Teacher: Kevin P. McKeown
Level: Spanish I Grades 6-8
Date of Lesson: 11/16/10
Lesson: ¿Qué tiempo hace hoy? What is the Weather Today?
Running Time: 60 minutes


Standards: ISTE/CT

ISTE2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.
b. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c. Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
d. Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

CS1. Communication (Interpretive Mode)
In at least one language other than English, students will understand and interpret spoken and written language on a variety of topics.

CS2. Communication (Interpersonal Mode)
In at least one language other than English, students will engage in conversation and
correspondence, provide and obtain information, express feelings and exchange
opinions.

CS3. Communication (Presentational Mode)
In at least one language other than English, students will present information, concepts and ideas to listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
CS4. Cultures
In at least one language other than English, students will demonstrate an understanding of the products; practices and perspectives of the cultures studied, and will use their cultural knowledge for interpersonal, interpretative and presentational communication.

CS6. Connections (Interdisciplinary Mode)
In at least one language other than English, students will reinforce and expand their knowledge of other areas of study through the world language, and vice versa

CS7. Comparisons Among Languages
In at least one language other than English, students will demonstrate literacy and an understanding of the nature of language through comparisons across languages.

CS8. Comparisons Among Cultures
In at least one language other than English, student will demonstrate an understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons across cultures.

Goal: Students will learn vocabulary and grammar as it pertains to communicating about the weather.

Student Learning Objectives: Students will be able to:
· Identify and utilize the key vocabulary and grammar as it pertains to weather.
· Discuss the weather in the present day, as in a forecast.
· Compare the weather in various parts of the world and the differences in temperature measurements between the U.S. and Spain.

Rationale for Objective: Students will utilize and build upon previously learned verb conjugations, vocabulary and culture. Previously learned information includes geographic directions, seasons and months of the year, regions of the United States and Spain, and the conjugation of the verbs hacer and estar in the present tense.


Classroom Learning Environment: In the classroom there are ten computers and an overhead projector. The computers will be used for research on weather in the U.S. and Latin America and the projector will show the teacher’s PowerPoint.

Instructional Model/Strategy: Liberal-Progressive/Social. Students will be taught vocabulary through a PowerPoint and TPR gestures. Students will be split into groups to discuss the weather and to research on the Internet.

Materials/Resources: internet (www.aemet.es, www.weather.com, www.abroadlanguages.com/al/la/hangman/clima.asp), foreignlanuagegroup.wikispaces.com, vocabulary list (via wikispaces), computers, whiteboard, quiz (via wikispace), http://www.albireo.ch/temperatureconverter/formula.htm

Initiation: The warm up activity will be to review the months and seasons of the year. The teacher will pass an inflatable globe to students at random and give them a country to locate. Once they have located the country, they will be asked to answer a month or season (or both). (2-3 minutes)

Lesson Development:
1) The teacher begins the lesson by teaching vocabulary from PowerPoint and having class repeat words through TPR gestures. A game of “Simon Dice” will be played to informally assess students’ acquisition of new vocabulary and grammar (hacer and estar). (10 minutes)
2) Students will first watch a weather forecast from the United States, followed by a Spanish weather forecast. (Links available on class wikispace for students to re-watch and clarify notes at home). This is solely for observation and listening comprehension. (5 minutes)
3) Students will then listen to a recording of two people speaking about the weather in Spanish. While listening to the dialogue, students will be given the text to follow along with that has blanks where they need to fill in the appropriate vocabulary. (5 minutes)
4) Half of the class will then begin their research for making their own weather forecast. The other half of the class will be paired and will practice the new vocabulary and sentence structure and will converse about the weather today. (25 minutes)
5.) After both groups have completed their tasks, students will then learn about the different regions of Spain and the cultural importance of “siesta” through a map and teacher explanations. The formula to convert Celsius into Fahrenheit will be given to students and practiced through examples. The formula will also be posted on the class wikispace. (10 minutes)

Closure: With 5 minutes remaining, the students will be broken up into five groups of 4 students. Each group will be assigned a region of Spain (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, and Central) and each student will choose a season to work on during the next class. The students will have access to computers so they can research typical climate as well as access to the class wikispace (www.foreignlanguagegroup.wikispaces.com) where they can utilize a vocabulary sheet if needed. Students are asked to add any additional vocabulary words that they find relevant to the list on the wiki. This assignment will be uploaded on the class wikispace, as well as handed in as a hard copy (poster board, multimedia presentation, etc.). The students will be presenting their work at the end of the week.

Assessment: Students will be assessed both informally and formally in a variety of ways throughout this unit. Students will be informally assessed during the “Simon Dice” game to gauge what vocabulary and grammar structures need to be worked on. Secondly, the students will be formally assessed by filling in answers while listening to a dialogue (interpretive). Furthermore, students will be assessed informally while speaking to one another about the weather in pairs (interpersonal). For homework, the students will complete a short quiz on the class wikispace that has to do with vocabulary and grammar related to this lesson. The quiz will be downloaded and completed before the following class. Also, the students can play an online game to practice their vocabulary (www.abroadlanguages.com/al/la/hangman/clima.asp) Lastly, the individual presentation of a given regions’ weather in Spain, will give the opportunity for a formal assessment to occur. The students will upload their work on the class wikispace.

Follow-up: Students will soon be studying more in depth and specific vocabulary in the following weeks (i.e. to flood, hurricane, blizzard, etc.)