Spanish 5: Perspectives of Death

I wanted to make this unit to align with the PERSPECTIVES of Day of Dead. For the last few years, it was on family traditions, but we wanted to tweak this to give the students more to talk about in their final interviews.

We also set our goals on creating experiences and going slow.

Overall plan:  Perspectivos de Muerte

1. Vamos a Morir (movie talk and song analysis)
2. Holiday Comparison (show clip from El Libro de Vida)
3. Art: Jose Guadalupe Posada (IPA reading)
4. Cemeteries (stations, including a chat station with teacher)
5. Mariposas
6. Ofrenda (lots of hands on stuff)
7. Perspectives of Death (Octavio Paz quote)
8. Work day 1
9. Work day 2
10. Interview & on-demand writing

I would love to add a day about the parade in Mexico City.  I had no idea about this.  Hollywood actually inspired the new tradition.  Prior to 007, there was no official parade in DF and the parades were in small towns.  I feel like this could be a rich discussion.  

RESOURCES

Choice HW (this was quickly made, so it’ll have to be added to as I collect more #authres)

Youtube playlist

Lesson Plans

DAY 1:  Vocab intro

1. Admin

Meta: Describe the message of the song and video

Entrada: Quizlet (we direct them to do learn mode)

Frases: ¿Piensas en la muerte?

2. Vocab

a. Quizlet live

b. Vocab list 

c. Caligramme

3. Video Musical:  Vamos a Morir  

(this is so catchy and really sets the tone for speaking about the perspective of death)

a. picture talk (I took screen shots of the video)

b. music talk (to do a movie talk but ask questions about the tempo which contrasts with the visual)

build in an opportunity for students to comment, question, opinion and make connections and award competition points!!!

c. whiteboards:  listen to audio and write what you hear

d. call on all students and write ideas on front board.  I like to call on all students and then challenge them for five more volunteers for another competition point

e. pass out lyric and discuss meaning

4. Evaluation:  write on the lyrics what the message of song and video is

DAY 2:  Theme intro

1. Admin

Meta: Compara las celebraciones de otoño

Entrada: answer questions 

Frases: Describe lo que asocias con Jalloween

2. Celebración Americana

a. review entrada and PQA

b. mentimeter:  have students enter 3 words they associate with Halloween

c. discuss results

d. Veo Veo (You can do a Google Search for Hallloween Eye Spy)  Students work w partners.  Student explains object and other objects near so partner can point

3. Celebración Mexicana

a. Previous knowledge: build in an opportunity for students to comment, question, opinion and make connections and award competition points!!!

b.  Watch 16 minutes from El Libro de Vida

c. mentimeter:  have students enter 3 words they associate with Day of Dead based on movie clip

c. discuss results

d. Veo Veo (Ibought on TpT)  

4. Evaluation:  Venn Diagram to compare the two holidays

DAY 3:  Art

1. Admin

Meta: Describe el artista mexicana y su estilo de arte

Entrada: Draw pics for song

Frases: Describe lo que asocias con el Día de los Muertos

2. Las Calaveras

(a lot of this lesson is similar to my original post)

a. discuss entrada drawings (which lines from song), listen and discuss tempo

b. Investigar: We go to the “museum” (down the hall) and observe, describe, ask museum guide (the teacher!) for any clarification or vocab help

c. Return to room, pass out sentence starters (search sentence starters in this post...they're fantastic to use!) and discuss  

3. Artista

a. reading IPA (20-30 min)

4. Evaluation:  Make a “calavera en acción” 

DAY 4:  Cemeteries

1. Admin

Meta: Describe los cementerios durante el Día de los Muertos

Entrada: Escribe 7-10 conexiones con un cementerio americano

Frases: ¿Qué conectas con un cementerio?

2. Cementerios Mexicanos:  these are self-paced stations

a. Cementerios:

Video Musical:  watch and write 20 observations  

Fotos:  I did a Google Image search for Mexican cemeteries on Day of Dead and students had to meet with me and we discussed their observations and different activities and preparations

b. Objetos:

Guias:  I wrote descriptions for 3 “guias” (flores, velas, incienso) and had those objects on a table.  Students had to match the descriptions with the objects and check my key

Calaveras:  Craft time!  Use a paper plate to make their own calavera. (do a Google Image search)

3. Comparación Cultural

Meet whole group to debrief

4. Evaluation: 

Lo que yo aprendí es que….

Lo que ya sabía es que….

Lo que yo pienso es que….

DAY 5:  Mariposas

1. Admin

Meta: Describe lo que simboliza a mariposa el Día de los Muertos y por qué

Entrada: Copia el poema e dibuja tres visuales

Frases: ¿Qué asocias con mariposas?

2. Mariposas

a. hand clap (just replace chocolate)  https://youtu.be/zWCLNACNObg

b. build in an opportunity for students to comment, question, opinion and make connections and award competition points!!!

c. objects:  I pulled out my objects one at a time and gave input and asked questions (pics below)

d. build in an opportunity for students to comment, question, opinion and make connections and award competition points!!!

e. ball toss:  class stands in circle and give one word you associate with mariposa when you get ball

3. Libro

a. Students readalone before “evaluation”  

b. plickers 

c. ball toss with partner (same as before but not each student shares out more)

4. Evaluation:  Describe lo que simboliza a mariposa el Día de los Muertos y por qué

(we were able to get butterflies from die cut and use as eval paper)

DAY 6:  Ofrenda

1. Admin

Meta: Desribe simbolismo y significado de objetos en la ofrenda

Entrada: Quizlet  (learn mode!)

Frases: ¿Cuáles objetos corresponden con el Día de los Muertos?

2. Ofrenda

a. elementos:  Quizlet live

b. Veo Veo (that TpT purchase has a checklist that we used this time for specific vocabulary)

c. infograph gallery walk:  we made a crossword puzzle based on three ofrenda infographs so students could gather ofrenda knowledge on their own

3. Simbolismo

a. object talk: posted a pic of a scene from Coco and asked what objects they saw and provided more CI about meaning, etc

b. objects:  we walked up to the ofrenda I put together with necessary objects. (see pics below)  All students identified one and as I gave it to them I asked the class about symbolism and meaning

c. talk talk trade:  partner up, explain your object, listen to partner and trade objects then find another classmate

4. Evaluation:  Choose 5 objects and describe

DAY 7:  Perspectives of Death (Octavio Paz quote)

1. Admin

Meta: Describe el perspectivo mexicano de muerte según la cita famosa

Entrada: Look at pic and label 8

Frases: ¿Cómo difiere la idea de muerte entre México y los EEUU?

2. Canción  

a.  listen and write all the words you hear

b. call on everyone to report out

c. discuss lyrics, rhythm and tone

3. Quote

a.  read and engage students

b. textivate 

4. Evaluation: Describe the Mexican perspective about death.  Use evidence from the documents to give specific details.    

Next two days are work days.  I provide modeling clay, cardboard and stickers (from  craft store that are related to Day of Dead!!)

They bring in a Tupperware (I buy a bunch at dollar store and sell for a quarter if they don’t have)

I’ also show the rest of Libro de Vida

Final Day:

I randomly give partners.  They interview on Flipgrid and then do on-demand writing.  I also ask them to fill out unitreflection.