Strategies
I will state first the strategies the Spanish teacher can use to involve the rest of the staff. . My focus will be the arts and academic departments we would like to participate in this unit. For each of these areas I will talk about possibilities. I will introduce them to resource materials in my bibliography so they won't feel the additional pressure of doing research before they can introduce the subject to their classes. I will announce each area by name so that no one will misunderstand the ideas I put forth for each area. I will discuss the strategies he can use in helping my classes and I will make suggestions that I have gleaned from my readings and from the teachers of Spanish in my seminar. The lessons for the Spanish teacher will of course follow his curriculum guide. His entire focus will be Spanish-speaking countries and this particular holiday is His culminating activity for the school year.
Spanish is the bottom line focus of this unit. The Spanish teacher will provide for each of us vocabulary words pertinent to our subject areas. From these words the students can make a word wall to reflect both English and Spanish words. This will assist us in learning vocabulary. The teachers will have to be committed enough to point out the words before the class starts. They should also see to the changing of the posted words several times during the time we are using this unit.
May is the time of Cinco de Mayo. May is also the time most of our arts performances are presented to the school and outside community partners. Therefore, this is the perfect time to request that other teachers include this unit in their lesson plans. They will have to change little of what they do; they will just need to add a Spanish piece along with the rest of their program.
For the entire school, as we start our day, a simple greeting or message in Spanish and English could be read over the PA system. Simple questions can be asked in Spanish. Contests can be initiated to spark the children's interest. The person with the most correctly written words heard over the intercom wins. The person that solves the crossword puzzle wins. The students can play familiar games like bingo with word cards. At the end of the day when announcements are being made a farewell in Spanish can be done. Also a spirit of competitiveness can be generated by giving the children a task to
bring in completed for the next day. The persons who completed it will have a drawing for a small gift representative of the Mexican culture. Many other incentives can be utilized to make the students eager to learn Spanish.
The cafeteria can introduce a free snack representative of Mexico each week for one month prior to the cafe and festival. Each student must say one or more authentic words in order to get their snack. We might have several words of the week for them to learn. The students might have gotten a special pass from the Spanish teacher to get the snack. The teachers on cafeteria duty or parent volunteers can be responsible for this project. These are questions still to be answered.
In our vocal music classes the teacher can introduce music from different time periods in Mexico. The popular artists of the current time can be listened to. Songs from historical and current Mexico can be taught to the children for them to share with the school. Invite a professional person to come and share his or her knowledge of Mexican music
Instrumental music classes offer a multitude of musical opportunities. Classical guitar is one that comes to mind because we have such a talented teacher. Latin music has long been a favorite of the current teacher thus our students already play much of this music. The suggestion would be to enlarge on the existing repertoire and also to go back historically to what was played in earlier times. Again it is suggested that a professional be invited to come play and speak to the students as part of community participation
The dance department can of course teach their students traditional dances to perform at the festival. There are professional and semi-professional community dance groups that can be encouraged to visit and give a master class and perhaps a more public showing of their skills for the rest of the student body.
The drama department can cast and perform a small play written by or about Mexicans. This can be presented to the student body separately or as part of the festival
The visual art classes are a treasure trove of can do's for this unit. Think of the Aztec and Mayan works that can be replicated by the sculpture students in clay. Think of the murals that can be reproduced by these same kids. The history of art classes can teach about the richness of Mexican art. Art History must be taught anyway. Why not include this country. Mexico is the most populous neighbor of the United States, and it is important to know about its history. There is so much in this particular area I hesitate to mention much for fear of pigeonholing anyone's creativity. This is truly an area where ones artistic sense can fly high. The visual arts classes can also take the poetry of the Mexican writers and draw their impressions of their written words. All of the students like piñatas. The art students can make several to auction off at the festival or share with each other. Part of this lesson can be the learning of the meaning of the piñata. Most of are unaware that it was first used for religious services the first Sunday of Lent. The breaking of the piñata was a somber event and they weren't beautifully decorated until more modern times.
Creative writing can generate poetry, as well as stories that students can share with the rest of the school as they did before with the poetry lining all of the walls as we went up the steps. Everyone found himself or herself stopping to read what the students wrote. The imagery that could be presented after they read about the history of the peoples of Mexico is monumental. Also as stated about the visual artists these students can take a picture of Mexican art and write an Ekphrastic poem or other narrative about it and post both of them so everyone can see what you were responding to.
It is suggested that the Physical education Department focus its energy on the games played by the ancient Mexican people minus the ritualistic killing of the losers. All modern games that depend on a bouncing ball — whether soccer or basketball — come from the ancient games of Mexico. The P.E. teacher can look at rules and practice.
