Meaningful Writing For Beginners

Meaningful Writing for Beginners
Author(s): Jeffery D. Stokes

Source: Hispania, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Sep., 2007), pp. 543-550
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese
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Meaningful Writing forBeginners

JefferyD. Stokes
Weber State University
the feasibility of a semester-long writing activity for beginning foreign

This project explores
and
is carefully guided, but also contextualized, personalized
language students. The type of writing proposed
to the student. Further, several of the national Standards for Language
and motivating
therefore meaningful
Learning are addressed through this activity. Included in the article are a description of how such a project can
be developed, sample student writing in Spanish as well as results of a student survey on perceived usefulness of
Abstract:
the writing task and its effect on language acquisition. Both student reaction as well as the typical ultimate
written product suggest that such an approach to writing is an excellent component in fostering general language
acquisition and likely interest in pursuing further language study.
Key Words:
language
first-year language
study, process writing, proficiency,
second-language
acquisition,
standards for
learning, writing
Introduction
Most language teachers do not have difficulty coming up with writing tasks for be
ginning students. However, given the obvious lexical and syntactic limitations of
lower-level students, these tasks often tend to be almost exclusively mechanical with
a focus much more on form rather than on meaning. Of necessity, much of what such students
produce, both orally as well as inwriting in the target language, consists ofmemorized words and
formulae. In thebeginning there can be a certain novelty inbeing able to access, utter and write
a fewwords and phrases ina new language. This eventually wears thin,however, and classroom
activities can easily become routine and dull.
A study by Omaggio (1982) clearly suggests that instructorswho personalize their instruc
tion are consistently judged to be most effective by both students and supervisors.While this
study focused mainly on oral activities in the classroom, there is every reason to believe that
similar perceptions result fromwritten activities thatare personalized and thereforecontextual
ized and meaningful. As a result,more students are likely to find themotivation to practice the
language and continue in theirquest toward acquisition. This article outlines how an extended
writing project thatpersonalizes tasks for students in a meaningful way can be developed in a
first-semester
foreign-language
course.
Review ofLiterature
Rivers (1975) described the distinction between what she called skill-getting activities and
skill-using activit?s. The skill-getting part of this dichotomy refers to very controlled, often
mechanical kinds ofwriting activities as a precursor tomore meaningful writing. Lee and Van
Patten (2003) explain that there are "language practices that use writing" and that "these
activities focus learners' attentionon the subcomponents ofwriting" (248). Dvorak ( 1986) refers
to such activities as transcription-orientedpractice. Magnan (1985) suggests that studentswrite
down something theymight produce orally in the target language, thus using writing for the
purpose of enhancing speaking skills. Omaggio Hadley (1993) recommends what she calls
"precommunicative" practice at the lower levels of proficiency, which "allows students to
"Meaningful
Hispania
Stokes, Jeffery D.
Writing for Beginners"
90.3 (2007):
543-550

544
Hispania 90 September2007
practice oral skillswithin a controlled framework and thus build confidence" (239) and recom
mends similar kinds of practice for "writing as a support skill" (296). The notion thatwriting can,
and perhaps should, be a support skill for practice of language forms, including in the speaking
mode, seems well established.

