Submitted by Martha Johnson

Objectives:

Content:
Students will...

• identify the various origins from where the things we use every day come
• develop a basic understanding (based on our basic needs as human beings) of how we are interconnected as global citizens
• recognize that some of the ways we are interdependent mean/signify unequal relationships between countries or groups of people

Cultural:
 

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will...

• be able to give an example of or define the following terms: la exportación, la importación, el embargo,el intercambio, la interdependencia global, la cooperación, los políticos del poder, el colonialismo, el nacionalismo, el tribalismo, el neocolonialismo, los movimientos pacifistas, el crecimiento de la población, la migración, la inmigración, la diáspora, la sostenibilidad, el medio ambiente, la globalización de la economía, los productos
• use the present tense to write a brief description of a soccer ball using verbs like tener, haber, etc.
• use descriptive adjectives like: blanco, negro, rojo, pentágano, redonda, sucia, usada and other vocabulary like tiene grietas to write a description of the soccer ball        

Language: Content Compatible
Students will

• use expressions like: Mi opinón es..., Estoy convencida..., Estoy de acuerdo con...He oido que... Yo opino...Yo creo...to express their opinions during the whole group and small group discussions using vocabualry from the list above.
• use the conditional tense to describe what life might be like for the person who made the soccer ball using verbs like: ser, tener, querer, asistir, tener que, vivir, trabajar, etc.

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...

• develop brainstorming skills
• improve their ability to work in groups

Time Frame:

This lesson will take one 84 minute class period.

Materials Needed:

• soccer ball
• writing paper
• political world outline maps (see resources)
• a piece of large construction paper for each student
• a sample of homework assignment (see attachment #4 Mapa de Productos)
• graphic organizer (T chart - hand out for discussion groups). For a blank T-chart see page 1 of attachment #3 for a sample completed T-chart see pg. 2 of attachment #3.

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Note: Students will have completed a Me Map, "How are we connected?" and presented these to the class to build community and get to know one another prior to the beginning of this unit. (see attachment #1 called Mapa Personal for a handout of this assignment). 

Set-up:
Below are the five headings of the five main units of the course. As an introduction to global interdependence and the main units of the course, the teacher should post 5 pieces of large butcher block paper around the room with the following headings:

1. Los políticos del poder (el colonialismo, el nacionalismo, el tribalismo, el imperialismo)
2. La sostenibilidad del medio amibiente y de la población
3. La población: la migración y la diáspora
4. El conflicto y la cooperación (y los movimientos pacifistas)
5. La globalización de la economía

In addition the teacher may want to make a word wall for the week. New terms could be added as they come up in discussions, etc. My word-wall started with the following words: la exportaciόn, la importaciόn, el intercambio, la interdependencia global, y  los productos. By the end of the day, we had added: tiene grietas, el pentágono, la cooperación, los políticos del poder, el colonialismo, el nacionalismo, el tribalismo, el neocolonialismo, los movimientos pacifistas, el crecimiento de la población, la migración, la diáspora, la sostenibilidad, el medio ambiente, la globalización de la economía. My word wall was divided into 4 different categories:conceptos nuevos, términos relacionados con los estudios globales, vocabulario general y expresiones.

Pre-tasks:
1. Soccer ball activity (Adapted and used with permission from Bill Bigelow and Rethinking Schools). The teacher places a soccer ball in a prominent location in the front of the classroom.

Instructions for the students (this could be posted on an overhead transparency): Haz una descripción detallada del objeto que tu profesora tiene enfrente de la clase. Explica que es y para que se usa. Asegurate que incluyes todos los detalles importantes. También debes usar tu creatividad. Tienes 10 minutos para escribir.

Language note: While they are working, they may need some help with vocabulary. My students wanted to know how to express that the ball has cracks. As they made requests, I put these words up on the overhead for them. Later they were added to the word wall.

*Note: See attachment #2 below for samples of what my students came up with for this activity.

2. After about 10 minutes, ask students to stop writing and share what they have written. This could be done in pairs or as a large group. Sharing could go on for 5-10 minutes. After some sharing time, the teacher should ask: Did anyone include where the soccer ball was made in their description? If not, ask a student to come forward and read it from the ball. (My soccer ball says: "Made in Pakistan."). Briefly ask students to share with the class how we are connected to the people who made this soccer ball. Ask them to imagine what their lives might be like.

Language note: When you ask students to imagine what their lives might be like, you are asking them to think/share in the conditional tense. You may want to review the conditional tense as needed and post the following verbs for them to use: ser, tener, querer, asistir, tener que, vivir, trabajar, etc. 

