Grade Level: 9 - 12
Subject Areas: Spanish levels 1-2
Time Required: Roughly 9 hours - see individual lessons for time
Prepared by: Stephanie Colquitt (Auburn High School) & Alison Kairis (Redmond High School)
Keywords: Identity, Stereotypes, Culture, Biculturalism, Binationalism.
Download Full Unit Plan
Stephanie Colquitt is originally from Miami, Florida. She is of Dominican heritage and teaches Spanish language arts at a high school in Auburn, Alabama. She loves cooking, spending time with her family, being in the outdoors, going to group fitness classes as well as traveling. Stephanie loves the study of history and is particularly interested in the suffrage of Blacks and Latinos in the hemispheric Americas. She plans to apply her knowledge of the Chihuahuan Desert histories and narratives in her Spanish courses with hopes of providing her students with a better perspective of Hispanics in the United States and Spanish-language speakers in the world.
Alison Kairis is from Seattle, Washington and teaches Spanish, Leadership and AVID in Redmond, Washington. She also coaches the school swim and badminton teams. Alison loves learning and expanding her own knowledge to incorporate new ideas, activities and content into the classroom. When not working, Alison enjoys traveling, backpacking in the Pacific Northwest, reading and studying languages. She plans to apply her knowledge of the Chihuahuan Desert in all her classes to promote the understanding and study of identity, culture, migration and binationalism.
This unit focuses on the topics of identity, stereotypes, culture and biculturalism. It is a four-part unit intended to extend throughout the semester with supplemental activities and resources in between. Throughout this unit, students will explore these themes and personalize them to make meaningful connections.
Oftentimes many teachers in world language face a challenge in finding effective ways to incorporate authentic culture in their instruction while also teaching the curriculum. We want culture to be part of the process of learning a language because of the human connection it offers. In an effort to address this challenge, we have scaffolded content around the theme of culture to embrace the process of individual discovery and life-long learning.
We intentionally developed this unit in English to serve lower level Spanish courses, however, it can be adapted and taught in Spanish with additional vocabulary instruction and scaffolding. As we move through the semester, our idea is to increase the instruction in the target language and re-visit the themes.
Lesson One will be shown here, but please download full unit plan for additional lessons.
Lesson One explores the idea of identity, setting the foundation for future lessons and activities about stereotypes, cultures and comparisons. In this lesson, the goal is to introduce the topic of identity to create an awareness of this term and for students to start thinking about their own identity. Students will interpret and process the idea of identity by personalizing the topic through the creation of a personal quote or poem.
1. What is identity?
2. What/who has impacted my identity?
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
- Communication: Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situation for multiple purposes (interpersonal, interpretive, presentational).
- Culture: Interact with cultural competence and understanding (relating cultural practices to perspectives, relating cultural products to perspectives).
- Connections: connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations (making connections, acquiring information, diverse perspectives).
- Comparisons: Develop insight to the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence (language comparisons, cultural comparisons).
- Communities: Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world (school and global communities, life-long learning).
Lesson One Materials
1. Activity handouts
2. Markers, colored pencils
1. Personal profile/survey (20 minutes)
In this survey activity, students will answer a series of questions regarding their likes, dislikes, family, school, etc. Adjust/edit questions as needed.
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1. What are you most excited about for Spanish class this year? 2. What do you hope to take away from Spanish class by the end of the year? 3. What are you most nervous or anxious about for Spanish this year? 4. What type of activities do you like doing in class? Please list as many as you can! 5. Tell me about yourself (favorite class, family, pets, friends, hobbies, sports, interests, music, movies, food, personality, etc.). 6. What are you good at? (Your answer can be specific to Spanish or in general). 7. Where do you hope to live one day? 8. Tell me about your travel experience (local, in the United States, international). 9. Describe a cultural tradition or something interesting about your culture. 10. Is there anything you want me to know? Who |
2. Who are you? Quadrant Activity (10 minutes)
Students will answer a series of questions in a quadrant graphic organizer to explore the multifaceted idea of identity. (Students can answer these questions with complete sentences, bulleted lists, pictures, colors/markers, etc.)
Who are you?
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1. How do people perceive you? |
2. How do you perceive yourself? |
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3. Who are you at your core?
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4. What do you want others to know about you? |
3. Text Analysis (20 minutes)
In this activity, students will analyze part of a text that defines identity and they will identify personal examples. We will have a class discussion where partners share their interpretation.
Directions:
- Read the quote and discuss with your partner.
- Class discussion: partners share interpretations.
- Share personal examples.
Book: “Daring to Write Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women” Edited by Erika Martínez
Chapter: “Identidades/Identities” by Rhina P. Espaillat pg. 63
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“…identity is not a thing, not a static and unchanging quality, but a process that takes place from cradle to the grave. A series of transformations, or rather a constant and gradual transformation of the intimate self of each person.” |
Questions:
- What does this quote mean?
- What are personal examples of your identity changing over time?
For additional lessons, please download Full Unit Plan for Know Thyself.
Option 1: Students will read five examples of quotes/definitions about identity and then create their own. Students can work individually or in partners. After students create their definition, they can share in partners, groups and/or with the class.
