8.1 Helping Spanish-Speaking English Learners with Magic ‘e’
Magic 'e' Skill Explainer
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Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan: We also have in English a vowel followed by a consonant and that silent 'e', like in the word "dame." I said the long 'a' sound and it was followed by the 'm', and the 'e' was silent. In Spanish, I have 'd-a-m-e.' We say "dame." Means give it to me, but in English it's "dame." And what's really going to be problematic is you're going to ask me to not pronounce that final sound. We have no silent vowels here. It's very difficult for me to take off that vowel. But you taught me: a vowel, a consonant, and an 'e'. And I do see most first grade teachers do this syllable type, so that's wonderful. But we want to make the connection to the home language if possible.
Today we will learn about a new way to spell a long vowel sound. It can be a little tricky because there is a vowel that does something unexpected.
Let’s look at this word [dime] and scan all the way to the end. At the end of this word, we have an ‘e’. The ‘e’ does not make a sound. The ‘e’ is silent. That means we see it but don’t say anything.
That is different from Spanish, in which an ‘e’ at the end of a word is pronounced. If that was a Spanish word, we would read it dee-may, right? But in English, the ‘e’ says nothing. This is unexpected, so we will need to practice.
Here, the ‘e’ has a job of jumping backward over the consonant and telling the vowel ‘i’ to say its name: /ī/. This pattern is a vowel, then a consonant, and then an ‘e’ that does not make a sound. Watch and listen.
Teacher Tip
If you’re not a Spanish speaker yourself, we recommend practicing the pronunciation of any Spanish words you might use before you start teaching, either with a bilingual colleague or by using an online language tool that can model pronunciation, such as SpanishDictionary.com (opens in new window). If you establish a culture in which students all feel their language expertise is valued, you can also ask students for help pronouncing words. Consider asking them before class so they can be ready!
If you’re not a Spanish speaker yourself, we recommend practicing the pronunciation of any Spanish words you might use before you start teaching, either with a bilingual colleague or by using an online language tool that can model pronunciation, such as SpanishDictionary.com (opens in new window). If you establish a culture in which students all feel their language expertise is valued, you can also ask students for help pronouncing words. Consider asking them before class so they can be ready!
/d/, /ī/, /m/. Dime.
"I’ll put a dime in my piggy bank."
A dime is a coin that is worth 10 cents. Does anyone know how to say dime in Spanish? [Students may answer moneda de diez centavos.]
Here in the word dime we have four letters, but the ‘e’ does not make a sound. Let’s tap all the sounds together.
/d/, /ī/, /m/. Dime.
That ‘e’ is silent. It does not make a sound. It jumps backwards over the consonant telling the vowel, which is ‘i’, to say its name.
Let’s try some more words together. Remember, the ‘e’ in English does not make a sound like it does in Spanish.
/c/, /ā/, /k/. Cake.
“I have cake for my birthday.” Now you say it.
“I have cake for my birthday.”
Do you know what cake is? It’s a sweet dessert with frosting that you might have at a birthday party, right?
Do you know how to say it in Spanish? [Students may answer pastel.]
/c/, /ā/, /k/. Cake.
That ‘e’ is silent. It does not make a sound. It jumps backwards over the consonant telling the vowel, which is ‘a’, to say its name.
Teacher Tip
By knowing how 'e' is pronounced in Spanish, you can listen for how it might influence students' pronunciation and places where children need more practice in reading magic 'e' words. If you hear students pronouncing the magic 'e' as they would in Spanish, find an encouraging way to correct the error. "I can see why you did that! That's how you would say it in Spanish, right? Good job using all of your language skills! Remember, it's different in English. Let's try it again."
By knowing how 'e' is pronounced in Spanish, you can listen for how it might influence students' pronunciation and places where children need more practice in reading magic 'e' words. If you hear students pronouncing the magic 'e' as they would in Spanish, find an encouraging way to correct the error. "I can see why you did that! That's how you would say it in Spanish, right? Good job using all of your language skills! Remember, it's different in English. Let's try it again."
Language Development Within a Reading Fluency Lesson
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[music]
Lenore Delgado: What sounds do birds make?
Jisbel: Hoo …
Lenore Delgado: They tweet, right? Tweet, tweet, tweet? Okay, well, today, we’re going to be reading a story, and the title of the story is called "Yip Yap."
Leonor Delgado is a veteran teacher at P.S. 109 in the Bronx. She’s been getting coaching from English Learner expert Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, who’s joining her class today.
Ms. Delgado: Have you ever had a puppy?
This small group is working on reading fluency, and Ms. Delgado is learning from Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan how to intentionally integrate language development into this structured lesson.
Ms. Delgado: Have you ever seen a puppy?
Student: Yes.
Ms.Delgado: You’ve seen? How do they behave?
She begins by getting the kids talking about puppies, the topic of the story they’ll be reading later.
Ms. Delgado: They’re babies? And what do they do? What do pups do?
Jisbel: They, they do bad, and they broke your stuff.
Ms. Delgado: Oh, yes, they break … say, "Puppies break your stuff." Can you say that?
Jisbel: Puppies break your stuff.
Second grader Jisbel clearly has background knowledge about puppies … and she’s in an environment where she feels comfortable sharing it, thanks to Ms. Delgado. It’s critical for English Learners like Jisbel to get plenty of chances to speak, building upon the language skills they already have as they learn to read in a new language.
Ms. Delgado: So we are going to practice the short vowel sounds, okay. Name?
Students: ‘a’
Ms. Delgado: Sound?
