Sample Unit and Activities

Lesson One – Reading Focus

Unit Theme: Culture of the Caribbean, travel, commands

Target Audience: Second-semester Spanish class at the university level, third month of class

Performance objectives: R: SWBAT answer three questions asked by a partner about a plane ticket in Spanish.

Material:

• Plazas: Lugar de Encuentros text, chapter 9
• Powerpoint [link]

Activities

• Warm-up (5 minutes)

Putting the travel vocabulary and clothing vocab from last chapter up on the screen, the instructor will ask students to work with a partner to generate a list of item they would need for a trip to Antarctica. After a few minutes, the instructor should have students name items and create a list on the board.

• Input (3 minutes)

The instructor will tell a short story from the powerpoint about a time they went on a trip. Vocabulary words will be bolded. After telling the story, making sure to speak slowly, the instructor will ask students if they had any questions during the reading.

• Guided Practice (22 minutes)

Activity 1 – My trip (7 minutes)

Students will be tasked with telling their own travel story, by answering at least three questions from the powerpoint. The instructor’s story (above) will serve as a model. Vocabulary from the chapter will serve as scaffolding on the powerpoint. The teacher will circulate, helping students employ vocabulary in context and making sure students are on task. After the activity, the instructor will find at least one student to tell their story.

Activity 2 – Un viaje a Cuba (9-2) (5 minutes) ¡Matamoscas!

Students will be divided into two groups. On the screen, a word grid will be displayed. Each group will take turns sending up a representative. The instructor will read a sentence containing a blank, and the representatives must try to hit the correct vocabulary word first with a flyswatter. For each correct word, the teams will score a point and new representatives will be sent up. After the game, students will return to their seat, and the instructor will read the paragraph with the words filled in. Students will be asked if they have any questions.

Activity 3 – En el aeropuerto (9-4) (10 minutes)

This activity will bridge the guided and independent practice. In groups of 3, students will roleplay (2 students are passengers, 1 is a travel agent). Each person is seeking specific information in their role. The slide contains relevant vocabulary as well as the information each role is seeking and heavy scaffolding for the direction of the conversation. The instructor will model the activity by providing one example each of a question that the agent might ask and that the passengers might ask. While the students are conversing, the instructor will circulate, reminding students that this conversation is a formal setting if they fail to use formal pronouns during the activity. Rather than asking the students to summarize their whole conversation, the instructor will debrief by asking students to remember one question they asked and the answer that was given.

• Independent (Communicative) Practice (14 minutes)

Activity 1 (7 minutes) – Un cuento infantil: The instructor will read a couple sentences from a slide introducing the story of Pocahontas, focusing on the leaving of John Smith from England and his arrival in the Americas to emphasize travel vocabulary. Then, working in new pairs, students will be asked to continue the story. Unfamiliar vocabulary that may be necessary is available on the slide. Before they begin, the instructor will remind Ss that this story takes place in the past and refresh their memories of verb forms

After students have had a few minutes to converse and finish up their story, each pair group will have a chance to add a sentence to the story as told by the class, beginning with the model sentences given by the instructor. If students are struggling to produce a sentence, the teacher may prompt them with a question and help them with forms as necessary to produce correct meaning. 

Activity 2 (7 minutes) – Culminating Communicative Activity – Reading Focus

Realia, a plane ticket, will be brought up on the powerpoint. Students will be asked to work with the same partner as with a previous activity. The instructor will model the activity by asking the students ¿De cuál clase es el billete? -> What class is the ticket? Each partner will take turns asking at least three questions of the other regarding the ticket. Relevant vocabulary and example questions will be available on the powerpoint and ticket itself. After the activity, the instructor will have students present questions for the class to answer. If there are any questions the instructor feels should be asked for vocabulary review, they should ask the students.

• Conclusion (5 minutes)

As a concluding activity, students will be asked to share a place they would like to travel to and something they will need for the trip. The instructor will make final announcements and end class.

Lesson Two –  Speaking Focus

Unit Theme: Culture of the Caribbean, travel, commands

Target Audience: Second-semester Spanish class at the university level, third month of class

Performance objectives: S: SWBAT tell a partner a short story, including at least five details, about the last time they sent someone a letter, email, or gift.

Material:

• Plazas: Lugar de Encuentros text, chapter 9
• Powerpoint [link]

Activities

• Warm-up (5 minutes)

Students will work in pairs, telling stories about the last time they went on a trip. They should share at least two details in addition to the destination of the trip, as described on the slide. The slide contains review vocabulary and a short model story. The instructor will greet students as they circulate, helping students with their stories. After a few minutes have passed and/or the stories begin to end, the instructor will ask for students to share their stories, as time allows.

