A Unit on the Family and Traditions: For Middle School Spanish Classes

• Main Author: Proper, Rebecca A
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2015
• Subjects: backward design; essential questions; culture-based lesson plans; foreign language teaching; Spanish; family; traditions; quinceañera; Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5563; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6562&context=etd

This thesis project for a Master of Arts in Spanish Pedagogy consists of a four-week, ten-lesson unit on culture in the family. This unit is designed for a middle school Spanish I class and is intended to supplement Chapter 5 in the Realidades textbook in the cultural aspect of learning a foreign language. The intention is to engage students to consider cultural perspectives, or the “why” cultures do what they do. The lesson plans from the unit are based on backward design and are structured around essential questions including, “What constitutes an ideal family?” An emphasis is placed on cultural perspectives of individual families while incorporating the five C's of the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages. An analysis of student learning and outcomes are provided in the final chapter. Supplementary lesson plans and evidentiary student work, photos and videos are included as appendices.