Students: /ă/
The students begin their reading fluency practice with individual sounds.
Ms. Delgado: Name?
Students: ‘i’
Ms. Delgado: Sound?
Students: /ĭ/
Next, it’s fluency with individual words … words that will appear in the story they’ll be reading at the end of the lesson.
Ms. Delgado: I want you to look at row one. We are going to read the words, and then I will ask you a question after each row. Okay. Ready? Begin.
Students: Bug, van, dug …
Instead of just plowing through the word list, Ms. Delgado stops and focuses on different characteristics of the words … starting with the phonology of the word hug, the sounds it’s made up of.
Ms. Delgado: Which word, or words rhyme with the word hug?
Ms. Delgado gives Carol plenty of time to answer.
Carol: /h/
Ms. Deglado: /d/
Carol: /d/, /ŭ/? Dug?
Ms. Delgado: /d/, /ŭ/
Carol and Ms. Delgado: Dug.
Ms. Delgado: Very nice.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan takes a moment to extend the students' knowledge of rhyming, which can help them eventually decode new words with ending patterns they already know.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: How did you know it rhymed? I'm confused.
Carol: Because the …
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: How did you know?
Carol: It has the same ending as bug.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: What's the ending?
Carol: ‘u’, ‘g’, and, and, and the word I said have the same ending sound.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: It has the same ending. And what changed? Only what?
Carol: The, the, the, the first letter.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: The first letter. The first letter changed. The first sound changes. And that's what makes a rhyming word.
With a little push from Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan, Carol is now primed to take the step from identifying a rhyme to being able to generate rhyming words, because she’s talked through how rhymes are made.
Ms. Delgado: Okay. Row two.
Students: Wags, not …
After looking at sounds in a word, Ms. Delgado now explores meaning in other words from the list.
Ms. Delgado: Which word means to move from side to side? What word? Yes.
Jisbel: Wags.
Ms. Delgado: Yes. Very good. Wags. And who wags his…?
Jisbel: The tail … the dog wags the tail.
Ms. Delgado: Very nice. Okay, let's go to line three.
And there’s a word they’ve been discussing all week … sobs. Ms. Delgado reviews it today with visuals, a sample sentence, and gestures.
Ms. Delgado: And the word is sobs. Can you say that?
Students: Sobs.
Ms. Delgado: And I'm going to read the sentence: "The boy sobs when he misses his mom." So what do you think sobs means? What does it mean? Yes, Jisbel.
Jisbel: To cry noisily.
Ms. Delgado: Yes, to cry noisily. So when you sob, you’re not just crying, you're crying and you're making noise. Can we practice that? Can we practice sobbing?
Ms. Delgado and Students: [crying noises]
Now they’re ready to read the story. They’ll read it a few times, to work toward fluency … accurate, automatic, and expressive reading. On the first go-round, accuracy is the focus. Each student reads at their own pace, with both teachers nearby, in case a little help is needed.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: /h/. Look at it.
Carol: /h/, /o/, /p/, pop?
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: What’s right here? /h/
Carol: ‘h’!
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Mmhmm. ‘h’ says what? /h/
Carol: /h/
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Next one.
Carol: /o/
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: /o/. Good. /p/.
Carol: /p/
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Put it all together.
Carol and Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Hoooop. Good.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Say it again.
Carol and Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Hop.
For their next reading, Ms. Delgado and her students read the story together.
Ms. Delgado: So now we are going to read the story a second time. And we are reading for expression and fluency. So when you come to punctuation and the exclamation, you sound what?
Carol: Loud!
Ms. Delgado: Excited. We are excited. We sound … say, “We sound excited.”
Students: We sound excited.
Ms. Delgado: Are we ready? I'm going to model, but I want you to read along with me.
Ms. Delgado and Students: Jim finds how Wags got out. Wags dug and ran!
By reading along with Ms. Delgado, students hear … and can mimic … the correct pacing, pronunciation, and expression. This good practice helps them build confidence in their second language, too.
Ms. Delgado and Students: Wags wags. Did Wags hop up in our van? She did not.
Ms. Delgado: Okay, so I want you to turn to your partner, and I want you to retell the story from the beginning, middle, and end.
[students speaking over each other]
This gives students the chance to practice expressing their ideas out loud … and to demonstrate their understanding of the story.
Ms. Delgado: So how was the problem solved?
Byron: The problem is solved because they find him.
Ms. Delgado: Beautiful.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: And where did they find him, may I ask?,
Byron: In the … in. … They found Wags in the mud.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: "They found Wags in the mud." That was a complete sentence. Very nice.
Byron ends the lesson on a high note, bringing language and meaning together.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: That was good reading.
Ms. Delgado: Good reading.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Give yourselves a round of applause. [clapping]
Ms. Delgado: Thank you for coaching me in …
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: You’re welcome!
Ms. Delgado: … and having them expand their thinking and their, um, sentences. Thank you.
Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan: Pleasure to be here.
Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale; the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (opens in new window); the AFT (opens in new window); the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation (opens in new window); and anonymous donors.
Special thanks to Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan … and in New York City: P.S. 109 - The Sedgwick School, Bronx District 9, and the New York City Department of Education.
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Reading Universe is a service of WETA-Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.
Teaching English Learners: The Big Picture
This page focuses on teaching magic 'e' to English Learners who speak Spanish. If you'd like broader information about best practices for EL students, here are three introductory pieces to get you started:
To learn more, please visit our sister site ColorinColorado.org (opens in new window). See this page on Early Literacy Instruction in Spanish: Teaching the Beginning Reader (opens in new window).