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Quién sabe dos lenguas, vale por dos. If you are bilingual you count twice. - Pat Mora |
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Soy de bajo recursos, pero no soy pobre. I am low-income, but I’m not poor. - Antoñita, Resident of el Segundo Barrio/Duranguito, El Paso, Texas |
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Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres. Tell me who your Friends and and I´ll tell you who you are. - Spanish Proverb |
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La identidad étnica es gemela a la identidad lingüística – soy mi lengua. Ethnic Identity is twin skin to linguistic identity – I am my language. - Gloria Anzaldúa |
Option 2: Create a Biopoem that identifies key parts of your identity. Students should follow a structure when writing the biopoem (See example below and adjust structure as needed). Students can write their poem and record themselves reading it. (Optional: students can upload their poem to the class website.) To finish, the class can do a poetry reading where each student presents or students can present in partners or groups.
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Biopoema Un biopoema es un poema sobre ti mismo: quién eres, qué (no) te gustan, tu personalidad, tu origen y otros detalles. Sigue la siguiente estructura. Yo Soy…
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Assessments are included in each part of the unit. An optional additional summative assessment would be to ask students to conduct a mini-oral history project. They will have to interview 2 adults/family members to learn more about their family’s history, traditions, cultural values, migration pattern, etc.
1. With a partner, students will formulate 5 questions to guide their interview.
2. Once their questions have been formulated they will practice the interview process as they interview a different classmate (The interview will be recorded on an electronic device).
3. The students will have two options: a) with the information gathered, and the activities done throughout the unit, students will tell their own personal story. They will take into consideration their personal and collective identity, their culture, their family’s background, etc.); b) if students choose not to share their personal story, they can tell the story of one of their interviewees.
4. As final task, students will turn in a portfolio including: 1-Personal Picture Collage; 2-A Two World poem; and 3- Short Essay: Identity and Culture (based on the oral interview).
Accommodations, modifications, extensions and options are included in specific parts of the unit, and some additional accommodations and modifications to consider are as follows:
- Provide hard and electronic copies of materials for students to access during the lesson.
- Pre-teach any necessary material or content.
- Include images to supplement text and worksheets.
- Offer student choice for how to complete the assignments.
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
- Communication: Communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situation for multiple purposes (interpersonal, interpretive, presentational).
- Culture: Interact with cultural competence and understanding (relating cultural practices to perspectives, relating cultural products to perspectives).
- Connections: connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations (making connections, acquiring information, diverse perspectives).
- Comparisons: Develop insight to the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence (language comparisons, cultural comparisons).
- Communities: Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world (school and global communities, life-long learning).
Additional Resources
"What is Culture?" powerpoint
Dominicano Soy--Letras and CLOZE Activity
Two Worlds Poem and Brainstorming activities 1 and 2
Beyond Doorways Travel." Colombia Artist Fernando Botero. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2017.
"Cesar Chavez Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 29 July 2017.
"The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie." YouTube. N.p., 07 Oct. 2009. Web. 29 July 2017.
"Costa Rican Culture & Traditions." LATOUR. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2017.
"Cultural Heritage Below the Water Line." OIC Moments. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 29 July 2017.
"Custom Machu Picchu Tour Packages by Local Experts." Customized Peru Packages - MachuPicchu.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 July 2017.
“Dominicano Soy – Redimi2 (Redimi2Oficial).” YouTube. N.p., 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 July 2017.
Espillat, Rhina P. "Identidades/Identities." Daring to Write: Contemporary Narratives by Dominican Women. By Erika Martínez. N.p.: U of Georgia Press, 2016. 61-64. Print.
Garcia, RinconCastellano.com Javier Garcia. "Adolfo Suarez." Citas famosas de Adolfo Suarez | CitasyProverbios.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2017.
"Guatemala." AS/COA. N.p., 08 June 2017. Web. 29 July 2017.
"Home." Volver a la página principal. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2017.
"La Carreta Típica." Guías Costa Rica. N.p., 08 May 2017. Web. 29 July 2017.
LeLoup, Jean. Presentation. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2017.
“Mexican American Selena.” YouTube. N.p., 04 Aug. 2014. Web. 28 July 2017.
Mora, Pat. “My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults.” Piñata Books, Arte Público Press, 2000, pg.39.
"Real Madrid vs Barcelona I Semi Final UEFA Champions League I PES 2014." YouTube. N.p., 26 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 July 2017.
"Sancocho." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 July 2017. Web. 29 July 2017.
Stereotypes. Digital Image. https://s-media-cacheak0.pinimg.com/originals/65/4b/10/654b10c82ccb 741736c8eff917caf89f.jpg
“What is culture?” YouTube. Eva Haug, 29 March 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me2HlTQPS40&feature=youtu.be
Collaborating on this unit plan throughout the summer institute allowed us to explore the topics and themes more in depth as we figured out how to implement our learning into our own classrooms. We feel it is our responsibility to incorporate the information and stories in our curriculum to share with our students and colleagues. While this unit plan is an outline or brainstorm of what we hope to do in our respective classes, it is a living document that we will continue to revise and supplement as we teach the unit.
Download the Microessay