ENL INTRO VOCABULARY

introduce

to tell someone your name for the first time | ES: presentar(se) | On the first day of class I had to introduce myself to twenty new people.

expectation

what someone believes should happen | ES: expectativa | One expectation in this classroom is that we listen when a classmate is speaking.

routine

something you do the same way every time | ES: rutina | Our morning routine is the same every day — Do Now and then partner talk.

respect

treating someone as important | ES: respeto / respetar | We show respect by not laughing when someone makes a mistake in English.

participate

to take part in an activity | ES: participar | You do not have to be perfect to participate — you only have to try.

syllabus

a document explaining a course | ES: programa del curso | Check the syllabus if you forget how your grade is calculated.

repeat

to say something again | ES: repetir | Could you please repeat that? I did not hear the last word.

spell

to say or write the letters of a word | ES: deletrear | How do you spell your last name?

mean

to have a certain definition | ES: significar | What does the word annotate mean?

assignment

work a teacher gives you | ES: tarea | The assignment is posted on Google Classroom with the due date.

due

the day something must be finished | ES: fecha de entrega | The vocabulary journal is due on Friday and not on Monday.

absent

not present | ES: ausente | I was absent yesterday. What did I miss?

describe

to say what something is like | ES: describir | Can you describe your neighborhood so I can picture it?

explain

to make something clear | ES: explicar | Please explain your answer so I know how you decided.

example

a specific case that shows an idea | ES: ejemplo | Give me one example from your own life.

draft

a first version of writing | ES: borrador | This is only a draft — you will fix the spelling later.

proud

feeling good about something you did | ES: orgulloso | I am proud of how much I wrote today without stopping.

vowel

a sound made with open airflow like a e i o u | ES: vocal | Every syllable must contain exactly one vowel sound.

symbol

a mark that stands for a sound | ES: símbolo | In the IPA one symbol always equals one sound.

syllable

a word part with one vowel sound | ES: sílaba | The word important has three syllables — im-por-tant.

minimal pair

two words different by one sound | ES: par mínimo | Sheep and ship are a minimal pair because only the vowel changes.

schwa

the most common sound in English | ES: schwa | The first and last vowels in banana are both the schwa sound.

voiced

made with the vocal cords vibrating | ES: sonoro | Put your hand on your throat and say zzz. That sound is voiced.

voiceless

made without vocal cord vibration | ES: sordo | The /s/ in sun is voiceless because your throat does not vibrate.

cluster

two or more consonants together | ES: grupo consonántico | The word strength begins with the consonant cluster /str/.

ending

the final sound or letters of a word | ES: terminación | The -ED ending can sound like /t/ or /d/ or /ɪd/.

pronounce

to say a word a certain way | ES: pronunciar | I can hear the difference but I still cannot pronounce /θ/ correctly.

stress

the syllable said louder and longer | ES: acento tónico (NOT estrés) | In photography the stress falls on the second syllable — pho-TOG-ra-phy.

prefix

a word part added to the front | ES: prefijo | The prefix un- at the front of unhappy means not.

suffix

a word part added to the end | ES: sufijo | Adding the suffix -tion turns the verb inform into a noun.

root

the core part that carries meaning | ES: raíz | Take off un- and -able and the root of unbreakable is break.

main idea

what the text is mostly about | ES: idea principal | Box the main idea — it is usually one sentence.

evidence

words from the text that prove an answer | ES: evidencia | Underline the evidence in paragraph 2 that proves your answer.

annotate

to mark up a text while reading | ES: anotar | Strong readers annotate as they read instead of waiting until the end.

infer

to figure out something not directly stated | ES: inferir | The text never says she was nervous but I can infer it from her shaking hands.

context clue

nearby words that hint at meaning | ES: pista de contexto | I did not know famished but the context clue had not eaten all day helped me.

cognate

a word that looks and means the same in two languages | ES: cognado | Information and información are a cognate so your Spanish is helping you.

false friend

a word that looks the same but means something different | ES: falso amigo | Éxito means success and not exit so it is a false friend.

pattern

a regular repeating relationship | ES: patrón | The pattern -ción to -tion works for hundreds of words.

translate

to change words into another language | ES: traducir | Try to read the sentence first before you translate every single word.

definition

the meaning of a word | ES: definición | Write the definition in your own words instead of copying the dictionary.

synonym

a word with a similar meaning | ES: sinónimo | Enormous is a synonym for huge.

antonym

a word with the opposite meaning | ES: antónimo | Voiced and voiceless are an antonym pair.

non-example

something the word does NOT describe | ES: no-ejemplo | For the word evidence a non-example would be a guess with nothing from the text.

review

to study something again | ES: repasar (NOT revisar) | If you review a word four times over three weeks you will still know it in June.

proficiency

how well you can use a language | ES: dominio | Your WIDA proficiency level describes your English today.

level

a stage or step in a scale | ES: nivel | There are five levels — Entering / Emerging / Transitioning / Expanding / Commanding.

goal

something you plan to achieve | ES: meta | My goal for January is to speak in class without rehearsing first.

progress

movement toward a goal | ES: progreso | You will not feel your progress day to day but your portfolio will show it.

strength

something you already do well | ES: fortaleza | Name one strength before you name a goal.