this author First published: December 1922 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1922.tb06333.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Volume7, Issue3December 1922Pages 173-177 RelatedInformation

Syllabus for High School Spanish

Syllabus for High School Spanish