Ifwriting practice were to end there,nevertheless, we would have indeed fallen shortof the
goal. Although some kinds ofmechanical practice can be more meaningful than others, it isvery
difficult to produce activities of this type that are trulypersonalized and engaging for students.
Rivers (1975) referredto such kinds ofwriting tasks as skill-using activities, inwhich students go
far beyond themere manipulation of forms. Instead of viewing writing as a support activity for
other skills, Seow (2002) suggests conversely that "teachers often plan appropriate classroom
activities that support the learning of specific writing skills at every stage" (316). He suggests
regularly incorporating such preliminary classroom activities as planning (pre-writing), group
brainstorming, clustering, rapid freewriting and student generation of wh questions about a
topic. After their discussion of language practices thatuse writing, Lee and VanPatten (2003)
"propose quite a different approach to second language writing, one that engages writers in
making good decisions thatwill improve theirwriting." They go on tonote that"writing activities
must help determinewriters' conceptualization of the rhetorical problem and engage higher level
planning and reviewing processes" (251). The rhetorical problem is defined as "all aspects of the
writing situation, including the purpose [...], the likely audience, the topic, the author's know
ledge of the topic and thewriter's own goals inwriting" (247).
Very few in theprofession would argue thatproviding meaningful, communicative and per
sonalized practice inwriting is not highly desirable. But doing this from the very beginning
stages of language learning isnot so easy, given students' obvious lack of lexical,morphological
and syntactic repertoire.The challenge lies innot guiding thewriting activity so carefully on the
one extreme that thewriting becomes mere reproduction ofmemorized elements, or on the other
extreme, that the task is so general that the student flounders intounknown and unproductive
territory.In spite of thisfine line thatone walks by asking beginners towrite, there are thosewho
advocate such an approach. Scott (1995) points to the benefit of the discoveries that students
will make as they compose in the target language from the start. She had earlier proposed a
developmental program forwriting at the first-year, second-year and third-year levels (1992).
Although the topic might be the same, the precise language tasks and structures become pro
gressively more complex. She stresses that "students who are taught to write from the start
become better foreign-anguage learners" (1). Omaggio Hadley (1993) suggests "various kinds of
creative writing activities, such as journal writing or cinquain poetry, inbeginning courses to en
courage students to express theirown meaning within the limitsof theirdeveloping competence"
(292).
Another way of making sure thatwriting assignments are of communicative value to
students is to consider how such tasks might be designed to address the five goals of Com
munication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities within the Standards for
Foreign Language Learning (ACTFL). Shrum and Glisan (2005) point out that"these five goals
interconnect to suggest the richness of human language; no one goal can be separated from the
other, nor is any one goal more important than another" (45). The more goals that can be
addressed ina writing assignment, then, the richer and more beneficial the assignment should be
for the student.
Design of theTerm Paper and Project Results

Students in the two beginning classes were fairlydiverse in termsof age and marital status.
Their reason forbeing enrolled in the course ranged from a personal interest in learning Spanish
tomeeting the requirement for theB .A.degree. There were a number of false beginners among the
true beginners in the course, but I will focus particularly on the level of success of the true
beginners in the groups.

for Beginners
545
Meaningful
Writing
As pointed out earlier, a very carefully crafted studentproject is necessary in order to avoid
either asking the students to go too far beyond where they are able to do so linguistically, or
merely eliciting memorized words, phrases and sentences. Scott (1992) suggests that "in L2
writing, students should learn to allow familiarwords and expressions togenerate their ideas" (3),
which seems to suggest a balance between using memorized elements and expressing original
ideas, given a significant amount of linguistic constraints. The first step, then,was a careful
analysis of the textbook the studentswere using (Caycedo Gardner, Rusch, and Dom?nguez 2004)
to assess what vocabulary, morphology and structure they could reasonably be expected to use
in thewriting process. This analysis yielded the following general topics for each paragraph they
would eventually write, beginning after the first couple of chapters and ending with Chapter 6.
(See Appendix A for the full version of topics and instructions to students.)
1.
6.
Self description
Daily routine
A favorite subject I study and why it interestsme (with sample given due to thevarious
types of content studentswere to include)
Elaboration on paragraph 3:What and whom I know in thisprofession; when and why
there is a demand forpeople in thisfield
Typical schedule of activities and attire forpeople in thefield described inparagraphs 3
and 4
How Spanish might be useful for someone in thefield described in the previous three
7.
paragraphs
Concluding paragraph to sum up or to tie the paper together
2.
3.
4.
5.
Students completed a paragraph in this series of seven paragraphs about every 10 to 14 days
during the semester in thefirst-semester Spanish course. There were three types of feedback that
students received each time:
1. Language errorswere located that students could presumably correct on their own,
such as with adjective agreement.
2. Corrections were made for language elements that students likely did not have the
capacity to handle on theirown, such as with a tense they had not learned.
3.
Comments
were
provided
about
the organization
and
content,
or
studentswere asked to revise or add details for the next time around.
lack
thereof,
and
Scott (1992) cites a study byKepner (1991), which indicates strongly that this last type of feed
back may be themost important since "students who were given message-related comments on
theirwritten work performed better in termsof both the quality of their ideas and surface-level
accuracy than studentswho were given errorcorrections combined with explicit rule reminders"
(4). Semke (1984) discovered a similar relationship between comments and performance. Of
course, there is always ambiguous territoryinwhich one realizes that the student interlanguage
isnot typical of how a native speakerwould be likely to express an idea, but is also not technically
a clear-cut grammatical, lexical or communicative error.The rule of thumb in these gray areas was
that if the idea seemed to be understandable to a general audience, itwas leftalone.

