Learning about Hispanic Cultures
Shanna Edjang
edjang8@sbcglobal.net
6th - 8th Grade Unit Plan

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PROJECT OUTLINE

Teaching Unit: Hispanic Culture

Grade Level: 6^th – 8^th Grades

Time Frame: 8 weeks (classes are twice a week for a period of 45 minutes each)

                                (This will be done during both he first and second quarter)

Subject Matter: Spanish, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Geography

Curriculum Standards

The curriculum standards for this teaching unit will be outlined accordingly with the Illinois State Board of Education’s “Learning Standards”.  State Goals 28-30 are the intended general benchmarks for Foreign Language.

• State Goal 28:          Use the target language to communicate within and beyond the classroom setting.
• State Goal 29:          Use the target language to develop an understanding of the customs arts, literature, history and geography associated with the target language.
• State Goal 30:          Use the target language to make connections and reinforce knowledge and skills across the academic, vocational and technical disciplines.

Description

First Quarter

Students will be able to use technology and language arts to complete individual projects focused on the 22 Spanish speaking countries in the world.  Each student will be assigned a country to research.  They will complete a two page maximum report about the history, culture, education and health of their assigned country.  Students will further be able to design a power point project around the website www.loc.gov and for both parts of the projects cite their electronic sources correctly.  On the www.loc.gov website, students will navigate through, researching information about their assigned countries finding pictures, movies and sound recordings.

Second Quarter

Students will be able to work together in groups of two, retrieve their information from their first quarter project and compare and contrast two different countries for two class periods and present the information in the third class.

Technology used

Scanners, Power Point, Photo Shop Elements Microsoft word and websites up to and including www.loc.gov and www.freetranslation.com

Detailed Activities

Over a period of four week students will incorporate Spanish, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Geography in the school’s computer lab and in the classroom.  Students in grades 6-8 have 45 minute classes for Spanish instruction.  They will alternate lab time and classroom time while working on this project.