¡Hola a todos!
Muchas gracias por venir a nuestra primera clase de español 😀 We really appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm and interest in learning a little bit of Spanish.
Here is my powerpoint presentation with the five Spanish vowels:
And here are a few important facts about Spanish vowels that I covered today for you to remember for next week:
* Each vowel carries only one corresponding sound, so the letter ‘a’, for example, will sound the same no matter where it is in the word (beginning, middle, end), and an accent placed above the vowel (e.g. á, é, í, ó, ú) does not change the sound, only the stress.
* The stress in Spanish words traditionally falls on the penultimate syllable of the word unless there is an accent to denote stress elsewhere (beginning or ending syllable typically). Below, capitalized letters represent the stress placed on that syllable when pronouncing the word:
- alfombra = al-FOM-bra (normal stress in penultimate syllable)
- avión = a-viON (stress on ultimate syllable denoted by accent mark)
- árbol = AR-bol (stress on first syllable denoted by accent mark)
* The letter ñ is not to be confused for a letter with an accent over it; it is actually its own letter, called eñe (“enyeh” if you want to see how it is pronounced), so please remember that the letter ñ comes with its very own accent mark called a tilde. It is the only letter that carries this feature (unlike in, say, Portuguese where a few other vowels can carry tildes as well).
I think that about sums it up. We’ll go over these again next week in coordination with what the other groups learned and start putting together some sentences 😀
¡Hasta pronto!
Maiya
