scholarly journals Using literature circles in the ESL college classroom: A lesson from Puerto Rico

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Nicholl Sambolin ◽  
Kevin Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Literature Circles ◽  
University Of Puerto Rico ◽  
Students First ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Gauge Reading ◽  
English Classroom ◽  
The University

<em></em><strong></strong><p align="center"><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>This paper will use data collected from a case study of a basic English course at the University of Puerto Rico where literature circles were used to promote understanding of a novel dealing with issues of race, class and privilege.  The article will trace both the implementation of the literature circles and the use of students’ first language to facilitate the reading of <em>The</em> <em>Boy Without a Flag </em>by Abraham Rodríguez Jr.  Special attention will be paid to the use of literature circles to promote student participation, both orally and in written form, as well as in discussion of topics relevant to students.  Furthermore, such implementation of literature circles in the classroom provided students with diversity, self-choice and student initiative, as they worked together to mediate meaning and discuss what they felt was important. Findings suggest that students benefited from the use of their first language, since it served as a cognitive tool that allowed them to collaboratively scaffold while also enabling the instructor to gauge reading comprehension. Moreover, selecting a text whose content tapped into students’ funds of knowledge promoted classroom participation about topics and issues students deemed relevant both inside and outside the English classroom.</p><p><em>Key words: literature circles, ESL, adult learners, mother tongue, relevancy</em></p><p align="center"><strong>Resumen</strong></p><p>El artículo utilizará datos recopilados a través de una monografía llevada a cabo en un curso de Inglés básico en la Universidad de Puerto Rico, donde se incorporaron círculos literarios para promover la comprensión de una novela que trata sobre los conceptos de raza, clase y privilegio. El artículo trazará la implementación de círculos literarios y el uso del primer idioma de los estudiantes para facilitar la lectura del libro <em>The</em> <em>Boy Without a Flag </em>por Abraham Rodríguez Jr. Se prestará atención especial al uso de círculos literarios para promover participación por parte de los estudiantes, tanto escrita como oral, así como en la discusión de temas relevantes para los estudiantes. Además, dicha implementación de círculos literarios en el salón proveyó oportunidades de diversidad, libre elección e iniciativa para los estudiantes mientras estos trabajaban juntos para mediar significado y discutir lo que a estos le parecía más importante. Los resultados sugieren que los estudiantes fueron beneficiados al utilizar su primer idioma, ya que este sirvió como una herramienta cognoscitiva que les permitió practicar andamiaje colectivo mientras permitió al instructor medir comprensión de lectura. Por último, seleccionar un texto que conecta con los fondos de conocimiento de los estudiantes promovió participación y discusión grupal de temas y asuntos que los estudiantes consideraron relevantes tanto dentro como fuera del salón.</p><p><em>Palabras claves: círculos literarios, ESL, estudiantes adultos, primer idioma, relevancia</em><strong></strong></p><p><em><br /></em></p>

scholarly journals An Analysis of Students’ Spelling Errors in Writing at the 8th grade of SMPN 2 Kamang Magek

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 418-429
Author(s):  
Indah Paramitha ◽  
Syahrul
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
First Language ◽  
Single Letter ◽  
Spelling Error ◽  
Spelling Errors ◽  
Correct Spelling ◽  
8Th Grade ◽  
Students First ◽  
Written Form

The aim of the research was to find out students’ spelling errors and the causes of spelling errors in writing. Writing spelling correctly is important in order to not make misunderstanding for the reader and writer. In field, researcher found some problem at related to students’ spelling errors. Most of students were not interested when they wrote spell correctly. Then, most of students were doubt in the letter that have same sound. The last was most of students often wrote Indonesian spelling in writing English that have similiar sound. The purposes of this research based on three research questions were to find out the kinds of error in spelling, the most common spelling error, and the causes of spelling error were made by students in writing. In this research, the researcher used mix method research by using descriptive design. The mix method was the combination of qualitative research and quantitative research. Quantitative research was used to answer the kind of students’ spelling error in writing and most common of error in writing. Qualitative research was used to know the causes of students’ spelling error in writing. The informants of this research was the students of VIII-1 class in SMP N 2 Kamang Magek. The total was 22 students. The data was got through documentation and interview. Documentation was used to get quantitative data and interview was used to get qualitative data. The researcher asked the students’ writing to the teacher as a documentation. The interview was done directly and indirectly because of the pandemi. The result of the research showed that there were 184 spelling errors from 22 students. There were nine kinds of spelling error such as omission of letter, addition of letter, single letter instead of double letter, double letter instead of single letter, substitution of letter, interchange of two  adjacent of letter, involving an apostrophe, multiple error. Therefore, the most common spelling error was substitution of letter which students changed letter incorrectly with 35,3% percentage. Moreover, there were some reasons why the students of SMP N 2 Kamang Magek made spelling error. The first was the difficulties between spoken and written form in English, it made students were not able to remember the spelling. Second was most of students were influenced by students’ first language when they wrote spelling. The last was lack of students’ desire to write correct spelling.

scholarly journals Hurricane Maria and its Impact on the Zoological and Botanical Collections of the University of Puerto Rico

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e26014
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Schizas
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Marine Invertebrates ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
University Of Puerto Rico ◽  
Federal Grant ◽  
Research Profile ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The University

