Brief Description

Using the Web de Anza Internet site, students will find and retrieve information in an 18th century Spanish diary written by a Spanish conquistador, Miguel Costansó. They will identify 18th century linguistic items in Spanish and compare these linguistic items to modern day Spanish items.  Reading the diary the students will analyze the cultural attitudes of both the conquistadors and the native peoples and they will express their opinions about those attitudes, basing them on supporting evidence from the diary.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 3T-P1. Communicate to a variety of audiences using professional level technology tools
• 3T-P2. Use a variety of technology tools for data collection and analysis to support a decision
• 5T-P1. Develop a research strategy to find accurate, relevant, appropriate electronic information sources
• 5T-P3. Present research findings from electronic resources using academic models for citations and format

• FL-1   Students understand and interpret written and spoken communication on a variety of topics in the target language.
• FL-2  Students engage in oral and written exchanges which include providing and obtaining information, expressing feelings and preferences, and exchanging ideas and opinions in the target language.
• FL-5  Students develop insights into their own language and their culture through the study of the target language.
• FL-6 Students develop insights into their own language and their own culture through the study  of the target language.

Academic

Using the old Spanish diary of Miguel Constansó, students will identify old Spanish lexical items and list the modern Spanish lexical items that match. Students will not need to find all the lexical items to be successful, however they should find a least one example of every spelling change category and one example of each grammar change category to achieve a top score.

Technological

Using the URL http://anza.uoregon.edu/  the students will  access the 18th century diary of Miguel Costansó. They will identify and  retrieve specific information from the text.

Pre-Requisite Technology Skills

Students need to be able to access the website and find the old Spanish diary of Miguel Costansó.

Materials

Internet access, response sheet and Spanish dictionary.

Accommodations for Special Needs
 

• This is a case where the SEI student of Hispanic origin will be at an advantage. Other SEI students will benefit from being paired with a Hispanic student to do these tasks.
• The ADD/ADHD students will have the task broken down, such as shortened list of items to identify and fewer opinions to express based on the text.
• Special Education students will also have the task broken down.  They might benefit by working in pairs on their shortened tasks.
• Gifted Students might be asked to formulate a theory as to why the cultural attitudes of the explorers and the native peoples did not lead to an enforcement of the encomienda system as was established in colonial Mexico.

Students will type in the URL address  http://anza.uoregon.edu/. The teacher will model a spelling change and have the students look for an example of such a change. The teacher will then ask the students to look for a second spelling difference that the teacher will discuss with the students.  Then the teacher will model a grammar change and ask the students to look for an example of such a grammar change.  The teacher should give an example of a spelling change and a grammar change so that the middle and lower level students will know what to look for. Reading the diary the students will analyze the colonial exploration experience in the Southwest from the point of view of the participants and express their opinions about the attitudes of both the conquistadors and the native peoples, supporting those opinions with details from the text. Did the Spanish explorers express an appreciation of the people and cultures they found?   Were there any surprises with regard to the way the Spanish were greeted that were documented?

At this point the students should be able to use the reaction sheet to list the lexical items that they find in the text and write the modern usages that match the old Spanish terms they list.  The teacher can decide on how many “finds” need to be documented in order to achieve a top score based on the ability level of the class or the individual students. Reading the text, the students will form opinions about the cultural attitudes of the participants in the story, basing them on details found in the diary. The teacher may guide this part of the exercise by asking the students to find out if the Spanish always understood or appreciated the customs or the ways in which the native peoples greeted the Spaniards. The teacher needs to explain that cultural attitudes might include documenting a culture’s idea of welcoming strangers, establishing dialogue, gift-giving and gift-receiving.  The teacher will probably need a whole class period for the first part of this lesson - the search for and documentation of the lexical items.  Another class period will be needed to read for information and opinion forming based on that information. This lesson is especially effective for upper level language learners who are capable of a more careful observation of spelling, grammar and nuances of meaning in written language.

The assessment is based on the degree of success demonstrated by the student in identifying the requested information, matching the 18th century linguistic items with corresponding modern linguistic items and using the details expressed in the diary to support his/her opinion on the attitude(s) of the conquistadors, the missionary priests and the native peoples they met.