Title: Holidays in Spanish Speaking Countries

Grade: 9th Grade Spanish

Overall Goal: In groups of 3-4, students will research the traditions of a holiday or festival
originating from a Spanish speaking country, and will throw a party in the fashion of the specific
holiday/festival in order to demonstrate their understanding of its cultural significance. During the
party, the presenting students will explain the history of the event, as well as explain the
significance of the traditions of that holiday/festival.

Because the culture of many Spanish speaking countries presides deeply in its holidays, students
are capable of learning much about the Spanish speaking world by researching the cultural
background and significance of their holidays/festivals.

To begin the lesson, Students form groups of 3-4 and watch a video that overviews specific
aspects of different countries holidays/festivals to help introduce them to the topic. The groups
will then discuss and compare the aspects listed in the video to American traditions. This begins
the critical thinking process needed to help the students comprehend the cultural significance of
a countrys holidays/festivals.

Throughout the lesson, students in their groups will research the history and cultural significance
behind different aspects of a chosen holiday/festival in order to plan a party in the fashion of the
assigned holiday/festival. After researching and planning for the party, the students in their
groups should be able to assess the significance of their chosen holiday/festival, as well as
compare the traditions to those of American holidays/festivals. The groups final presentation, or
party, should reflect their research and comprehension by the students explanation and
examples of different aspects of their chosen holiday.

Standards Learning Objective Assessment

1.4.2 Products Identify
products of the target cultures,
such as fine arts, cuisine,
holidays, etc.
Throughout the project, students will The students will
recognize the cultural significance of throw a party in
various holidays and festivals in the celebration of the
Spanish-speaking world, such as holiday/festival they
traditional foods, games, and rituals. researched,
including customs,
traditional dishes,
and information
attained.

Key Terms & Definitions:

 Una feria: Festival, fair
Una fiesta: Party; holiday
Una procesin: Parade
Dia de los Muertos: Day of the Dead
Los fuegos artificiales: Fireworks
Dia de la Batalla de la Puebla: also known as Cinco de Mayo, or the 5th of
May, is celebrated in the town of Puebla, Mexico.
La herencia: Heritage
Navidad: Christmas
Quinceaera: The 15th birthday of a girl. In most Spanish speaking countries,
this is celebrated as a young womans transition from into adulthood.

Lesson Introduction (Hook, Grabber):

The instructor will first show a quick video* of the Exploding hammer festival in San Juan de la
Vega, Mexico. While under a minute, this video quickly introduces an extremely unique Latin-
American tradition to the students in order to spark interest in the lesson.

After the video, the instructor prompts the students into groups of three or four. (These can be
groups assigned by the instructor, or groups that students choose themselves; depending on
how brave the instructor is.) The groups are then given a holiday from a Spanish speaking
country to research.

Holidays/festivals appropriate for student research include (but are not limited to):
(Quinceaera, Dia de los muertos, Navidad, Dia de los Santos Reyes)

*Video Link-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Iz3qz8OD9g

Lesson Main:

Introduce the driving question:

The Instructor then presents the driving question to each group: How can your group explain the
cultural significance of [the chosen holiday/festival] by throwing a party? After receiving this
question, student groups immediately begin brainstorming and discussing the cultural
significance of the holiday/festival before research begins. At this point the instructor should also
allow the students to see the grading rubric for this project so that the groups know what to
include in their final
project.
Group Research:
Groups should spend one and a half to two class hours researching the cultural aspects and
significance of the traditions that take part in the holiday/festival, using computers. Students will
have the resources (provided under the Resources/Articles section) to help guide them in the
beginning, but the resources provided only serve as an aid to help direct students to proper
information. In the ninth grade, students should be capable of collecting information from
resources found by themselves online. The online resources only serve to help supplement the
students information, as well as set a guideline for what would be considered a proper online
resource. The instructor should frequent between groups often, providing direction to a
struggling group, or help keep a misbehaving group on track.

Planning for the Party:

After the students have completed researching their holiday/festival, the groups spend another
one and a half to two school days preparing for their party. Students are required to bring one
home-cooked dish that is traditional to the holiday/festival, which will require group collaboration
outside of the classroom. The students are also required to decorate the room for their party.
Colored construction paper, markers/colored pencils, and other craft supplies will be provided,
but the students are strongly encouraged to create more decorations from outside resources.
The rest of the party and its contents is at the discretion of the student groups; as a learning-
based project the groups decide what activities best embody the traditions of the holiday/festival.

Lesson Ending:

Party activity:
Once the students have finished preparing for their parties, the groups will throw their respective
parties one-by-one. Each party should only last a maximum of ten minutes. Students not in the
currently presenting group are encouraged to ask questions to the presenting group regarding
the subject material. At the end of this project, the students should be capable of assessing the
cultural significance of their groups holiday/festival as well as compare the traditions to those in
American culture. The project concludes after the students groups have all thrown their parties.

Assessment Rubric:
Holidays in Different Countries

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Resources / Artifacts:

Colin Nichols-https://www.smore.com/6bpat-culture-of-latin-american-holidays
Skyler Coomer-https://youtu.be/y1DTqzmGXrQ
Rebekah Courtney- https://educrcourtn.wixsite.com/recipesforclass
Differentiation:

1. Differentiation for ability levels:

High ability learners should be placed in the same group as low ability learners, but the
instructor should make sure that all students actively participate in the project at all times.

2. Differentiation for demographics:

Students with a Latin-American background should be encouraged to share any personal
experiences during their groups party if it is appropriate to the subject matter.

3. Differentiation for languages:

In the case that a student is unable to speak English proficiently, the student should be
put in a group with students who are also proficient in the same language, but English as
well. The instructor may have to guide an English language learner more through the
steps of this project than other students.

4. Differentiation for access & resources:

Computers should be accessible from the classroom, negating the problem of a student
group not having access to the internet. The party research and planning should all be
completable during school, within the span of 3-4 days.

Anticipated Difficulties:

In a 9th grade classroom, group-work can often go awry when students stray off topic, or misuse
their time in class. The instructor must make an active effort to ensure that all groups are working
on the task at hand. The online resource webpages will also provide a framework for the student
groups to research from. Students in any group project must also make sure that the work is
being divided evenly, and the instructor should take this into consideration if planning the
different groups themselves.