Every time students handed in a new paragraph, theywere expected to correct and revise
previous paragraphs and turn them all in together as part of one single work. They were re
quested to contact the instructorat least 24 hours before each installmentwas due inperson or
through email in order to get help with anything theywere unable towrite, which a number of
them did. As the semester progressed, theywere asked to add more details to earlier paragraphs
after having learned additional vocabulary and structure.Of course, therewas also plenty of
language practice thatused writing (precommunicative or skill-getting activities) leading up to

thewriting of each paragraph as well as some brainstorming activities in class that focused on

H?spanla 90 September2007
546
what might be included. This was clearly a recursive or process-writing project inwhich students
progressively improved, added to and refined theirwork. Furthermore, itaddresses some of the
five Goals from theStandards mentioned above. It included Communication, both presentational
(once theproduct was ready) and interactive (student/instructorduring theprocess). Itwas very
strongly oriented towardmaking a Connection with another discipline (paragraphs 3-6). For a
number of students,Communities was another goal that they addressed since they talked about
how theyhave interactedwith specific individuals who are involved professionally in theirown
community, noting in some cases how Spanish isuseful inour university city,whose population
is roughly one-third Spanish-speaking.
Although a rhetorical problem was not introduced inany formal kind ofway, especially in the
sense of the instructorcreating an imagined context, purpose, hypothetical readers, etc. for the
student, itwas emphasized throughout that theywould end up with a nice document thatwould
present themselves well to speakers of Spanish ingeneral. End products typicallywere about two
to four type-writtenpages. Although thismay not seem like a sizable paper, in fact it is quite an
accomplishment for thosewho had never learned Spanish prior to the beginning of the process.
(Appendix C contains the final version of two sample termpapers written by studentswho had
had no previous Spanish.) As will be seen later,many of these students ultimately felt a con
siderable amount of pride forwhat theyhad accomplished during the semester.
Student Perceptions of theProject

At the completion of the project, students were administered an anonymous survey re
a
garding their attitudes toward the activity. A tally of student responses on a scale 0-3 and
can
B.
in
comments
be
found
Students
of
student
overwhelmingly
summary
Appendix
responded positively to each item in the survey,with the vast majority responding "strongly
agree" or "agree" on each item.To summarize these results, thebulk of the students affirmed that
doing the termpaper was a motivating activity for learning Spanish, was fun, enhanced their
general acquisition of Spanish, was a valuable use of their time,helped themmake a connection
between Spanish and another academic discipline, and would be something theywould recom
mend
that future beginning
students
do. The
most
common
positive
written
comments
students
made affirmed that the best thing about doing the project was learning how to better form sen
tences and/orparagraphs, becoming convinced of theirability towrite in Spanish, being able to
write about self and interests,being able towrite about a career/discipline of interest and in
creasing vocabulary. Students were also asked to indicate theworst thing about the activity, to
which themost frequent responses were that they didn't know all the vocabulary/grammar/
language that theyneeded, the project was time-consuming and theydidn't have the rightword
processing
resources.
Conclusion
Although much still remains leftto do in the area of designing meaningful writing tasks for
beginning students, the term-paper project seems like a very good next step, both from the
was ultimately achieved. Although the task
perspective of the student as well as in termsofwhat
was limited from a lexical,morphological and syntacticperspective, the studentswere able touse
what they had learned in class in a significantlymeaningful and satisfyingway to them per
in an
sonally. The activity also required them to ponder the importance of their target language
academic or professional field,which, in turn,
may provide additional motivation for some of them
to continue in theirquest to acquire Spanish. At the very least, they should be able to say that
a
of
theydidn't merely memorize some vocabulary and learn to conjugate few verbs in theirstudy
Spanish.

Meaningful
Writing
547
for Beginners
WORKS CITED
of Foreign Languages.
Council on the Teaching
(1999). Standards for Foreign
in the 21st Century. Lawrence, KS: Allen P.
Rusch, and Marcela
Gardner, Lucia, Debbie
(2004).
?Claro que
Dom?nguez.
Caycedo
Houghton Mifflin.
American
Dvorak,
Learning
Language
s?!, 5th ed. Boston:
(1986). "Writing in a Foreign Language."

