DICTATIONS SECOND SENIORS (7,8,9)

 

 

The Tragedy of the Dodo

 

         In the year 1598, Portuguese sailors landing on the shores of the island of Mauritius discovered a previously unknown species of bird, the Dodo. As it had been isolated by its island location from contact with humanity, the dodo greeted the visitors with child-like innocence. The sailors mistook the gentle spirit of the dodo, and its lack of fear of the new predators, as stupidity. They called the bird “dodo”, which means something like “simpleton” in the Portuguese language. It was unable to fly, and fed on plants and fruit. Once a year it laid an egg in a nest on the ground.

 

         Later, Dutch expeditions were the cause of the bird becoming extinct. The dodos were not very tasty, but the sailors who landed on the coast after long voyages were hungry, so they ate the adult birds, which were too big to hide and too fat to run; the animals they brought with them on their ships ate the young birds and the eggs. By 1681, the last dodo on Mauritius had been eaten.     

 

 

 

Condorito

 

Condorito is a famous Chilean cartoon character, a personification of a funny condor living in a fictitious town named Pelotillehue, a setting typical of many small Chilean provincial towns. Contrary to popular belief, he is meant to be a representation of the Chilean people exclusively.

 

         Condorito was created by the Chilean cartoonist René Ríos, known as ‘Pepo’.  In spite of his Chilean origin, Condorito is very popular in several Latin American countries, in which the character is considered part of the general popular culture. Condorito and his friends are also featured monthly in a magazine that carries his name.     

   

         One peculiar characteristic of this cartoon is that, at the end of almost every strip, the character that  goes through an embarassing moment always falls backwards to the floor, accompanied by the PLOP! sound effect. Sometimes this effect is replaced by the victim saying, ‘ I demand an explanation!’

 

 

   

                  

Spanglish

 

         During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, millions of Europeans and Latin Americans went to live in the USA. Within a couple of generations, most of the French, German, Italian and Russian immigrants spoke only English, but many of the Spanish speakers became bilingual.

 

         Today there are about thirty million Hispanics in the USA who speak Spanish and English. Often the Spanish they speak is Spanglish, which is Spanish, but contains many words of English origin. Some examples of
CyberSpanish are maus and chatear. Other words refer to everyday activities, and show a sense of humour: when Spanish speakers want to buy groceries, they ‘compran groserías’, and when they vacuum the carpet, they ‘vacunan la carpeta’.

 

         Spanglish is not only found on the Internet, but it is also spoken on TV, sung to the rhythm of rap and salsa, and even used by a number of famous Puerto Rican poets.