• Input (3 minutes)

Indirect object pronouns are being covered in this lesson, so the instructor should draw a connection to direct object pronouns which have already been covered. So, the instructor will introduce them as another way to avoid redundancy. Special care should be made to make students understand that the pronoun may be placed in multiple places in the sentence and that they are often obligatory in Spanish, even when the indirect object is explicitly named.

• Guided Practice

Activity 1 – (9-6) De viaje por el Caribe (6 minutes)

The instructor will lead this activity as a transition from input. The class, all together, will fill in the blanks in sentences in this activity after the instructor reads and explains the model. Scaffolding will be available in the form of a table of the IOP’s. As students answer the questions, the instructor should make sure to connect the pronoun and the object it is replacing, reinforcing grammar implicitly by demonstrating how we can avoid redundancy. Any trends of error that become visible should be corrected by the instructor very carefully. After the activity is over, the instructor should make sure there are no lingering questions before moving on.

Activity 2 – (9-10) ¿Me puede ayudar? (8 minutes)

For this activity, students should find partners. Following the model, students will take turns forming the first sentence and the response from the heavy scaffolding available in the activity. The instructor will help students get started by explaining the model and circulating to handle questions. After the activity is over, the instructor should go over the first two by asking for student volunteers to handle each of the questions and responses. If students are struggling, the instructor may choose to continue to go over some further examples.

Activity 3 – (AR-1) – La Reunión de Exploradores (4 minutes)

This activity serves as a cool-down between intensive speaking activities. With a new partner, students will choose the correct pronoun to fill in the blank. After about 2 minutes, the instructor should call student attention back to the front. The activity will be debriefed by having students call out the answers for each question; the instructor will make sure to connect each pronoun to its object in the model sentence. This activity should go quickly after all of the practice students have had in this lesson.

Activity 4  – (9-11) – Preguntas personales (7 minutes)

In addition to pronoun practice, this activity serves as exam practice, since this is very similar to a test item. Students, working with the same partners as in the previous activity, will take turns asking questions of the other. The first will ask questions about the other’s friends and the second about the other’s parents. The questions, while communicative, have been designed to elicit the use of IOP’s. It is crucial that the instructor make sure that the conversation is happening in Spanish for this activity. There is less explicit scaffolding in this activity; however, the questions themselves (visible to all students) contain most forms necessary for the activity. After about 5 minutes have gone by, the instructor will debrief by asking students some of the questions from the activity. Care should be taken to explicitly correct students who are making errors at this stage before we move on to the independent practice.

• Independent (Communicative) Practice

Una historia – Culminating Communicative Activity (14 minutes)

Modelling (3 minutes)

The instructor will model for this activity by modelling his own story, making sure to note the use of IOP’s and demonstrating how they are connected to other parts of the sentence. This story will contain all of the elements required later in the activity, in addition to some extra information, detailing how students might exceed expectations. Students should be given a chance to ask questions about the story after it is read.

Presentation (7 minutes)

Now, students will be given the opportunity to think about their own story for a few minutes and then will be asked to share with a partner. The story should include to whom they sent the message, why they sent it, and what happened after they sent it, in addition to two additional details that they come up with on their own. Scaffolding was provided in the form of the instructor’s story and as instructions on the slide. After students have all shared their stories, some student volunteers should be asked to share.

Lyric Fill-In (4 minutes)

This is meant to be a calm, end-of-class activity that students can do on their own. The instructor will hand out lyric sheets with direct and indirect OP’s blanked, and students will fill in the lyrics while listening to the song. The song is very accessible, so students should be able to understand the whole song. It also presents mandative forms, which will be reintroduced in a few lessons. After the song, the instructor should run through the lyric sheet with students as a class; if any issues arise, the instructor can replay that section of the song and explain what is meant by the singer.

• Conclusion (3 minutes)

The instructor should remind students that they learned about how to reduce redundancy in their Spanish. Preparing them for the next day, the teacher should explain that we can see both indirect OP’s and direct OP’s in the same location. A sample of this type of sentence should be placed on the screen (and explain it, if time is available) to get students thinking about it. The instructor should make any final announcements and end class. If he so desires, the instructor may play the song again as students are leaving.

Lesson Three – Culture Focus

Theme: Culture of the Caribbean, travel

Target Audience: Second-semester Spanish class at the university level, third month of class

Performance objectives: C: SWBAT name with a partner the countries from which five pictured and named Caribbean cultural artifacts (people, places, things) are derived.

