This curriculum unit describes an elementary Spanish course in which students will use film and literature. It is designed to let them compare Hispanic and Chinese cultures to their own. The course is targeted for second grade level students. Our world is a very diverse one and rich with cultural heritage. It is important to enable our students to understand more than one cultural heritage and to teach them to appreciate and respect other cultures. In this unit they will also discover the similarities of family dynamics in and how the Chinese family compares to their own. They will increase their geographical awareness and use map skills to identify the United States, China and some Latin American countries.

Using the Disney film Mulan and the Mulan legend, available as a literary text, students will be able to find clues to the bigger picture, to past and present. They will be analyzing and interpreting the film and then discussing their thinking with each other. By means of the film they will be able to see the family traditions, cultural pressures on Mulan and the bravery of her acts to protect her family. They will look closely at costumes, colors and sound and how they create meaning. This study will enable them to develop their own classroom film.

(Developed for Spanish, History, and Social Sciences, grade 2; recommended for Foreign Language, History, and Social Sciences, grades 2-5)