Language note: You may also want to review the words on the word wall and check-in to make sure all students understand the meaning of the words.You may want to randomly ask different students to give you an example or a definition of the terms. Most of my students appreciated the review, but could already do this activity with no difficulty.

3. Remind them of the Mapa Personal (see attachment #1) they made and presented to the class. Ask them to share (briefly) how we are inter-connected to others both as individuals and as a community keeping in mind the soccer ball description they just wrote and considering where the ball was made.

During task: 

4. Ask students to discuss in small groups how we are interdependent as individuals and as a community. What are our needs as people that make us connected to others? Each group will fill out a simple graphic organizer, a T-chart with how we are interconnected as individuals on one side and how we are interconnected as a community on the other. As a group, students will record their thoughts and each group will report their thoughts back to the whole class. See attachment # 3 for a blank T-chart and a sample of one that a group of my students made.

Language note: You may want to have an overhead of different expressions the students could use to express their ideas. Maybe students could add more ideas to the list. My overhead includes the following: Mi opinión es, Yo creo que, Opino que, Estoy convencido/a que, Estoy de acuerdo con, He oido que...

5. Mini-lecture that includes some thoughts about interdependence and weaves in the students' ideas as well. Some ideas: global interdependence is not a new concept. It has been around since before recorded history. It has often meant an unequal relationship between people/countries (ask for examples and discuss them). What we call "global interdependence", often ends up being simply global "dependence." The "inter" refers to a two-way process that is not always present. Trade and trade agreements are not always fair. Briefly mention or point out the headings on the butcher block paper (the 5 headings listed in "set-up" section above) and check in to see what students think these terms mean. Give explanations and examples as needed. Add new terms to the word wall as needed. (20 minutes).

Post-task
6. Have everyone look at their shoe or t-shirt label to see where they  were made. Go around the room and have everyone call out a country. Ask the students what this tells us about global interdependence.

Pre-task for tomorrow:
7. Introduce the terms import and export in Spanish. Announce that tomorrow we will be doing an international trade simulation to illustrate global interdependence.

Homework:
8. Explain homework assignment and handout outline world map and large black construction paper. See References and  Resources section below for links to sites with world maps. Have an example of the finished map ready to show students. (See attachment #4  Mapa de Productos for a sample of a complete map made by one of my students). This assignment will be completed individually at home.

Tarea: Busca 10 cosas en tu casa y averigua donde están hechas. Haz una lista de las 10 cosas y los nombres de los países donde están hechas. Utilizando revistas o dibujos como símbolos, marca en el mapa el país de donde viene cada objeto. Ejemplos de productos que podrías utilizar son: zapatos, ropa, juguetes, radios, pelotas, comida enlatada, etc. Debes tratar de incluir una variedad de productos (como está demostrado en el ejemplo). No olvides de incluir el título, la fecha y el autor en tu mapa. Fecha de entrega: manaña.

Assessment:

Formal assessment: The teacher will assess the first soccer ball descriptions and the group work on the T chart. Since this is the beginning of a new course, this will be a chance for the teacher to get an idea of the variety of writing skills of the students. I made each of these worth 10 points and gave students full points for effort. Since it is so early in the semester, I am not trying to assess specific language/content areas at this time.

Informal assessment: The teacher will informally assess students oral responses during small group and whole class discussions.

References and Resources:

The soccer ball activity is adapted and translated from "The Lives Behind the Labels: Teaching about the Global Sweatshop and the Race to the Bottom" by Bill Bigelow and published in Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World, 2002, page 128-145. This activity is used with permission of the author. Some of the articles in this book will be available in Spanish soon.

See also: www.rethinkingschools.org (look especially for the section on Rethinking Globalization).

Political World Outline Maps for the homework assignment can be found at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world.html   or
http://www.eduplace.com/ss/maps/pdf/world_country.pdf

Attachments:

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

1. Mapa Personal (Me Map) ¿Cómo estamos conectados? Students will do this activity and present their "Me Maps" to the class immediately before this lesson.
2. (L1_Ejemplos.doc) Sample student work 1st descriptions of soccer ball for Activity #1.
3. T-Chart  (graphic organizer) for Activity #4 . The handout is on page 1 and a sample of student work is on page 2. 
4. Sample of completed homework assignment, Activity #8: Mapa de Productos that is due at the beginning of Lesson Two. You may want to show this to students so they can visualize what the completed homework assignment will look like.

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