PL Sketch

Developing this project is much more complex than it would seem for I am tortured by the desire to make something that piques my students' intellectual curiosity but driven by the need to develop the most basic of language skills. You see, a hugely successful student could, at the end of this upcoming unit, say, "I make a sandwich with tomatoes, cheese, mustard and bread." I am exaggerating slightly but we are developing (truly) basic vocabulary and language structures for daily communication.

My students cannot do research in Spanish without very specific guidance or they will be overwhelmed by what they find (or they will try and find information in English). I struggle to balance technology use because communicating about the tool often ends up being in English instead of Spanish. In short, coming up with the idea for a project is not difficult; balancing the ideas with the realities of what my students can do and what they need to learn how to do as we scaffold the tools for increasingly complex communication is the challenge.

This project sketch will surely change, but here it is.

Project Learning Sketch

Project Learning Sketch


Objectives/Outcomes:
1. Students will acquire core vocabulary relating to the market (mercado), shopping for food (including numbers between 0-1000) and preparing food.
2. Students will first recognize the words (oral and reading comprehension).
3. Students will make these words part of their active vocabulary (i.e. they can use the words independently and relatively spontaneously).

NETs
1. Creativity and Innovation: Students will create original works.
2. Communication and Collaboration: Students will collaborate and publish with peers; communicate information effectively using various tools; and contribute to project teams.

Learning Disposition
The primary learning disposition I seek to foster with this project, consistent with the primary goal of the class, is willingness to use and experiment with language. Students will apply previously learned vocabulary and integrate it with new vocabulary while making a consistent effort to use Spanish exclusively.

Evaluation
Students will narrate a voicethread individually or in pairs outlining the steps for preparing food or for ordering food in a restaurant. Using photographs of food, for example, they will have to describe the steps for making a sandwich, identifying which ingredients they do and don't want. This will demonstrate their mastery of vocabulary and basic language structures as they respond to images corresponding to core vocabulary.
Students will complete the project (described below) and present it either to the class in person or through a voicethread of their own.


The Project

Students will be organized into teams of 2-3 students with assigned roles (writer, researcher, vocabulary specialist).
Students make a list (English or Spanish) of the ingredients to prepare a basic meal of their choice.
Students review a voicethread prepared by me of many basic food items and match that to their list of ingredients.
For additional items, students will find the vocabulary they need by using dictionaries (online and/or print).
Using a set of links prepared by me, students will look up the cost of the ingredients they need and calculate the cost to prepare.
Using either a wiki or a voicethread, students will compile images and text/audio to demonstrate their ability to both understand and use core vocabulary.
As a culminating assignment, students will present a cooking show, demonstrating how to prepare the meal they have chosen.

Intro
Slideshow of foods that most students like
Menus from restaurants in Spanish
Cooking show video