Listening, Reading and Writing: Analysis and Ap
Ed. B. H. Wing. Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
Trisha R.
plication.
145-63.
to the
in the Relationship
of Types of Written Feedback
Christine Goring.
(1991). "An Experiment
75:
305-13.
Skills."
The
Modern
Journal
of
Language
Development
Second-Language
Writing
Boston:
Communicative
Lee, James F., and Bill VanPatten.
Language
(2003). Making
Teaching Happen.
McGraw Hill.
Kepner,
and Testing Proficiency

in Writing:
Skills to Transcend
Proficiency, Curriculum, Articulation: The Ties that Bind. Ed. Alice
109-36.
of Foreign Languages.
Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching
Omaggio, Alice C. (1982). "The Relationship Between Personalized Classroom Talk and Teacher
15: 255-69.
Annals
Ratings: Some Research Results." Foreign Language
Magnan,
Sally
Language
S. (1985).
Classroom."
the Second
"Teaching
Omaggio Hadley, Alice C. (1993). Teaching

2nd ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Language
in Context: Proficiency-Oriented
C. Omaggio.
Effectiveness
Language
Instruction.
A Practical Guide to the Teaching of French. New York: Oxford UP.

"Write from the Start: A Task-Oriented
(1992).
Developmental
Writing Program
'91. Ed. R. Terry. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta
State U.
Foreign Language Students." Dimension:
Language
15.
Rivers, Wilga
M.
Scott, Virginia
?.
(1975).
M.
(1995). "Writing." Research

U.
115-27.
Within Reach
II. Eds. V. Galloway
and C. Herron. Valdosta,
GA:
Valdosta
for
1
State
17: 195-202.
Annals
(1984). "Effects of the Red Pen." Foreign Language
in Language
(2002). "The Writing Process and Process Writing." Methodology
Teaching: An
of Current Practice. Eds. J. C. Richards and W. A. Renandya. New York: Cambridge UP. 315
Semke, Harriet D.
Seow, Anthony.
Anthology
20.
Shrum, Judith L., and Eileen W. Glisan.

ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
(2005).
Teacher's
Handbook:
Contextualized
Language
Instruction.
3rd
AppendixA
1010
Spanish
Instructions for Term
Project
Important! Turn in all previous versions each time a new paragraph and revised paragraphs are due, always with
the newest on top. Suggestion: First write as much as you can, then consult with the instructor (at least a day
before it is due) during office hours or by e-mail for help with anything you may be unable to write.
1f 1. Describe yourself in Spanish. You can include information on your name, where you're from, how old you
look in
are, who your parents and friends (amigo/amiga)
are, and what you do (student, secretary, etc). Also,
your glossary or dictionary for at least three (3) descriptive adjectives which describe you (tall, smart, blonde,
pretty, etc.), and use these to tell what you are like (with "ser").
tell about you daily routine on the various days of the week, including studies
in the entire work (both paragraphs
you do and do not like to do. Hand
together), newest version on top of older (corrected) version.
| 3. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Your topic this time is: "A favorite subject I study, and why it
interests me." The subject you choose could be your major, your minor, or simply something that you studied
that you really enjoyed. It should be a subject other than Spanish. You may need to look up some words, but try
if 2. (Correct and revise #1.) Then
and work. Tell various activities
to use what you know in Spanish as the basis of your paragraph. A sample paragraph follows, but keep
that you don't necessarily have to follow the structure and organization of this particular paragraph:
inmind
En
ser enfermera alg?n ("some") d?a. Me gus

la Universidad de XXX estudio anatom?a y salud. Deseo
tar?a ser enfermera porque tenemos muchos enfermos en nuestro pa?s. Ellos necesitan buenos m?dicos
y enfermeras. Voy a trabajar en un hospital peque?o en un pueblo peque?o porque es m?s personal. No
me gustan los hospitales grandes e impersonales. Las enfermeras no ganan mucho dinero, pero reciben
mucha
satisfacci?n cuando trabajan con personas enfermas. Por eso deseo ser una enfermera muy
buena y dedicada.
K Hand
in the entire work
?Voy a recibir mi
(all three paragraphs
t?tulo ("degree")
en s?lo dos a?os m?s!
together), newest version
on top of older

