Unit+Plan+-+Sarah,+Melissa

=Unit Introduction=


 * **Text:**
 * Buen Viaje: Spanish 1- Schmitt and Woodford
 * Chapter 10: Diversiones culturales


 * **Rationale:** Learning about the culture of a language group is one of the most important aspects of learning a language. This unit includes vocabulary for common cultural activities, such as the movies, museums, theater, and dancing. Students will be given the opportunity to research and hopefully experience some authentic spanish-speaking culture. Students will also learn how to talk about past events. Students will enjoy this unit because there are a variety of subjects to talk about and experience, such as watching movies made in Spanish-speaking countries or potentially going to a museum to see artwork by famous Spanish-speakers.


 * **Theme:** Cultural activities


 * **Proficiency goals:**
 * 1.1.M.SL.a: Use the target language with culturally appropriate gestures to greet one another and engage in conversations about everyday topics such as school and community events and activities
 * 1.1.N.SL.k: Share opinions and preferences in the target language with their classmates
 * 1.1.N.RW.h: Exchange information in writing in the target language on familiar topics such as personal interests, memorable experiences, school activities, and family life
 * 1.2.N.L.c: Understand main idea of a visual media or live presentation (film/DVD, TV shows and commercials, theatre and musical production)
 * 1.3.N.W.a: Illustrate and present materials in the target language such as an advertisement, poster, or menu
 * 1.3.N.S.a: Present songs, poems or stories in the target language
 * 2.2.N.C.b: Identify historic culture icons (arts, music, literature, film, and the creators of these products as well as natural sites)
 * 4.2.N.a: Identify basic target culture practices and compare them to one’s own


 * **National standards:**
 * Communication: Students will have lots of opportunities for communication during this unit! Some examples are: role playing that they are going to the movies, one student can be the ticket-taker and a few others can be the patrons, researching a famous artist/work of art and pretending that they are the curator of a museum and have to explain the significance of the painting to the rest of the class, they could even put on a short play if the class would enjoy doing so.
 * Cultures: Since the topic of this chapter is cultural diversions, it will be easy to use the vocabulary given to talk about cultural activities. One interesting section of the chapter talks about teenage dating customs in Spanish-speaking countries, and we will incorporate this into the unit.
 * Comparisons: The vocabulary in this chapter allows for comparisons between the U.S. and Spanish-speaking countries in activities such as the movies and dancing. We can use the vocabulary to teach about the similarities and differences between the different cultures.
 * Connections: The most obvious connection to make in this unit is between the language and the arts, however, there could also be a connection to science through the museum vocabulary. If some students were particularly interested in science they could research scientific discoveries made in Spanish-speaking countries or by native Spanish-speakers. An example of this would be that there were giant dinosaur bones found in Argentina and I'm sure they currently reside in a museum or will in their near future.
 * Communities: This unit provides many possibilities for students to interact with the community. For example, students could take a field trip to a museum with Mexican art, or go see a show with Argentinian dancing.

This looks great! I appreciate how you explained how the 5Cs apply specifically to your unit. user:Anny1

This lesson actually sounds very much like the lesson we are doing for German. Very similar topic! I like that you are bringing in media to help show the differences in Culture and to connect to different art forms. I also like the idea of the students going out into the community to see these things on their own. Sadly there isn't much like this for German students to do. I do want to know though are you going to try and compared and teach the culture of all spanish -speaking areas or are you going to limit to one or two. I think comparing more than two with each other and the US will simply confuse the students with an over load of information. Just keep that in mind maybe when planing out the different activities.

I really like how you're concentrating on culture, because that was always my favorite part to learn and it's starting to feel that it's going to be my favorite part of teaching. Do you guys have any assessment ideas for this yet? Assessing culture is always difficult, a paper or presentation is sometimes best. Can't wait to see the rest! user:alyxx

Your unit plan really stands out!! I am super impressed by how far you dove into culture which is always the most interesting part of learning a language. I would have to say that my favorite part is the role playing as an art curator. I think students would really get into it if you had printed out pictures or even self-duplicated ones hanging all around the room!! The only question I have is what structures will students be using in order to achieve these goals?? user:ZirollerCoaster

=Unit Web= Are there other concepts you'll be teaching (e.g. grammar and culture)? Also, you might want to expand your list of major activities by giving a short explanation. The purpose of the unit web is to show at a glance the "stuff" the unit is made of. This version of your unit web still feels a bit sketchy. user:Anny1

It's been updated! Thanks for the comments! user:sarahew

=Daily Schedule=

=Lesson Plans and Powerpoint= On the technology based lesson plan: I like how you apply the Michigan Educational Technology Standards. Very meaningful topic. One question: when you ask students to open those web pages, are you going to have them type the addresses? Or are they ready on the screen for them to click on? It's very easy for kids to make typos and that will cause problems and waste time. -- Weiqing

Great question Weiqing! I actually used the tech lesson plan for my technology class, and I made a website to go along with it with links to each of those websites. I would first direct students to my website, and then have them click on the links. If you'd like to see the website (I modified the unit a little to meet the requirements of my technology class), you can visit it [|here] - click on Resources, then Web Searching for those particular links. user:sarahew

=Unit Project= Great way to meet the connections standard! I'm not sure that all your students will be naturally interested in Spanish artists, but you can draw them in by the way you "sell" the project and pique their interest in individual artists by teaching them really interesting and significant facets of their lives that would be of interest to your students. As you design the implementation, you'll need to have very specific tasks for people to do during the class time devoted to preparing. user:Anny1

I like how everything ties together in this project. I think that this will take way longer than three days with all the things the students need to know how to do. Assuming they don't know how to research, especially spanish artists...it might be more difficult. Are you going to have a lesson on finding good and unreliable sources? Otherwise I think this is a great project for really getting students involved in what they are learning and giving them the opportunity to show off a little!! user:pumer30

Pumer30 - Yes, actually, our technology lesson plan is about web searching and evaluating websites! It may take long than three days, but we also expect that students could work on it at home if they needed to (especially the individual write-up). This might not be feasible in some school districts, I know, but in that case I think we would lengthen the time for research. user:sarahew

=Unit Test=