Instructional Activity 1

Emily Ash

Title: Linguistic Alternants and Register

Language: Spanish I Novice

ACTFL World-Readiness Standards:

- Learners use the language to investigate, explain, and reflect on the nature of language

through comparisons of the language and culture studied and their own.
- Learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken, signed, or written conversations to

share information, reactions, feelings and opinions.

Learning Objectives:

- Students will be able to compare general pronunciation in English and in Spanish.

- Students will be able to discuss the concept of register and identify when different

registers are required in their own language.

- Students will be able to read different conversations in the target language and identify

different registers used.

- Student will be able to role play their new understanding of register in short skits.

Equipment needed:

- Computer with internet access

- Projector
- Copies of target language conversations

Integration:

Pronunciation is one of the most difficult elements of language to teach to students at the high

school level. Therefore, an instructional tool such as the one in the following pages would be
best integrated into a level one course in the early days of the course. In addition, the activity

allows students to start recognizing elements of their own language they may not have formally

noticed before. Finally, the activity starts out with a video that brings humor into the classroom.

Humor has been shown to lower inhibitions, increase engagement and build confidence between

students and their teachers.

Teacher Introduction:

By definition linguistic alternants are sets of words and/or phrases that share meaning but differ

in that one or more members of the set carries a social connotation (Chaika 2008 p.57). In

everyday life native speakers of a language inherently know the connotations associated with

different words and registers. However, this is knowledge that must be learned when acquiring a

new language. This activity can help you guide our students towards a better understanding of

register and how knowing which linguistic alternant to use in different situations can help ease

cross-cultural communication and integration.

Pre-Activity:

Ask students to complete the following short survey that assesses their knowledge of the

concepts of register and linguistic alternants.

1. What does the word register mean to you?

2. What are some different styles of language you are familiar with?
3. Can you give an example of a situation that requires a specific register or style of language?
4. Can you give an example of an improper co-occurrence?

Instructional Activity:
 1. Ask students to share their thoughts on the word register, highlight those who have good

insight into its linguistic meaning. Then show students the following I Love Lucy video

clip:

Ricky Ricardo Reads Perfect English - https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=kMZsDaTxaKo

The short video goes through English pronunciation peculiarities (the different sounds of the

letter combinations ough). It also presents a peculiar definition of perfect English. Finally, the

video presents the basic pronunciation concept of Spanish pronunciation that letters and vowels

for the most part do not have multiple phonetic sounds.

2. After watching the video ask students to complete a Think-Pair-Share analysis of the

video. Ask them to write down the things that stuck out the most to them in the video.

Then allow students to talk with a partner about the video. Finally have students share out

in the large group setting about the video.

Use this share out time as an opportunity to guide the students towards the lesson objectives of

discussing pronunciation and register. Students should easily be able to recognize the overly

formal English being used in the video. Use this realization to look back at the pre-activity and

discuss questions 2 and 3.

3. Focusing in on an example of formal register. Tell students that there are formal and

informal registers in Spanish. Give students sample conversations that use previously

acquired vocabulary (most likely basic greetings). Ask students to analyze the

conversations for evidence of different registers being used.

You can differentiate this lesson by using text manipulation (bolded words, underlines, etc.) to

help guide students who may struggle with language analysis at this level.

4. Discuss their findings and guide them in notes on the difference between Usted and T in

Spanish.

A great follow up activity and assessment for this activity would be to have students complete a

role play activity. This activity would require them to have basic conversations with each other

while pretending to be a different person (student, doctor, teacher, child, parent, etc.

Work Cited:
Chaika, E. (2008). Language: the social mirror. 4th ed. Boston, MA.