(corrected)
versions.
548
\ 4. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Elaborate on the field of study you talked about in paragraph
in this field, and whom you know something about
three. Tell whom you know (conocer) that is a professional
(saber) in this area. Also, tell one or two interesting things that you know (saber) about this profession. Then,
indicate whether or not there is a seasonal aspect to this line of work. Is there more demand for it in the fall? The
that relate to the weather, or some other factor? Try to use the vocabulary and grammatical
spring? (etc.). Does
structures you are familiar with. Hand
in the entire work (all four paragraphs together), newest version on top
of older (corrected) versions.
the typical daily schedule of someone in the field that
f 5. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.) Describe
one generally do the various activities associated with this
in this field generally wear. Does
this vary according to the
times of the day does

you are writing about. What
field? Then describe the typical clothing that people
in the entire work
situation? Hand
(all five paragraphs
together), newest
version
on
top of older
(corrected)
versions.
how the study/knowledge of Spanish
specific about what a person might be able
Hand
in the entire work (all six paragraphs
\ 6. (Correct and revise previous paragraphs.)

someone
in the field you are describing. Be
Explain
Spanish
understanding/speaking/writing/reading
version on top of older (corrected) versions.
versions.
(corrected)
Appendix B
1010
Espa?ol
Student Evaluation
and Comments
need not identify yourself

grades have been turned in.
You
A.
Please
1.
circle
(with Summary
the answer
the term paper was
a motivating
agree
disagree
and my
about myself
strongly agree
3.
4.
on
Working
the term paper was
use
statements:
strongly disagree
fun.
strongly disagree
disagree
a valuable
look at this sheet until after
activity for learning Spanish.
enhanced my general acquisition

agree
disagree
strongly agree
not
for each of the following
interests in the term paper was
agree
the term paper
Doing
instructor will
your point of view
that best describes
I found that doing
Writing
of Results)
on this survey. The
anywhere
strongly agree
2.
for
to accomplish
by
together), newest
paragraphs.) Conclusion: Write a brief concluding paragraph to sum up or tie

in the entire work (all seven paragraphs together), newest version on top of
\ 7. (Correct and revise previous

together your term project. Hand
older
can be useful
of my
of the Spanish language.

strongly disagree
time in learning to express myself
in
Spanish.
agree
strongly agree
5.
the term paper
Doing
strongly disagree
disagree
helped me make
a connection
between
and another academic
Spanish
discipline.
strongly agree
6.
I would
recommend
agree
that Spanish
strongly agree
1010 students in the future do a similar term paper
agree
item
of Survey:
strongly agree
(x3)
15 1
11
2
20 3
20 4
13 5
23 6
Tally
of Responses
agree
(x2)
strongly disagree
disagree
Table
Results
strongly disagree
disagree
1
and
disagree
Averages
(xl)
(All
Students
strongly disagree
Included)
average
(xO)
23
26
18
17
21
13

1 1
2 1
2 0
3 0
6 0
3 0
2.30/3.00
2.18/3.00
2.49/3.00
2.43/3.00
2.18/3.00
2.49/3.00
Meaningful
B.
Please
1.
2.
Summary
The
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
One
write brief comments
What
was
What
was
on the following
for Beginners
Writing
549
two topics:
the best thing about doing the term project?

the worst thing about doing the term project?
of Student Comments
best thing about doing
the term project:
=
(n
Learning how to better form sentences/paragraphs
Became
convinced of ability to write in Spanish (6)
Writing about self and interests (5)
9)
Writing about career/discipline of interest (5)

Increased vocabulary
(5)
Learning to express self better (5)
Being able to revise the work (4)
Correlation
Required
with
course/text
content
(2)
some
thinking (2)
Spanish through actual use
(2)
Learning
student for each of thefollowing:
Thinking more about selecting a major
Provided writing practice
No
grade given until the end

sentences
into Spanish
Translating
Fostered
circumlocution
Seeing progress over the semester

Increased understanding of Spanish
Fostered frequent active use of Spanish
Learned
The worst
1.
Not
how useful Spanish
thing about doing

knowing
all
is
the term project:
the vocabulary/syntax/language
or left blank (7)
2.
No
3.
(5)
Time-consuming
resource
Not having the right word-processing
Some topics difficult to write about (2)
student for each of thefollowing:
4.
5.
One
negative
(12)
comment,
(for diacritics)
(5)
Difficulty with some topics due to lack of a major

Not knowing how many points itwas worth
Not being able to go over it and ask questions
Some paragraphs were repetitive ("but not really")
Tying the paragraphs
together
Did not own a dictionary
little time between paragraph

