The use of videotape recordings as a means of providing background information to reading materials in the Spanish foreign language classroom is discussed in two parts. The first part illustrates an activity where television commercials, targeted at specific Hispanic groups, are viewed by students prior to the reading of short articles. This…

A familiar and effective way to provide classroom practice of foreign language skills in a meaningful context is role-playing. One variation, spontaneous group role-playing, offers a bridge between textbook dialogues and real-world dialogues. Especially appropriate for beginning and intermediate students, simultaneous group role-playing is a…

This English-Spanish lexicon presents food service technical terms. The terms are divided into seven categories: basic food items, common baking terms, food cutting terms, general cooking terms, non-English culinary terms, and tools and equipment. Each English word or term is followed by its Spanish equivalent(s). (YLB)

Conducted by the Texas Department of Human Services (DHS), Project Amistad (Friendship) originally set out to recruit and train Black and Hispanic volunteers to conduct lay therapy sessions with Black and Hispanic families in which abuse and neglect of children had occurred. Start-up was significantly delayed due to personnel changes; as a result,…

A study examined inter-rater reliability on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service (ACTFL/ETS) oral language proficiency rating scale. Seven raters, all elementary or intermediate college Spanish teachers given only brief formal training in the use of the scale, evaluated recorded interviews with…

A parent-child foreign language learning program based on the Suzuki Method is proposed. The method is based in large part of the application of Suzuki's "Mother Tongue Method" and the "Suzuki Triangle: Student, Parent, Teacher," which suggests that the child, aged 8-10 years, and a parent attend classes together. The…

Instructional materials for the preterite tense in Spanish are based on Robert Terry's technique of using familiar stories in the foreign language, written in the present tense, which students must place in the past by changing verb forms. The objective is to avoid the disadvantages of simply translating verb tenses and to allow the student to get…

The purpose of Project P.I.A.G.E.T. (Promoting Intellectual Adaptation Given Experiential Transforming) is to provide plans and procedures to develop bilingual children's self-concepts. This Title VII project, judged successful after 1 year of implementation, works with bilingual families in both the home and school settings. Its objectives…

This profile of the English language teaching situation in Venezuela discusses the status of English in society and in the educational system. It also gives an account of Venezuelan political, economic, and social life. A description is given of the education system and reforms that have been proposed for nursery school through higher education.…

This profile of the English language teaching situation in Mexico examines the role of English in society and in the educational system. It is noted that the extent to which English is used in Mexico is affected by the country's proximity to the United States. The educational system is described, with emphasis on English instruction which begins…

This is a corporate policy statement of the Hispanic business agenda of Coca Cola USA, and the results of a community survey conducted to inform that agenda. The statement outlines several areas of company policy as they relate to Hispanic Americans. These areas include regional marketing, promotion, and community relations strategies, a…

An investigation was conducted by students in a linguistics seminar which had two parts, a matched-guise questionnaire and a semantic differential questionnaire. The content and results of the latter are presented here. The objective of this part of the study was to determine what attitudes French-speaking Swiss students had toward languages they…

This study examines quantitatively the systems of tense, mood, and aspect in Puerto Rican Spanish spoken in the United States. In the community under investigation, code-switching is an integral part of the communicative repertoire; also, the codes tend to be switched at points around which the surface structures of Spanish and English map onto…

Four families with hearing impaired preschoolers who were involved in parent-infant education at the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles were included in a study of the effects of limited English speaking parents on children with hearing impairments. The 6 month parent-infant education program was provided in Spanish. Sessions were adapted to each…

The development of a Spanish for business course at Elmhurst College, a small undergraduate liberal arts college, is described. The course involves advanced conversation and composition focusing entirely on business and emphasizes vocabulary building and the function and composition of business documents. Another goal of the course is to provide…