SPANISH UNIT OUTLINE
Culture
Day 1
I. Introduction
A. Introduce the Overall Unit to my class, explaining to them some of the activities that we have planned in my class, beginning with Culture. Introduce the "Big Themes."
1. Can we connect our everyday lives to the Ancient Mayan Civilization?
2. How does the Mayan civilization play a part in the Spanish language and Hispanic culture of today?
3. Can we begin to make connections between our class and other classes?
II. Music
A. Explore the various musical instruments that were used by the Mayans, and listen to their music, discussing the likes/dislikes, and the similarities/differences in the music of the US. Learn Spanish vocabulary for these instruments. Watch part of the video on Mexican music and its influence on modern music in the US.
1. Teacher resources: actual instruments, if available, CD of Mayan music, computer lab, video: New Audiences for Mexican Music, -- Campanas de America -- Tejano 101. 1994. 30 min. Video/C 6139 (can be ordered on-line at http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/LatinAmVid.html)
2. Student resources: http://www.mayankids.com/mmkpeople/mkmusic2.htm
Day 2/3
I. Art/ Food-
A. Learn about Mayan art, how they created it, and what it was used for. Explore what art means for different cultures, and its functionality in society. They will learn of the connection to art as a part of building construction, and to religion. Students will then create their own stela about themselves, incorporating what they know about the actual stelas and the art of the Mayans.
1. Teacher resources: handouts on the stelas, sculpture, paintings, and vases, pictures of artwork,
2. http://www.mayacalendar.com/mayacalendar/understand.html, http://www.rainbowcrystal.com/atext/precolumbian.html
http://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/maya/stela_menu.html
(for art project examples)
3. Student resources: handouts, art materials for project (scrap wood for "stones", markers/paint)
B. Discover the variety of foods that were eaten by the Mayans. Explore a variety of recipes that the students could make for the final Festival day. Each student will research the web site at Mexico Connect, which has a variety of recipes and cultural notes about the food, and Mayan Kids, which provides a background on a few crops that the Mayans used. Students will be divided up according to interest, and will choose a beverage, a soup, one or two main dishes, a dessert, and a salsa. They will have to provide a bit of background information to the class, as well as the main ingredients. They must be able to explain what the ingredients are, so if they do not know what something is, they must research it.
1. Teacher resources: websites, knowledge of where to buy ingredients for cooking, computer lab
2. Student Resources: Various websites, mainly:
http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/recipes/foodindex.html
http://www.mayankids.com/mmkpeople/peoplemain.htm
Society
Day 4
I. Religion
A. Students will learn the various names of the gods and goddesses in the Mayan
religion, as well as learn the importance of religion in the Mayan everyday
life. As a connection to Language Arts, they will learn the various
hieroglyphics that match the gods in the Mayan religion. Each student must
create a new god/goddess that represents something. They must come up with
a name, a depiction of the god/goddess, and a reason why he/she is worshiped
by the Mayans.
B. Students will have a lesson on pronunciation of Mayan words, and observe the
similarities to Spanish pronunciation.
1. Teacher resources: websites, pronunciation site, used to create a
PowerPoint presentation on the various gods and goddesses, so that
students can see images as they learn.
http://www.mayankids.com/mmkbeliefs/ceremonies.htm
http://www.wordtrade.com/religion/mayan.htm
http://www.wsu.edu:8000/~dee/CIVAMRCA/MAYAS.HTM
2. Student resources: websites for further research (same as above),
paper, markers, colored pencils
Day 5
I. Rituals
A. Students will read about several of the religious rituals of the Mayans, as well as explore the relationship between rituals, religion, and the folklore of the
Mayans. They will watch a portion of a National Geographic video on Mayan
Civilization. They will be asked to create their own story about a new ritual that is performed to please the god/goddess they created yesterday, and share them with the class. Students will vote on the most creative ritual from each class, and these will be shared during the festival day.