S: SWBAT answer questions formed by a partner regarding an imagined trip to Cuba without being unnecessarily redundant in their responses.

Material:

• Plazas: Lugar de Encuentros text, chapter 9
• Youtube video: Frío frío song
• Hand-outs (find the differences pictures, lyric fill-in)
• Powerpoint [link]

Activities

• Warm-up + debrief (7 minutes)

Greet students and begin handing out find-the-difference images to pairs of students. Extensive scaffolding, including possibly unfamiliar vocabulary necessary for the activity is available on slide 2. Explain that the purpose of the activity is to refresh the use of lo/la/los/las direct objects pronouns (to reduce redundancy in speech). The instructor will read the model on the slide and then allow students approximately 5 minutes to perform the activity, while circling to provide assistance.

After most groups have found at least two differences, call back to front to debrief. Go over each of the three differences, asking a student if they saw each one and prompting the use of correct forms, correcting when necessary. Special attention ought to be paid to whether students are using the correct form of the pronoun based on the referent.

• Input (3 minutes)

Using sentences read from slides 3 and 4, the instructor will explain the combination of direct and indirect object pronouns; that is, how we can avoid redundancy in two ways, just as we can in English.

My sister is buying a ticket for me. -> My sister is buying me it.

Mi hermana me compra un billete para mí. -> Mi hermana me lo compra.

Note that even when using these words, redundancy is still possible and sometimes necessary in Spanish since indirect object pronouns lack gender. Connect this idea to gustar-like verbs, which they are already familiar with. In the infinitive, pronouns may be added to the end of the verb. (Watch for added accents!)

¿Para quién lo compras? -> Se lo compro para él.

Who are you buying it for? -> I’m buying him it for him.

Lastly, explain that le/les cannot appear with lo/los/la/las, instead being replaced with se. It is normal that students have difficulty with this concept at first.

• Guided Practice (10 minutes)

Activity 1 (3 minutes)

Work as a class to answer multiple choice questions on slide about double object pronouns. Give students a minute or two to think, and then ask for responses, providing correct answers if there are errors and paying attention to correct any trends of error in the classroom.

Activity 2 (7 minutes)

Students will be asked to answer written questions on the board in pairs, in writing. The slide contains a model for the teacher to read as well as scaffolding in the form of a table of all the object pronouns. The purpose of the writing is that we will be able to go over it as a class and students will have a concrete example to correct (and later study from) of this concept. The activity is to replace the bolded words in each question with the correct pronouns in the correct location in the sentence. After five minutes of helping students, the instructor will call student attention back to front and debrief the activity, making sure that students understand the correct answer for each sentence.

• Independent (Communicative) Practice (7 minutes)

Here students will be asked to work in pairs to form questions from disconnected sentences on the board and then answer them, again avoiding redundancy. The fragmented questions themselves serve as scaffolding since they all already include the indirect object pronoun. A model for the instructor to use to explain the activity is available on the slide. After students have had about 5 minutes to ask and answer the questions in turns, the instructor will begin debriefing by asking for a volunteer to ask the first question and another to answer, correcting errors that will come up. If students are still having difficulty with this concept, the instructor may opt to have students come up to write their answers on the board so that they can be corrected visually.

• Culture Input (2 minutes)

As an introduction to the next activity and the culture section of the lesson, the instructor will explain who Juan Luis Guerra (as well as his parents’ nationalities) is and describe Caribbean music generally, especially the use of African and indigenous instruments and rhythms that give the music its flavor.

• Culture Guided Practice (11 minutes)

Song Activity (6 minutes)

Serving as a bridge between the more grammar-focused section and the culture lesson, this activity involves a handout with the lyrics from Frío Frío with all of the object pronouns blanked out. As students listen, they will engage with the song by writing in the correct lyrics. This is not meant to be a terribly difficult activity; most students should have no problem with it, so after the song, the instructor should only review the first five or so answers before moving on to the cultural aspect of the debrief.

Here the instructor will ask a series of questions from the slide about the song and ask for student volunteers. These questions are largely subjective, so most student answers should be accepted with no problem. After a few students have answered, the next activity will begin.

True False Activity (5 minutes)

This is the key (but not superstar) activity for this section, because this is how culture will be tested on the exam. Students will be given two minutes to work on their own to determine the veracity of statements on the slide. Then volunteers will be asked to share their answer for each question. Errors will be corrected and placed in the context of the culture unit given in the textbook.

• Culture Independent Practice (7 minutes)

5 images/names will be placed on the screen. Students will be given a few minutes to work with a partner to decide which Caribbean country each item is associated with as well as a significant piece of information about that item (as presented by the textbook). If they so desire, students may use the textbook’s culture page to help remind themselves.