Mexico is a fixed unit of study for the 6a' grade social studies program. So I can only suggest the teacher focus on areas not generally taught and that he use enrichment activities to keep the students engaged. The 7`b and 8h grade students must reach the history of Mexico through American or European history. Again it is suggested that they have some outside enrichment to help them focus, whether with speakers from the Universities or in a project like mask making as the 7d' grades do yearly for African studies. They can focus on one person from the country and write a piece to share with the rest of the class. This can be used for the end of year portfolio each student is required to complete. How about inviting a person of Mexican ancestry to talk with the students about how and why they celebrate Cinco de Mayo and other major festivals? Because the history of Mexico is so closely connected to that of the United states it is important for our students to have a better understanding of both sides of the history, ours and theirs. There are some glaring differences in the hindsight of our respective historians.
In our monthly and yearly calendar we have other areas where people of Mexican heritage can be asked to participate and educate our children. I speak of our annual Women in History day where speakers come to address the student body. We also have bring your parent to school day. This can be a show and tell of Mexican life for the students.
My use of this unit will begin at the start of the second semester and continue until the end of the school year. I intend to make the study of Mexico the main focus of each of my classes for this time. The end result of this semesters work will be a fashion show with many clothes inspired by the art of Mexico. My students will also have to design and create costumes for the cafe and festival participants.
During this time my students will look at all available videos on Mexico. We will also look at movies. about Mexico to contrast and compare Hollywood's version of Mexican clothing to that which we saw in more authentic books and videos. We will read books from a selected list. These will include both historical books and costume books. The students will research, as required, the traditional lifestyles, foods, art and clothing styles. from the various times in Mexican history The students will also engage in all of the tasks connected to their departmental tasks. This includes sketching, pattern making, fabric manipulation, construction techniques and more. Each of these activities is a part of our usual lessons so we can focus on Mexico and still get the information we need to sharpen our skills in fashion/costuming.
As we look into the art and life of Mexican people we will study the art to be found in our local museum. The students will also take a field trip to the University of Pittsburgh to visit the nationality room that represents Mexico. This gives a visual picture of the way people traditionally lived in Mexico. This room is representative of middle to upper class people only. This can spur costume, writing and Spanish language projects
. This will be a time of great sharing and opportunity to ask questions for clarification of the culture. At the end of this time each student will share their research with their classmates. I am going to look for someone that knows how to wrap the hair into the ropes and pin into beautiful high styles on the head. I saw this in a book about Mexican clothing. It is reminiscent of the styles many women of African descent wear today.
A part of my program for the year focuses on weaving as done by the women of ancient Mexico. This is especially formulated for the 6t' grade students. We will make/purchase back strap looms and learn to use them. We will also have a master class with a professional weaver to learn techniques of weaving on a larger loom. The students will make a personally useful article from the piece they weave. The students of this level will create small items that represent the historic Mexico that can be displayed at the cafe and, or sold as part of the festival.
The 7a' and 8th grade students will be required, as part of their personal fashion project, to design and construct one article of clothing that was inspired by traditional or historic Mexican clothing or art. This is a piece they will model in our fashion show. These students, as the people with the most sewing experience, will be responsible for costuming the people participating in the cafe.
All of the fashion / costume students will be required to keep a journal about their experiences and feelings while working on the research and hands on projects. They will also add to their fashion morgue clothing styles from and reminiscent of Mexico. As a part of their sample book they will each add sewing, embroidery techniques discovered to be from the Mexico area. The use of half sized bodies will come into play as we make small costumes for display. All classes can benefit from this because the time it takes to make small costumes doesn't take away from larger projects and it gives experience in sewing without the major loss of fabric if mistakes are made.
Inspiration boards have become a large part of our design process. Each student is required to produce an inspiration board to show what motivated them to design a particular article of clothing. This board is a collage made up of pictures [tear sheets from fashion magazines] colors, words that interest you,or that speak about the subject you are studying music titles and lyrics, pictures of the environment and in this instance pictures from the country of Mexico. From this, the students will design a project and explain what made them create that particular item. This board is the perfect opportunity to teach about the abundant use of vibrant colors and fabric designs used historically and today by the people of Mexico. It is also a good time to reflect on the similarities of clothing worn today and that which was worn historically. I would point out the shawl and ever popular ponchos the girls are wearing today. It reminds us that some styles are classic and others repeat every twenty to thirty years.
As we work towards a better understanding of the people of Mexico I must emphasize that we need to take into consideration the Spanish speaking people of this country. So much of the history has and continues to be very closely entwined with the history of the United States.
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