Submitted by Steve Dickinson

Objectives:

Content:

Students will:

• identify websites that can provide pictoral or sound enhancement for their projects about Central America and the work of the United Nations
• demonstrate understanding of attaining necessary copyright permissions for use of web-based materials
• demonstrate understanding of oral reporting and responding to questions about the material in the report

Cultural:
Students will:

• demonstrate understanding of key aspects of Central American culture through describing progress toward peace, democracy and human rights
• identify cultural obstacles to efforts of the UN in Central America

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:

• use the present tense of the verbs ser and estar (3rd person singular and plural) to identify the cultural, social and political groups of the country under study (with appropriate descriptive vocabulary).  
• use the past tense (3rd person singular and plural) of the verbs ser and ir to describe key political and economic issues of El Salvador during the period of the focus of the study using political, economic, social terms, the vocabulary of negotiations.
• demonstrate understanding of the agreement of adjectives and nouns in describing the peacemaking efforts of the personnel of the United Nations, as in personas listas para trabajar en condiciones difíciles.
  demonstrate correct usage of the words of comparison, such as mas que, tan como, mejor, peor, etc. in comparing conditions in El Salvador with those in the United States.
• demonstrate the ability to speak and write simple sentences and paragraphs to present a coherent succession of ideas. 
• demonstrate the ability to understand and answer questions based on the content of their report.

Language: Content Compatible
Students will:

• use the present tense (first person, singular and plural) to express their ideas about the needs of El Salvador and the groups under study, and about the effectiveness of the UN agreements in meeting those needs, using the verbs pensar, creer, . . . . 
  

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will: 

• demonstrate understanding of effective team presentations, utilizing the skills and gifts of group members
• identify differentiated presentation strategies for diverse audiences (Spanish students, regular high school students, teachers, parents)
  

Time Frame:

Five 40-minutes periods

Materials Needed:

Group reports, graded and returned, with feedback
computer access
list of web pages

posterboard
powerpoint program

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Day 1  --  Whole class discussion about the experience of the previous week (lesson 2).  Several students either read or share from their personal essays about the United Nations' work in Central America.  General discussion about presenting bi-lingually their findings and their conclusions in the most effective way to others through either a poster board or a power point presentation, and about the idea of doing this in pairs.  Also a discussion about appropriate permissions for the use of copyrighted materials.  The two larger groups for Guatemala and El Salvador then meet, to decide who wants to use which medium, and to choose partners.  Using the rubric provided (handout 1) each pair drafts a preliminary sketch based on the group's research and the pair's combined conclusions. 

Day 2  --  Using the computer lab some search for suitable pictures, text, etc. to enhance their presentation while partners organize the written materials.  These are brought together into a first rough draft of the presentation, while the teacher circulates to assess the process, practice speaking in Spanish with the pairs about their presentations and the issues they represent, and offer encouragement and pointers. 

Day 3  --  Pairs begin to finalize their presentations.  During the last part of the class, a general class discussion about how the process is going, about what are difficulties or sticking points, and how to move through them.

Day 4  --  Presentations are finalized.  Posterboards are displayed for the class, and some of the powerpoint presentations are given.  Using the rubric students self-assess their own presentation and one other.  These are assigned so that in addition to the teacher's own assessment there is a student assessment and a team self-assessment for each presentation.  (The students' presentations will also be made to one or more social studies classes, and at a parent - student event, with the oral portion given in English.) 

Day 5  --  Presentations and assessments are completed.  Students begin answering the essay questions on the unit take-home test, to be completed as homework (handout 2). 

Assessment:

Assessment rubric for the poster board and power point presentations:

 

1	2	3	4
Language is difficult to understand and there are more than 20 spelling and grammar errors	Language is understandable but not fluent and there are 10-20 errors in grammar and spelling	Language is fluent but awkward in places with 4-9 grammar and spelling errors	Language is accurate and fluent with fewer than 3 spelling or grammar errors.
The peace process is presented in a confusing way	The peace process is understandable but there are 3 or more errors	The peace process is clear but there are 1 or 2 errors	The peace process is presented clearly and accuartely
The role of the UN is not clear	The role of the UN is understandable but not clearly presented	The role of the UN is presented  accurately  with 1 or 2 elements missing	The role of the UN is presented fully and accurately

References and Resources:

Websites:
http://www.arias.or.cr
http://www.un.org/
http://www.un.org/spanish/spatxt.htm
http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/spanish/index.asp   

Attachments:

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

Handout 2              UNIT TAKE-HOME ESSAY QUESTIONS
CENTRAL AMERICA PRESENTATION RUBRIC

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