After the conversation winds down, the instructor will ask for student volunteers to share which country they guess for one of the items and their “fun fact.” Since they are allowed to use the book, answers should mostly be correct, however the instructor must be prepared to correct students if they guess incorrectly or offer an inappropriate fact.

• Conclusion (2 minutes)

Students will be reminded that we went over how to combine our two ways of avoiding redundancy in Spanish as well as the culture of the Caribbean. As students are leaving, the instructor may choose to play Frío, Frío again or to play a similarly Caribbean song.

Lesson Four – Listening Focus

Unit Theme: Culture of the Caribbean, travel, commands

Target Audience: Second-semester Spanish class at the university level, third month of class

Performance objectives: L: SWBAT list three amenities offered by a hotel according to a video commercial.

Material:

• Plazas: Lugar de Encuentros text, chapter 9
• Powerpoint [link]
• Video

Activities

• Warm-up (5 minutes)

To encourage students to practice their double object pronouns, students will be asked to share with a partner the last time they gave a gift. A sample conversation on the slide will provide an example of how to avoid redundancy when asking questions about the gift. The last present I gave was a tie to my dad. -> When did you give him it?

After students have had a couple minutes to converse, students will have a chance to share. The instructor will make sure to model correct use of DOP’s as he responds to students.

• Input (5 minutes)

The instructor will read a story about a time they stayed in a hotel, utilizing recent vocabulary words. The instructor will make sure to read carefully and mark the use of new words with pictures in his story. After reading, the instructor will ask students if they have any questions about the story.

• Guided Practice (21 minutes)

Activity 1 – My own story (7 minutes)

Students will find a new partner. Scaffolding on the slide will include this chapter’s vocabulary and instructions. Students, following the model given above by the instructor, will present their own story about their last visit to a hotel. After a few minutes, during which the instructor was circulating through the room and helping students successfully tell their story, a few students will be chosen to share. The instructor will take care to correct students’ use of the new vocabulary if issues arise. Otherwise, errors will only be corrected when they interfere with meaning. However, students will be reminded that this story is meant to take place in the past.

Activity 2 – Kahoot! (7 minutes)

The instructor will produce a kahoot game in which students will match the definition of a word in Spanish with the correct vocabulary word. For practice, the kahoot will include all vocabulary words for this chapter. After each question, the instructor will assess the need for more help based on the proportion of student error.

Activity 3 – (9-19) – ¡Bienvenido a la Habana! (7 minutes)

Using activity 9-19 from the book (on the slide), groups of two will decide who will be the receptionist and who will be the tourist. Each must ask questions pertaining to their role of the other; the questions (from the activity) will be listed on the slide. While the student pairs are conversing, the instructor will walk around, helping students and reminding them that this is meant to be a formal interaction.

As the activity ends, student volunteers will be asked to share the answers they got from the other student. The answers are not scripted, though the questions are, so answers may vary quite widely. If issues arise in understanding the questions/providing valid answers, the instructor should correct carefully and review with students what would be a reasonable answer.

• Independent (Communicative) Practice

Activity 4 – ¿Te gusta el hotel? (5 minutes)

Students will form new groups of two, and one student of each pair will be given an image of a hotel room. The other student will not be allowed to see it. The one who has the photo must describe the room as if by telephone to the other student, using new vocabulary words and any other words they know. Useful, unfamiliar vocabulary will be available on the slide. Ultimately, the second student must decide whether or not they like the hotel room based on the description of the other student.

Activity 5a – Un anuncio del Nuevo Hotel (5 minutes)

For this activity, students will be given a small worksheet to fill out while they listen to a commercial for a new Latin-American Hotel. The commercial will be played twice, and then the worksheet will be debriefed by asking for students to share their answers.

Activity 5b – ¿Cuántas estrellas? (5 minutes)

Using evidence gathered on the worksheet from the last activity, students will work in groups of three to decide how many stars out of five the hotel deserves. The slide will contain relevant vocabulary and expressions. After a few minutes of discussion, during which the instructor walked around and helped students who were having trouble voicing their opinions, each group will give their answer and rationale. The instructor will tally the results and whichever count receives the most votes wins!

• Conclusion (3 minutes)

Students will be reminded that the vocabulary they covered today will be important on the test, and the instructor will give students a chance to ask any questions they have remaining. Left over time can be spent asking students about times they’ve gone on vacation before final announcements and dismissal.