1. Teacher resources: Lost Kingdoms of the Maya – Video, National
Geographic (can be ordered on-line at
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.Entry10?V1=266988&PN=1&SP=10023&xid=27698&DSP=&CUR=840&PGRP=0&CACHE_ID=46373), computer lab access
2. Student resources:
http://www.mayankids.com/mmkbeliefs/ceremonies.htm
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/wilson/ant304/projects/projects98/gaffordp/gaffordp.html
Day 6:
I. Field Trip
A. My group of students will examine the art at the museum. Each student will be
required to write a one-page report on his/her experience. They must name at least
8 facts that they did not know before, and give one thing that they liked and one
thing that they did not like about the exhibit. These reports will be handed in, and
we will discuss them the next day in our discussion hour.
Cities
Day 7
I. Learning Adventure
A. Introduce the learning adventure, which is coinciding with the Language Arts class. We will be looking into the relationship between the Mayans and the Spanish Explorers.
1. Divide students into four groups.
2. Give each group a Mayan journal entry, written by a Mayan official of the city. Journal Topics: Arrival of Spaniards, Reaction to the Spanish beginning to Explore, Meeting the Spaniards, Resulting Conflict.
3. Each group is responsible for understanding the material presented in their group’s entry, and sharing that information with the rest of the class
4. The class will prepare for a mock peace treaty that will be held the following day.
a. Teacher resources: Created journal entries already typed out (these journal entries should include some native words that the students have to figure out by using context clues)
b. Student resources: Journal entries, paper, pencil
Day 8
I. Learning Adventure
A. Students in both Language Arts and Spanish class will meet together. Engage the two classes in a "getting to know you activity." Have the students’ pair with a student from the other class. Give them three minutes to introduce themselves and learn a few facts about each other. Then have each group introduce their new classmate. The Spanish students should introduce their partner is English and Spanish.
B. Introduce the beginning of the mock peace meeting. The Language Arts and the Spanish teacher will each provide a brief "scene setting" monologue from the opposing views to get things started.
C. The groups will read their journal entries from both points of view and facilitate a discussion. Each topic will have five minutes to state their view/debate.
D. When the groups are finished, the opposing groups from each view will meet for five minutes and develop a "treaty."
E. The groups will share their treaty with the entire class.
F. Movie
Assignment – Students are asked to write an essay about what they learned in this mini-unit. They must cite examples from the movie and debate.
Day 9
I. Prepare for the Festival
A. The students who have chosen to work with me for the final day in preparation for the Festival will be required to cook the food for the next day, hang the stelas, drawings of the new gods/goddesses, and perform one of the rituals that they have made up.
Teacher resources: food ingredients, access to cooking area, parent
volunteers to help oversee food preparation, possibly costumes
Day 10
I. Festival
This is the culminating activity for the Racers interdisciplinary unit on The Maya. Each discipline will gather in the school gym for a Mayan festival. Through this gathering eah discipline will answer guiding questions from our unit by displaying products from individual units. This enables the students to see an "end-result" and also allows for them to make the connections between their classes, and see how everything "fits together".
Guiding Statements:
1. Explore why the Mayans are not as prominent today as they were in the past.
2. Discover what were the important contributions of the Mayans to society.
3. Develop a better understanding of the Mayan culture and their civilization.
Spanish - Displays a better understanding of Mayan culture and civilization through food products and music.
Language Arts - Shows important contributions of Mayans to society by engaging other students in creating their own name glyphs. In addition, Language Arts students will display their "Ancient Mayan Times" newspapers. The articles in the papers reflect historical evidence and explanations as to why Mayans are not as prominant today as they were in the past.Social Studies - The Social Studies classes will use all of their knowledge about the Mayan people and make pamphlets describing their culture and government to hand out at the festival. They will also be explaining their maps that they made to the other students at the festival.
Technology - The technology class will display their wares from the class projects. Products will include pottery, costumes and Mayan city replica's.