Coming up with things to write about
Not a favorite assignment
Having
Spanish
and student's
specific major
assignments
have
little in common
AppendixC
Samples ofPapers by True Beginner Students
following samples are exact reproductions
for the disguising of identifying vital data.
The
Sample
of the final product without
further editing by the author except
Me
llamo L. Soy de Layton, Utah. Soy estadounidense. Mi familia es de origen norteamericano, alem?n,
ingl?s y franc?s. Tengo veinticuatro a?os. Yo soy casada. Mi esposo se llama H. ?l tiene veintiocho a?os. ?l es
alto, moreno, y muy guapo. Tenemos un perro y ?l se llama Samii. A nosotros nos gusta mucho Samii.
Me gusta bailar y escuchar m?sica, pero no me gusta cantar. A mi esposo, H., no le gusta bailar pero le gusta
escuchar m?sica y cantar. Me gusta leer las novelas de Danielle
Steele. Tengo treinta y seis novelas de ella. Me
gusta comer en Olive Garden. Las comidas italianas son muy buenas.
Yo soy estudiante. Tengo cinco clases en la Universidad
graf?a, antropolog?a y espa?ol. Me gusta estudiar los pueblos
de Weber. Tengo que estudiar mucho. Estudio geo

y los sitios por eso estudio antropolg?a y geograf?a.

550
es muy dif?cil pero es interesante. Geograf?a es interesante tambi?n. Deseo

ser geogr?fico antrop?
Antropolog?a
lico alg?n d?a. A m? me gusta viajar. Alg?n d?a, voy a estudiar y viajar por todo el mundo.
estudian los pueblos y sus culturas alrededor del mundo. Ellos escriben y hablan mucho sobre
Antrop?logos
su trabajo. El trabajo es muy dif?cil. Yo conozco a Dr. R. C. Ella es directora de departamento antropolg?a en la
Universidad
de Weber. Ella es profesora tambi?n. La Dra. C. visita y trabaja por todo el mundo. A ella le gusta
visitar China y Espa?a. Ella es muy inteligente, simp?tica y buena. Ella es mi amiga tambi?n. Yo s? sobre africa
nos y ?rabes y asi?ticos y sus lenguas y sus religiones. Yo conozco a Charles Darwin y a Franz Boas. Ellos son
famosos. El Sr. Darwin es el padre de la antopolg?a.
antropol?gicos
Los ge?grafos estudian los pueblos tambi?n pero no estudian las culturas mucho.
En cambio los ge?grafos

la tierra o el tiempo y los pueblos. La geograf?a es interesante y es diversi?n. Yo conozco a Dr. E.
de Weber.
?l es profesor tambi?n. A ?l le gusta
?l es director de departamento geograf?a en la Universidad
estudiar mapas viejos y geograf?a hist?rica. El Dr. E. es muy simp?tico. Yo s? mucha geograf?a hist?rica. Estoy
estudiando geograf?a hist?rica este semestre. Yo conozco a H. A. ?l pron?stico del tiempo en la televisi?n para
estudian m?s
trece. ?l trabaja bajo la lluvia o el sol y durante cualquier tiempo.