Lesson Five – Writing Focus

Unit Theme: Culture of the Caribbean, travel, commands

Target Audience: Second-semester Spanish class at the university level, third month of class

Performance objectives: W: SWBAT write a three sentence note to a friend or family member, letting them know what they should and should not do while taking care of a pet.

Material:

• Plazas: Lugar de Encuentros text, chapter 9
• Powerpoint [link]

Activities

• Warm-up (5 minutes)

Students already have been exposed to regular (and high-use irregular: poner, hacer, venir, etc.) tú commands. For a warm-up, they will practice with a partner giving commands to an imaginary student about how to be successful at NC State. The slide will have reminders about verb forms, especially irregular forms, since these have consequences in today’s topic as well.

After about two minutes of practice, the instructor will ask students for examples and write these on the board. Ideally, students will generate about ten examples for the board; the instructor may provide additional examples if necessary.

• Input (5 minutes)

Connecting the new command forms to the tú forms learned previously, the instructor will provide examples of each of the new forms by giving commands to individual students (formal (negative), informal negative) and to groups (plural commands). The instructor will introduce vosotros commands, but extensive use of these is unnecessary; they will not feature heavily in testing.

• Guided Practice (31 minutes)

Activity 1 (7 minutes) – Un estudiante Nuevo

Using the examples on the board from the warm up, students will work with a new partner to recreate (aloud) each of the ten student-generated sentences in each of the new command forms (formal, formal negative, informal negative, plural). A model (the first example) will be performed for the class by the instructor. The instructor will also make himself available to students who may have problems forming the correct conjugations or struggle to understand the differences between each style of command. The slide will contain scaffolding in the form of conjugation reminders.

After students have had some time to run through each example, volunteers will be found to provide the three forms for each of the examples. The instructor should carefully correct any patterns of error that emerge, especially with respect to the formation of negative familiar commands, which offer some confusing patterns for students. (-ar verbs with –er endings, -er/-ir verbs with –ar endings)

Activity 2 – Siguiendo direcciones (9-29) (10 minutes)

First the instructor will model some commands with navigational verbs. Using the (56 second) audio recording from activity 9-29, which will be played twice, students will be asked to draw a simple map from the directions given. After the first recording, students will be given two/three minutes to work with a partner on their map before the second play through. During the second playthrough, the partners will have a chance to review their map and make any corrections.

To debrief, a volunteer’s map will be shown on the doc cam, and the instructor will go over the directions given in the recording. If there are any problems with the map, the instructor will correct them and review that terminology with the class. Students will be invited to ask questions, and the volunteer will be thanked for sharing their map.

Activity 3 – 9-32 – Un agente de turismo (7 minutes)

Working in groups of three, students will take turns being a travel agent, responding to complaints (with some recommendations given on the slide). The person whose turn it is being the agent will give a recommendation to the other two about how to resolve the problem. In addition to example problems, the slide will contain verb form scaffolding and some travel vocabulary. Before the activity begins, the instructor will provide a sample problem and a possible response, reminding students that since they are working in groups of three, a plural command is necessary; we do not have just a single form in Spanish as in English.

After three to five minutes of practice, the instructor should end the activity by presenting the class with some additional problems and asking for student volunteers for responses. This time, they should be responded, the command form should be in the singular formal. If students have trouble answering, the instructor may return to slide one to help students find the correct form.

Activity 4 – 9-31 – Sugerencias (7 minutes)

Reminding students that even though we call these forms commands/mandatives, they can also be used to suggest that someone do something. This activity is also helpful since it will contextualize these forms for their later use as subjunctive forms (also used for suggestions) in the next level of Spanish (FLS 201). (The instructor should not make students aware of these, but should understand the strategic purpose of this activity.)

The instructor will work through the first example with students as a model and then allow students to do it in pairs. The students will take turns being a hotel employee who is suggesting activities to a patron (the other partner) based on interests that they suggest. Some examples of possible interests will be available on the slide, but students are welcome also to use their own ideas.

After conversation dies down or time expires, the instructor will call attention back to the front and ask for student volunteers to share responses to the example interests on the powerpoint.

• Independent (Communicative) Practice

Activity 1 – Mi mascota (7 minutes)

The instructor will present a small story about how he went on vacation and needed someone to take care of his dog. He will then show students a note to a family member where he shared some details about how to take care of his dog. Students will then be asked to write a similar note.

The notes will be collected and reviewed as an opportunity for explicit corrections, since commands will be tested extensively.

• Conclusion (3 minutes)

Students will be reminded that they’ve now studied how to give commands and suggest things to people. The instructor will then give a series of commands to students – an opportunity for humor – by telling them to study, do their homework, etc. The instructor will them make final announcements and dismiss students.