With a total of more than 150,000 specimens, the 85-year old collections of insects and terrestrial, freshwater, and marine invertebrates of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM), western Puerto Rico, are among the most significant repositories for these groups in the Caribbean region. Located in Mayagüez and on Magueyes Island, these collections were created by outstanding insect and invertebrate specialists working in Puerto Rico and surrounding islands. Holdings are particularly strong in the Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Collembola, Crustacea, Mollusca, Echinodermata, and Cnidaria. Collecting and curatorial activities, initiated in the 1920s, were maintained throughout the 1980s, resulting in many taxonomically and historically valuable records for the region. From 1990 to 2005, the invertebrate collections were increasingly neglected, with certain parts scattered throughout multiple buildings and rooms, inaccessible, or inadequately stored and at risk of becoming damaged or lost. The support for these collections was not sustained at high levels due to a variety of factors, including changes in the research profile of new academic appointments and the shortsightedness of administrators to fully understand the cultural, educational and scientific value of the museum holdings. With the exception of a federal grant through NSF - DBI (National Science Foundation - Biological Research Collections - PI Frantz - 2007-2010), which initiated a flurry of Museum related activities to improve the deteriorating museum facilities throughout the UPRM campus, the Museum collections are now facing even more challenges, some anthropogenic and very recently, some natural. Major Hurricane Maria (Category 4), delivered a devastating blow to the island of Puerto Rico on 20 September 2017. Both terrestrial and marine ecosystems were heavily impacted. Extensive structural damage to roads, telecommunications, water systems, the energy grid and approximately 60,000 houses/buildings made Hurricane Maria the most damaging Hurricane (estimated cost ~ 90 billion dollars) in the USA after Katrina and Harvey. Flooding caused by the direct impact of Hurricane Maria (5 to 40 inches of rain fell during the first 48 hours in Puerto Rico) and subsequent extensive loss of electricity caused unfavorable conditions for the collections. The University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez closed for approximately 45 days and limited electricity, if any, was available through diesel generators. High levels of humidity and heat can cause further structural damage as well as favor the growth of fungus in enclosed areas of UPRM, including the Museums. Efforts to safeguard the collections will be outlined here to ensure the collections remain a valuable natural asset of the people of Puerto Rico as part of their natural patrimony and as an irreplaceable education tool.

Los amarres de la lengua: Spanish Exiles, Puerto Rican Intellectuals, and the Battle over Spanish, 1942–2016

2019 ◽  
pp. 126-143
Author(s):  
Lena Burgos-Lafuente
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Short Story ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
University Of Puerto Rico ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The University ◽  
Pedro Salinas

The chapter provides a genealogy of the 2016 CILE (Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española), during which the Spanish officialdom celebrated Puerto Rico's linguistic ties to Spain as a 21st-century mercantile ploy. I review the language debates that raged in Puerto Rico in the 1940s, examining Pedro Salinas' 1948 Commencement Speech at the University of Puerto Rico, which would become his famed "Defensa del lenguaje"; revisiting Gov. Luis Muñoz Marín's 1953 speech "La personalidad puertorriqueña en el Estado Libre Asociado"; and ending with a brief coda on Ana Lydia Vega's 1981 short story "Pollito Chicken," to reflect on the positions shared by both Spanish exiles to the Caribbean and local intellectuals regarding language as a self-evident vessel of identity. The main argument is that a rhetoric of defense, crystallized in the 1940s, was redeployed by successive and presumptively opposite segments of the intelligentsia.

Sustainable Energy @ Puerto Rico

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose´ A. Colucci ◽  
Agusti´n Irizarry-Rivera ◽  
Efrain O’Neill-Carrilo
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
University Of Puerto Rico ◽  
Ocean Energy ◽  
Discussion Section ◽  
Transportation Fuels ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Near Term ◽  
The University

During the last 15 years a renewed interest and growth in renewable energy (RE) processes emerged. It was driven by strong environmental movements, oil dependence/depletion concerns and lately national security concerns. Several RE technologies such as wind, niche photovoltaic and biodiesel are presently very competitive in certain applications versus their oil counterparts especially in Europe and certain locations in the mainland United States. Others are slowly penetrating certain markets such as fuel cells. In the discussion section an overview of the most mature RE technologies will be given focusing on their potential implementation in Puerto Rico. The discussion section will also include findings from an ongoing study at the municipality of Caguas who is becoming the sustainable model for Puerto Rico including energy. The overall analysis includes some elements of social, technical, cultural, political and economic criteria. In the latter capital, operating costs and foot print will be considered. Also sensitivity analyses will be performed regarding the energy generation potential of these processes. The technologies included are photovoltaic, wind energy, fuel cells, concentrated solar power and solar thermal water heating. These are referred to as near term implementation technologies. Other medium/long term ocean energy technologies will be discussed including tide, waves and ocean thermal. The last discussion subsection will briefly consider the area of transportation fuels (gasoline and diesel). In the last section an implementation plan will be presented for these processes including the University of Puerto Rico @ Mayagu¨ez (UPRM) capabilities and potential role in this puertorrican SAGA (Sol, Aire, Gente and Agua).

Marin, Rosa C.

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor L. Garcia Toro
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
University Of Puerto Rico ◽  
School Of Social Work ◽  
The University

Rosa C. Marin (1912–1989) was a prominent social worker, educator, and research consultant. From 1944 to 1974 she worked at the School of Social Work of the University of Puerto Rico and in 1967, she founded the journal Revista Humanidad.

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