Preface
Engaging students in global cultural awareness in a Dual Language Program: going beyond a second language.
The mission of the Dual Language program at my elementary school is to ensure that all students are bilingual and biliterate and develop cultural awareness. In the immersion classroom students learn most of their academic content (80%) in Spanish, and some (20%) in English. Each class in the program consists of 50% native English speakers and 50% native Spanish speakers (some born in other countries, some born in the United States). I have seen that the language and literacy goals are easily measurable in their success; the students are speaking and reading in a language that is not their native tongue. However, it is harder to measure if these students are also developing true cultural awareness based on the nationalities of their peers. I would like to develop lessons that help target that goal more specifically.
This 10-day unit will seek to expose first grade students to a cosmopolitan attitude about other cultures. This will include explicit instruction and modeling about how to research other cultures using technology and how to ask meaningful questions about other cultures. Before engaging in this unit it would be helpful for students to have an understanding of the vocabulary: value, similar, and different. Students will be exposed to the values and traditions of two Spanish speaking countries and will develop questions about a Spanish speaking country of their choice. They will then do some basic research on their chosen country and interview a citizen of that country via Skype using their previously developed questions. Students will be asked to create and peer review a final product using an web tool of their choice that synthesizes their basic research and information gained from the interview, as well as how their perspectives have been affected through the completion of the project.
5 Objectives:
1. Students will identify at least one element that two cultures have in common.
2. Students will develop 3 questions they want to know about another culture.
3. Students will research the chosen culture using technology. (google earth)
4. Students will interview a peer via skype using their 3 questions.
5. Students will present what they have learned about the chosen culture and how that information has affected his/her perspective about the culture. (Possible presentation tools include voicethread, voki, storyjumper, etc.)
NC Essential Social Studies Standards, 1st Grade -
1.C.1.1 Compare the languages, traditions, and holidays of various cultures.
1.C.1.2 Use literature to help people understand diverse cultures.
Photo credit: banner - http://kinderlatino.blogspot.com/ , left - http://www.rusdlink.org/Page/918
Engaging students in global cultural awareness in a Dual Language Program: going beyond a second language.
The mission of the Dual Language program at my elementary school is to ensure that all students are bilingual and biliterate and develop cultural awareness. In the immersion classroom students learn most of their academic content (80%) in Spanish, and some (20%) in English. Each class in the program consists of 50% native English speakers and 50% native Spanish speakers (some born in other countries, some born in the United States). I have seen that the language and literacy goals are easily measurable in their success; the students are speaking and reading in a language that is not their native tongue. However, it is harder to measure if these students are also developing true cultural awareness based on the nationalities of their peers. I would like to develop lessons that help target that goal more specifically.
This 10-day unit will seek to expose first grade students to a cosmopolitan attitude about other cultures. This will include explicit instruction and modeling about how to research other cultures using technology and how to ask meaningful questions about other cultures. Before engaging in this unit it would be helpful for students to have an understanding of the vocabulary: value, similar, and different. Students will be exposed to the values and traditions of two Spanish speaking countries and will develop questions about a Spanish speaking country of their choice. They will then do some basic research on their chosen country and interview a citizen of that country via Skype using their previously developed questions. Students will be asked to create and peer review a final product using an web tool of their choice that synthesizes their basic research and information gained from the interview, as well as how their perspectives have been affected through the completion of the project.
5 Objectives:
1. Students will identify at least one element that two cultures have in common.
2. Students will develop 3 questions they want to know about another culture.
3. Students will research the chosen culture using technology. (google earth)
4. Students will interview a peer via skype using their 3 questions.
5. Students will present what they have learned about the chosen culture and how that information has affected his/her perspective about the culture. (Possible presentation tools include voicethread, voki, storyjumper, etc.)
NC Essential Social Studies Standards, 1st Grade -
1.C.1.1 Compare the languages, traditions, and holidays of various cultures.
1.C.1.2 Use literature to help people understand diverse cultures.
Photo credit: banner - http://kinderlatino.blogspot.com/ , left - http://www.rusdlink.org/Page/918