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¡Viva la diferencia!
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Title:
¡Viva la diferencia!
Posted by:
Richard Peel
Date:
1/29/2010
Grade Level:
High School
Category:
City of Neighborhoods
Subject Area:
Language Arts
Lesson Time:
90 minutes for classroom activities and 30 minutes for homework
Introduction:
The students will be viewing the layouts of Seville, Spain and Philadelphia, PA and comparing how the two are ‘designed’ very differently.  The essential question is, “How does the design of a city have an impact upon the people who live, work, and visit there?”
State Standards:
No State Standards available.
National Standards:

Foreign Language

Standard 1. Uses the target language to engage in conversations, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions and information

Objectives:

Students will:

  • ask, understand, and give directions entirely in Spanish
  • us ordinal numbers and the command form of verbs/reflexive verbs
  • use technology to view the city of Seville, Spain and compare that city’s layout to that of Philadelphia, PA
Resources:

computer with internet access

projector
Materials:
text book for vocabulary support or Spanish/English dictionary
Vocabulary:
N/A
Procedures:

Design Process: Challenge (5 to 10 minutes)

1. Using Google Earth/Google Maps (using the Spanish version of Google https://maps.google.es/maps?hl=es&tab=wl ) on the projector screen the class will take a look at how Philadelphia looks from the air, noting the grid layout typical of many American cities.

2. Ask students: Why would city planners choose a grid? What are the advantages of a grid? Are there any disadvantages? Brief class discussion.

3. We then ‘fly’ from our school to the center of Seville.  Find the hotel we will be ‘staying’ at - Adriano Hotel, C/Adriano 12.

Investigate (5 minutes)

4. Ask students: How does the design of the city differ from Philadelphia?  Why is Seville so ‘chaotic’ compared to Philadelphia?  What could the reasons be? Brief class discussion.

Frame/Reframe (10 minutes)

5. In groups of three or four, each group will decide what place they would like to ‘visit’ (e.g. museum, soccer game, bullfight, park, cinema, etc.) and use computers to find directions from the hotel to the attraction using Google Maps in TL.  Pay close attention to the forms of the verbs used, e.g. toma, gira, continua, and ordinals, e.g. primera, tercera etc.

Generate (30 minutes)

6. In their groups the students will now use just the map (no plugging in destinations on computer) to ask each other for directions from one place to another.  The group will take turns in playing the role of the tourist and the local.  The ‘tourist’ must repeat the directions back to the ‘local’ to ensure they have got it.

7. After a couple of turns with different locations each group will come to the front and pull up their locations on the projector then ‘act out’ their roles of tourist and local with the other member(s) of the group illustrating the action on the map onscreen.  Each group will present.

8. After presentations each group will generate a map in TL explaining how to get from one location in the school to another in TL, e.g. from the teacher’s room to the cafeteria, or from the lobby to the nurse’s office, etc.  Explain to your students that the idea is that an exchange student has just arrived from a Spanish-speaking country (e.g. Mexico, Guatemala) and they speak very little English.  How can we help them find their way around their new school?  How does the design of the map affect the reader’s ability to use it effectively?  Does the map have to be hyper realistic like Google Maps or will a simple graphic representation suffice or even be easier to use?

Edit & Develop/Share & Evaluate (20 minutes)

9. Groups will now exchange maps and see if the ‘other’ group can use the map without making any mistakes, walking around the school trying to follow the directions word for word and very literally.  Are the instructions clear and easy to follow?  Are appropriate ‘landmarks’ in the right place?  After each group has gone students will return to the class and make any necessary adjustments to their map/directions.

Finalize

10. Class will try out version 2.0 of maps/directions and provide final feedback.

 

 

Assessment:
Based on success of ‘other’ group(s) to navigate following the instructions.  Three points will be deducted from a total of 100 for each ‘correction’ or error that needs to be made.  Group receives total remaining points to convert into a letter grade.
Enrichment
Extension Activities:
Enrichment can be provided by the students creating a Google Earth ‘Street View’ Map of the route they planned in the school using a digital camera. 
Teacher Reflection:
N/A.
Related
Files:
No related files are necessary.
 
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