Lo antrop?logos y los ge?grafos trabajan casi todos los d?as t?picamente. Ellos dan clases parecidas a las de
Dra. C. y Dr. E. Ellos no trabajan los fines de semana pero ellos trabajan horas largas. Por ejemplo, ellos trabajan
por ocho horas en la universidad al d?a pero entonces regresan a su casa y trabajan tambi?n por dos o tres horas.
Los profesores llegan en la universidad a las seis o seis y media m?s o menos y salen de la universidad a las tres,
m?s o menos. Ambos antrop?logos y ge?grafos pueden trabajar al aire libre y ellos llevan ropa seg?n el trabajo
el canal
y el tiempo. Si ellos dan clases, pueden llevar ropa pr?ctica. Ellos llevan que prefiera. La Dra. C. lleva vestidos
y trajes un poco elegantes. El Dr. E. lleva pantalones y camisas pr?cticas.
Sabemos que otras lenguas son buenas siempre. Hablar y entender el espa?ol es muy bueno porque el espa?ol
es el idioma oficial de veinte pa?ses del mundo. Hoy aproximadamente doscientos setenta y seis millones de per
espa?ol. Los antrop?logos estudian las gentes alrededor del mundo. En los pa?ses de habla espa?ola
saber el espa?ol ayuda. La geograf?a usa los nombres de espa?ol para el tiempo. Por ejemplo, el ni?o, la ni?a o
hurac?n Edwardo, Jos? etc. Ellos pueden hablar espa?ol a otros profesionales y la gente que habla espa?ol tam
cosas por hablar a otras personas en espa?ol. Ellos pueden aprender el
bi?n. Ellos pueden aprender muchas
tiempo, del lugares o de las noticias. El espa?ol es muy ?til por muchas razones.
sonas hablan
Una raz?n por qu? yo aprendo espa?ol es porque yo deseo aprender otra lengua que es ?til para todos los
d?as. El espa?ol es ?til en Utah y en los Estados Unidos en general hoy porque nosotros tienemos muchas perso
nas que hablan espa?ol ?nicamente. Alg?n d?a cu?ndo termine mis estudios y yo trabaje en la geograf?a o en la
antropolog?a, yo voy a viajar y estudiar el mundo. Entonces puedo usar la lengua espa?ola para ayudar el enten
dimiento
(mutuo).
2
Sample
Yo me llamo D., soy de Bountiful, Utah. (Yo) tengo veinticuatro a?os. Mi n?mero de tel?fono es [000],
cincuenta y nueve, cero, seis. Me gusta ser aficionada de los desportes y me gustan los caballos. Me gusta ser cam
pista y me gusta ir de pesca. Me gusta el esqu? acu?tico tambi?n.
Me gusta bailar y nadar. Me gusta escuchar m?sica de guitarra. No me gusta estudiar mucho. Me gustan los
s?bados y los domingos porque no trabajo esos los d?as. Me gustan los fines de semana. Me gusta hablar con mis
amigos
y correr en la ma?anas.
gruesos.
En
Me
gusta jugar a los bolos
con mi
familia. No me
gusta
leer mucho
los libros
ense?ar alg?n d?a, posiblemente

de Weber
estudio salud y nutrici?n. Deseo
ejercicios
alg?n d?a. Me gusta el ejercico mucho tambi?n. Espero trabajar en una gran compa??a y ense?ar. Yo
ofrecer?a clases de salud y nutrici?n. Muchas
compa??as contratan a personas para ense?ar a sus empleados sobre
la salud. Las profesoras no ganan mucho dinero, pero ganan suficiente para vivir. Voy a recibir mi t?tulo en s?lo
la Universidad
aer?bicos
uno a?o y medio.

Yo conozco al se?or G. G., el jefe de departamento de salud. Creo que la salud y la nutrici?n son muy intere
santes. Yo s? que comer y hacer ejercicios es saludable. S? que comidas que son saludables comidas [son mejores]
que [los que] no son saludables. Mi tarea es de ense?ar les a las personas el beneficio de la buena salud y buenos
Esto es ense?ar todo el a?o, el verano, el oto?o y el invierno y la primavera. No impor

ta el tiempo.
Un d?a t?pico para alguien en el campo de salud es muy diferente. Yo quiero trabajar en negocios o en una
escuela con el proposito de ayudar y ense?ar a las personas acerca salud y nutrici?n. Yo quiero trabajar en las
como a las ocho y luego ir al trabajar. Con este
ma?anas. De esa manera yo puedo hacer ejercicios en la ma?ana
como por ejemplo puedo usar zapatos de
trabajo yo puedo vestirme formal y tambi?n puedo vestirme casual,
tenis o ropa para ejercicio.
El espa?ol es muy importante en este campo porque si aprendo espa?ol yo puedo ayudar a la gente que no
habla ingl?s. Por ejemplo yo puedo usar espa?ol en los colegios o en la comunidad. En Utah cada vez hay m?s his
a esta gente con su salud.
panos que no hablan ingl?s, y eso va requevir que you aprenda espa?ol para ayudar
Finalmente, yo pienso que es importante aprendar otro idiona. Aunque mi carrera no necisite mucho es
comunicarme con otras personas. Por
pa?ol, yo pienso que es importante saber espa?ol porque as? you puedo
no habla ingl?s.
ejemplo yo trabajo con gente que habla espa?ol que
h?bitos de alimentaci?n.


Meaningful Writing For Beginners

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Author(s): Jeffery D. Stokes

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