Description

It was a great and exciting project that you had this year. All of your students enjoyed the trip and learned a lot from actually living “in” the country. Both the students at the partner school and your American students made friends each other and were able to understand each other at a much deeper level.
Now back at home, it’s time to plan for next year. You will choose another Spanish speaking country and prepare a plan for next year’s project. You will collect information about the country on various cultural and societal aspects, and places and events that your students can go and participate during their stay for the project.

In this part (part I), you will focus on the unique traditions and culture of the country. Throughout its history, each country developed its own culture and unique traditions. Sometimes, the traditions came from the adaptation to the natural environment, sometimes to celebrate a historical event, or sometimes to honor a historical person. Your students and you will learn more about the history while staying in the country and will be able to understand better the people and their culture. The first step for you is to choose a country and find a unique and interesting cultural tradition or historical aspect to learn more about, and convince the grant committee of the needs and importance of understanding such an aspect of the country.

Task

You will pick one of the Spanish speaking countries in the world and choose the unique traditions or cultural events that are practiced in the country and have historical backgrounds. You will search the Web to find information about the events or traditions and make a Power Point presentation. You will also present the importance of the traditions and will explain the rationale to bring your students to the country and teach them through participation and first-hand experiences.

Resources

A. Spanish Speaking Countries

B. History & culture

C. Spanish search engines

Process

1. First, choose the country you would like to visit for next year’s project. You may refer to suggested sites (A) for basic information on Spanish speaking countries.

2. Second, once you have decided which country to visit, choose a unique cultural or historical tradition of the country. You may refer to suggested sites (B) or search with Spanish search engines suggested in (C).

3. Third, find out the detailed information about the tradition from the Internet. Find out information such as the historical background, current practice of the tradition, and the importance of the tradition to the people of the country and/or to students who learn Spanish language. You may use the cultural tradition as the key word for your Internet search. When you have found information that you want to use in your presentation, keep the source information (e.g. web site address of the document or media) for proper citation.

4. Prepare a Power Point Presentation (or any other presentation format) in Spanish about the unique tradition of the country, historical background, current practice, and the need or importance of teaching about it to the American students through participation and experiences.

5. Keep a copy of your presentation in your professional portfolio. You may show your presentation to your colleague teachers for their opinions.

Conclusion

Wonderful! Your presentation is powerful enough to impress and convince the members of the grant committee. You have presented the tradition so clearly and attractively. Your understanding of the culture of the country and your view of the critical needs to teach and understand the culture add an important significance to your project proposal. Good luck!

National Standards (ACTFL)

Communication
Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.
Standard 1.3: Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or reader on a variety of topics.

Culture
Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.

Comparisons
Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.

Communities
Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting.

Sunshine State Standards – Foreign Languages (9-12)

Communication (FL.A.2.4) (FL.A.3.4)
The student understands and interprets written and spoken language on a variety of topics.
The student presents information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

Culture (FL.B.1.4)
The student demonstrates and understanding of the relationship between the perspectives and products of culture studied and uses this knowledge to recognize cultural practices.

Comparisons (FL.D.2.4)
The student recognizes that cultures have different patterns of interaction and applies this knowledge to his or her own culture.

Experiences (FL.E.1.4)
The student uses the language within and beyond the school setting.

Evaluation

Your presentation can be evaluated with following criteria.

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