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Spanish L6: Example 4

Example 4: Letter from Mexico

Querida Mary:

Hola desde México. ¿Qué tal? Mamá y yo hacemos una gran aventura mexicana. ¡Cada día me gusta más mi enorme país!

Volamos a Cancún donde pasamos mucho tiempo en las playas. Son largas con arena blanca y tomamos el sol o hicimos deportes acuáticos cada día.

Un día nos levantamos muy temprano para hacer una excursión en ferry a la Isla de las Mujeres. Mañana vamos a visitar las ruinas Mayas. He visto muchas fotos y va a ser muy impresionante.

Abrazos

Juan

Context and text type

Juan from México is writing to Mary, his host sister during his time in New Zealand. Mary shares his letter with her classmates.

Text type

Letter, informal. Receptive.

Observations a student might make concerning:

Information, ideas and opinions communicated in the text

Juan uses the simple past tense to communicate information about what happened on a holiday:

  • Volamos a Cancún donde pasamos mucho tiempo en las playas.

He uses the present perfect tense to communicate about past experiences that are having an impact on current decisions:

  • He visto muchas fotos y va a ser muy impresionante.

He uses the future tense to indicate what they are about to do:

  •  Mañana vamos a visitar las ruinas Mayas.

Juan reveals how much he loves his country:

  • ¡Cada día me gusta más mi enorme país!

How the writer expresses personal ideas and opinions

Juan clearly defines his experience as Mexican:

  • Mamá y yo hacemos una gran aventura mexicana.

He offers a personal reflection on his country and its size:

  •  ¡Cada día me gusta más mi enorme país!

Juan explores personal ideas in his letter and, by making these explicit, constructs self-knowledge. His use of exclamation marks leads readers to infer that this self-knowledge comes as a surprise.

His use of 'más' communicates a change in strength of opinion:

  •  Cada día me gusta más mi país enorme.

Juan has been positively influenced by visual materials:

  •  He visto muchas fotos y va a ser muy impresionante.

How the writer communicates appropriately in the situation

Juan uses informal expressions such as '¿Qué tal?' to mark this friendship as close.

As a Spanish speaker, Juan has clearly adapted his language to communicate with Mary, who is a learner.

Nevertheless, Juan does not explain everything he mentions, assuming perhaps that Mary will have sufficient cultural knowledge to understand. For example, when he writes:

  •  Un día nos levantamos muy temprano para hacer una excursión en ferry a la Isla de las Mujeres. Mañana vamos a visitar las ruinas Mayas.

What will Mary make of these references? And why are they significant enough for Juan to mention them in his letter?

By not explaining these places, Juan could be deliberately leaving space for Mary to ask questions and thereby sustain the communication.

Given that Juan appears to take it for granted that Mary will understand the significance of the places he refers to, she may be motivated to follow up these references herself and so extend her cultural knowledge.

How the language in the text is organised for the writer’s purpose

The text follows letter (and email) writing conventions by beginning with a formulaic greeting, Querida Mary, and concluding with an informal, formulaic closing expression:

  • Abrazos.

Juan uses features that are typical of a letter when he opens with a greeting and then asks after the other person:

  • Hola desde México. ¿Qué tal?

While Juan does not use the pronoun 'tú' in his email, his use of '¿Qué tal?' and 'Abrazos' indicates a familiar relationship.

Opportunities for developing intercultural communicative competence

Students could investigate aspects of the Mayan culture in México (and other countries such as Guatemala), historically, and present day. They could make connections with comparable aspects of other cultures known to them.

Students could research México and find out more about the places that Juan mentions. Why are these places worth visiting? What places in New Zealand would students recommend to Mexican visitors? And why? Students could apply their learning to produce a range of texts of different types.

Last updated January 16, 2013



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