Topic-Trip to Spain or any Latin American country

Issue: How does geography influence the culture? Temperature, money exchanges, distances weight, clothing, transportation, culture.

Theme: Conversions

Work:  Plan a trip.

Problem: Your great aunt Dorothy died and left you $4,000.  Her lawyer has informed you that the money can only be used to go on vacation and must be spent in one week. You have one week and 4,000 dollars to plan a trip any where in Latin America, or Spain, you must visit at least 4 cities and make the most of your money and time. What changes were made in the culture in the past?  How does the geography influence the culture?

Description of the Learner: We are teaching a class of 25 high school juniors at an Abbott District in  New Jersey. Our students are all up to Spanish levels 2 or 3 and they are in Algebra I or II. We have block scheduling (80 min. periods).

Spanish

Standard 7.2:
All Students Will Be Able To Demonstrate an Understanding of the Interrelationship between Language and Culture for At Least One World Language In Addition To English.

Descriptive Statement: The acquisition of another language focuses attention on how language and culture interacts. This interaction helps students reflect on cultural patterns and thus gain insight into their own language and culture. Exploration of a new culture helps students to frame issues about their own world view while investigating another. Comparing and contrasting languages and cultures promote cross-cultural discourse and understanding which are at the heart of the humanities.

Demonstrate an awareness of culture.

Demonstrate knowledge of the cultures of speakers of the language studied.

Recognize interrelationships between the language and the culture of a given group of people.

Compare the customs of their own culture and the studied culture.

Recognize and understand verbal and nonverbal cues within a culture.

Explore and discuss similarities and differences among various cultures.

Analyze interrelationships between the language and the culture of a given group of people, as evidenced in their literary works and communications, as well as in their political, economic, and religious structures.

Use technology to enhance language acquisition and to acquire current cultural information in order to develop more accurate impressions of the culture studied. Use technology to enhance language acquisition and to acquire current cultural information in order to develop more accurate impressions of the culture studied.

Math

4.2. Geometry and Measurement

D. Units of Measurement - Measurement helps describe our world using numbers. An understanding of how we attach numbers to real-world phenomena, familiarity with common measurement units (e.g., inches, liters, and miles per hour), and a practical knowledge of measurement tools and techniques are critical for students' understanding of the world around them.

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in preceding grades, by the end of Grade 12, students will:

1. Solve problems requiring calculations that involve different units of measurement within a measurement system (e.g., 4'3" plus 7'10" equals 12'1").

2. Use approximate equivalents between standard and metric systems to estimate measurements (e.g., 5 kilometers is about 3 miles).

4.5. Mathematical Processes

C. Connections - Making connections involves seeing relationships between different topics, and drawing on those relationships in future study. This applies within mathematics, so that students can translate readily between fractions and decimals, or between algebra and geometry; to other content areas, so that students understand how mathematics is used in the sciences, the social sciences, and the arts; and to the everyday world, so that students can connect school mathematics to daily life.

At each grade level, with respect to content appropriate for that grade level, students will:

3. Recognize that mathematics is used in a variety of contexts outside of mathematics.

4. Apply mathematics in practical situations and in other disciplines.

Essential Question Math-

Essential-What are measurements used for?

Essential-Why do we need to make conversions?

Essential Questions Spanish

Essential-How does the culture perspectives of the country and the specific cities you will visit differ from your own?

Essential-How do cultural rituals or practices impact the regions way of life?

Assessment

Budget

Itinerary, at least 4 cities

Visual props to back up their presentation

Presentation itself, what is detailed

Neat ness and organization

Spanish

Day 1

Introduce the unit, and introduce problem. 

Overview of countries they can visit. 

What do you have to know about planning for your trip? Use Inspiration to record students' ideas about what they know and what they need to know.

Have the students Select their country and write down a few ideas of what they want find out about the country.

Day 2

Review- Students will share what country they will visit.  We will review some of the major cities in the countries that they can visit.  Have students map out, using MapQuest the order in which they plan to visit the cities.

Day3

Students will share with me what cities they will visit, and will have time to research some of the tourist attractions they will be able to visit. 

Day 4

Students will share with me what they have so far, and we can then go on to explore some of the culture of each country using the internet, mayor holidays, foods, clothing and any other ideas that might be useful and will be able to include in their trip.

Day 5

Students will continue to work with the internet to research their project, for half of the class period the students will meet individually with instructor to make sure they have planed out most of their trip.

Math

 Day 1

The students have figured out what country they want to visit, now they will be asked to find out what kind of money is used there and what the currency exchange rate is. Since they have a budget of $4,000 American dollars, they need to find out how much that will be in their country of choice.

Day 2

Explore all of the different types of measurements (miles/kilometers, Fahrenheit/Celsius, gallons/liters) they will need to convert while on their vacation. Students will be introduced to the metric system and begin to practice simple conversions.

Day 3

Now that the students are beginning to plan day trips on their vacation, we will make sure that all trips can be afforded. Students will decide which mode of transportation they would like to use to get around. Then they will be asked to find how much is would cost to get where they want to go (gas/mileage/rooming costs).

Day 4

Students will begin wrapping things up. Any remaining questions they have regarding metric/currency conversions will be addressed. If they are over budget, they must adjust their itinerary and make it affordable. If they're under budget, they will be given the option to add more day trip or make their vacation just a little more extravagant. Before the end of the day, I will go around and check their individual progress to make sure they're on the right track.

Day 5

Today will be the last day of class time for this project. Students will have the whole class period to put the finishing touches on their project. While they are working, I will meet with them each individually to make sure all of their questions have been answered and they are well on their way to success.