Submitted by Tamie Morphew

Objectives:

Content:
Students will:

• Demonstrate understanding of the concepts of perspectives, practices, and products as they were learned in the unit “Más allá que el Lago Wobegon.”
• Demonstrate understanding of the definition of culture as learned in the unit “Más allá que el Lago Wobegon."

Cultural:
Students will:

• Identify some of the cultural products and practices of their school.

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:

• Identify and use the new vocabulary necessary for identification of products, practices, and perspectives of their school, community, and family. Such as: clases, actividades extracurriculares, materiales para educación, deportes, tradiciónes, reglas escolares
• Use previously learned school vocabulary to identify products, practices and perspectives of their school.
  

Language: Content Compatible
Students will:

• Use verbs and expressions in the present tense (1st person singular) to express opinions and agreement/disagreement with phrases such as (No) Estoy de acuerdo…, Creo que...., Pienso que...

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will:

• Work cooperatively with other students in groups.

Time Frame:

Two 50-minute periods.

Materials Needed:

• Paper for collages
• Pictures for collages
• Glue
• Scissors
• Spanish-English dictionaries
• Rubrics for grading
  

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Pre-activity:
Have students review the definitions they learned of products, practices, and perspectives when they described the cultures of their families and the state of Minnesota as they learned in the previous unit, "Más allá que el Lago Wobegon." Students work in small groups to create a poster collage to illustrate their understanding of the products, practices and perspectives of family and state. Students can use the information that they collected during the unit "Más allá que el Lago Wobegon."

There will be six small groups. Duplicate groups can be formed to keep the groups at an optimum number. Each small group creates a collage illustrating either the perspectives, practices, or products of either families or the state. For example, group 1 would create a collage illustrating the practices of their families and group 2 would illustrate the products of the state.

Collages can include pictures from magazines, newspapers, photographs, and other items as identified by the students. Collages should completely illustrate the assigned category. Students should title their collage, attach a list, in Spanish, of the images included in their collage and a definition of their collage topic. For example, the title for group 1 might be "Practicas de nuestras familias," their definition might be "Cosas que nuestras familias hacemos," and their list of practices might include "reglas, tradiciones de la navidad," etc.

After the collages are completed students present them orally, in Spanish, to class by explaining the images included in their collage and include a definition of product, perspective or practice. The students will use the vocabulary from the previous unit. The presentation will use the present tense, 3rd person singular and plural of  "ser."

After the presentations, students can write responses expressing agreement or disagreement using the phrases: Estoy de acuerdo porque ..., No estoy de acuerdo porque ..., Yo creo que..., Yo pienso que...
For example: Yo no estoy de acuerdo porque la comida especial no es una practica es un producto. Es algo que creamos no es algo que hacemos.

At the end of the activity ask the students to respond to the following question for class discussion in Spanish. ¿Qué es cultura? This can serve as an evaluation to check student understanding of what culture is. Students could respond either in writing or orally.

During-activity:
Divide students into small groups. Each group will identify some of the practices and products of the school. (Handout 1)  When working in small groups one student acted as a recorder and recorded the information that the group produced. Two other students worked as language resources using dictionaries. (The final list was to be in Spanish.) One student translated words from English to Spanish and the second student cross-checked the accuracy by translating back into English.

 

When I did this with my students our vocabulary needs spiraled very quickly. The first time we did this I didn't have the students double check the translation and I was treated to some very unique translations. Homecoming = regresar a casa. The students also learned that a literal translation is not always what is needed. Roles in the group should rotate so that everyone can have practice using the translation dictionaries and no one has to have the chore of writing for the entire activity.

 

Post Activity:
Have groups share their lists and create a classroom list of practices and products for the school. Students should take turns reporting their list to the class.

 

Students will respond to their classmates lists by expressing agreement and disagreement using the phrases from the pre-activity. They can also suggest additions to the lists using the phrases: También necesitas ________. or ________ es un producto también.

 

Have students write their responses and also share with class. Points can be awarded for constructive contributions to the other lists as a way to encourage verbal participation in Spanish. The responses from classmates should be used to improve their lists.

 

Students are given a vocabulary list that they have created at the end of this activity. This is a resource that they can use in future activities.

Collect each group's  vocabulary list and student responses for grading. Small group members could also rate each other for a participation score.

Assessment:

The teacher can assess student progress by grading the collages and class presentations, lists of perspectives, practices, and products and from the student's written responses of agreement and disagreement. Included with this unit is a checklist for evaluating the collage and class presentation. (See handout 2) There is also an on-line quiz about identifying products, practices, and perspectives at Quia.com, http://www.quia.com/jq/51765.html

References and Resources:

Aydin, Kate & Harens, Pam; Más allá del Lago Wobegon, CoBaLTT Unit plan, http://www.carla.umn.edu/cobaltt/lessonplans/detail_unit.php?unitID=91

This unit provides students with the background information about practices, products, perspectives, and culture that is used during this unit.

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

Handout 1: Prácticas y productos.
Handout 2: Collage and Presentation Checklist

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota