Electronic Field Trips
Hispanic World UnitLesson One
The Hispanic World
- Grade level: Upper Elementary, Middle and High School
- Subject Area: Foreign Language - Spanish
Brief Description
Whole group discuss Spanish-speanking countries in the
world. Student develop general knowledge about the location, cultural background
of these countries, ancient cultures in Mexico, Central America and Peru, Spanish
conquistadors in 16th, the independence, and current development.
Objectives
- Students will verify Spanish-speaking countries from world map.
- Students will use library or Internet to gether information about these
Hispanic countries.
- Students will generalize their findings with whole group.
Materials & Resources Needed
- Hardware requirement: several PCs or Macintoshs with color monitors
printer(s), CD-ROM.
- Software requirement: Operating system (MacOs, Window, Dos, Windows/95,
etc.), application software (ClarisWorks, MS word, etc.), and WWW browsers
(Netscape, etc.)
- Network/Internet requirement: telephone lines, high-speed modems (14,400 or
above), Web browser: Netscape or others.
- Library resources: Big world wide map and American map, Children's
Encyclopedia, a series of books to introduce sepapatetly these Hispanic
countries.
Activity Description
- You need to give students a clear unit goal why they need to explore Hispanic
world before or while learning Spanish.
- Ask students to brainstorm the Spanish speaking countries on the world wide
map and list these counties' name on blackboard.
- Divide students into several groups to rearch information from encyclopedia
or from other books to verify that these countries are really use Spanish as
official language.
- Reconvene as a whole group and have each search group to share their findings
with whole class.
- Make sure that all Hispanic countries are on the list.
- Ask student to brainstorm general knowledge about these countries, like the
reason why these countries are Spanish-speaking countries, the famous ancient
cultures in these area, the ethnics and the current development in these
countries, etc.
- Ask students to write assignment on their first impressions of Hispanic
world.
Internet Resources
- Internet
Resources for Latin America--Introduction
[http://lib.nmsu.edu/staff/mmolloy/laguia/lag1.html]
The web site include
many hotlinks for Latin America, like WWW Virtual Library--Geographical list,
Latin America Network Information Center, etc.
- Latin American Countries
[http://lib.NMSU.EDU/subject/bord/lat.html]
A list of hotlinks for Latin
American Countries, LatinWorld, Political Database of the Americas, etc.
- Mexico Out of Balance
[http://www.igc.apc.org/nacla/mexico.html]
A project of North American
Congress on Latin America (NACLA). The discussion topics include Political
Storms of 1994, Subcomandante Marcos and the EZLN, etc.
- Bienvenido a America
Latina
[http://worldnews.net/interpress/iphome.html]
The web sites in
Spanish contains economic and political news and articles about Latin America.
- Latin America on the Net -
Culture
[http://www.latinworld.com/culture/]
The web site provides a
complete information of most countries in Latin America (Central, South America,
and the Caribbean).
- Web Museum of
Latin America
[http://museos.web.com.mx/]
A great web site introduces
Latin American museums.
- The
Journal of Latin American Perspectives
[http://wizard.ucr.edu/~asampaio/lap.html]
-
Map of the Caribbean
[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/americas/Caribbean.GIF]
- Map
of Middle America
[http://www.lib.utexas.edu:80/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/americas/middleamerica.jpg]
- Map
of South America
[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/americas/SouthAmerica.jpg]
The above three web sites offer clear maps for these areas. For teachers to
introduce the general information about Hispanic World, they are very useful.
Library Resources
Back to Hispanic World Unit Lesson Plans
LETSNet is © Michigan State University College
of Education and Ameritech