Submitted by Kay Edberg

Language: Spanish Unit Cultural Theme or Academic Content Area: Cultural Contexts- Physical and Human Geography and Animal Life, Target Audience: Traditional Middle School Year of Instruction: 1 Proficiency Level: Novice Low

Standards: Communication:    1.2, 1.3 Cultures:    2.2 Connections:    3.1 Comparisons:    Communities:

Unit Timeframe:

Approximately two to three weeks to complete both lessons

Unit Overview:

The unit begins with an introduction to the geography of Latin America including major physical features and cultural areas with a focus on areas with rain forest which will lead in to the second lesson on rain forest animals and animal classification.

Context:

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Assessment will take place at the lesson level with a variety of assessment tools.

Students could be asked to expand upon the information they will need to provide during assessment. In the geography unit, they could be asked to provide more cultural information such as food, sports, famous people, etc. on their countries. In the animals unit, they could be asked to expand upon their animal descriptions, write their own questions, or pretend they are one of the animals they have studied and write about the animal from the first person point of view while the rest of the students guess the animal.

This unit could easily be expanded to include rain forest products (especially plant products). Many products such as chocolate, bananas, citrus fruit, pineapples, vanilla, nuts, gum, rubber, and wood come from the rain forest. Students could choose a product, describe its origens and use and its importance in their own lives.

Another possible extension is a discusssion of rain forest issues with a focus on rain forest destruction and the underlying reasons behind it. It could also include an examination and comparison of the Western and indigenous lifestyles. This is an ideal extension for student groups in their third or fourth years of language study.

General Unit References and Resources:

The map of rainforest regions:
http://www.snowcrest.net/geography/slides/biomes/index.html

Science in the Rainforest, a PBS website, provides considerable information on the rainforest and many wonderful pictures of rainforest animals and plants:
http://www.pbs.org/tal/costa_rica/index.html

A list of animals found in the Mexican rainforest and their Mayan names can be found at the Instituto Nacional de Ecologž¤a:
http://www.ine.gob.mx/dgvs/noticias_maya.htm

Other animal references are included in the animals unit attachments and at the end of the PowerPoint presentation.

Links or files for unit content:     A new window will open for each lesson.

La Geografía y la Selva Tropical
Los Animales de la Selva