First off a huge shout out to Carol Gaab, the author of her amazing book Esperanza and to Martina Bex for her amazing blog full of detailed lesson plans, ideas and worksheets!
This novel takes place during Guatemala’s 36 year war and is a perfect fit for the AP Theme: Desafíos Globales (Global Challenges). At my school, our curriculum is based on the AP Themes for all levels even starting with level 1.
Our essential questions for this 6 week theme of Global Challenges included:
When I came across this novel, I thought right away that this would be a perfect way to not only work on reading skills, build vocabulary but also address these essential questions about political and social problems.
Day 1: Introduction of Guatemalan Civil War
Before beginning the novel, I wanted the students to understand what it was like for the characters in this book. To give them some context, I showed them parts of the documentary Cuando las Montañas Tiemblan and also a part of a documentary by PBS called Guatemalan Soil, Unearthing Evidence of Genocide. We have block scheduling so you will notice my lessons are for a 90 minute period and I see my students every other day.
This novel takes place during Guatemala’s 36 year war and is a perfect fit for the AP Theme: Desafíos Globales (Global Challenges). At my school, our curriculum is based on the AP Themes for all levels even starting with level 1.
Our essential questions for this 6 week theme of Global Challenges included:
- ¿A qué problemas políticos, sociales y ambientales se enfrentan las sociedades mundiales?
- ¿Cuáles son los orígenes de estos problemas? ¿Cómo pueden solucionarse?
- ¿Qué derechos y deberes tienes como ciudadano?
- ¿Qué derechos y deberes tiene el estado?
When I came across this novel, I thought right away that this would be a perfect way to not only work on reading skills, build vocabulary but also address these essential questions about political and social problems.
Day 1: Introduction of Guatemalan Civil War
Before beginning the novel, I wanted the students to understand what it was like for the characters in this book. To give them some context, I showed them parts of the documentary Cuando las Montañas Tiemblan and also a part of a documentary by PBS called Guatemalan Soil, Unearthing Evidence of Genocide. We have block scheduling so you will notice my lessons are for a 90 minute period and I see my students every other day.
Click here to see my detailed notes on what I showed, said, skipped, etc.
Day 2: Esperanza Introduction and Chapter 1
The following class I introduced the novel and we began Chapter 1. Again, I want to credit Martina Bex for her lessons and worksheets and you will see I use many of her great ideas. Here is an outline of my lesson plan:
(5 min) New seats, new bathroom passes, grab a novel from the table
(10 min) Introduce Esperanza novel – students read synopsis on back of book, students look at map of Guatemala inside, give a few facts about Guatemala (size, location, etc) on PowerPoint, discuss time period (one slide briefly describing Civil War)
(5 min) Have students create a vocabulary list for Esperanza. Each chapter we will add vocabulary, all words will be repeated over and over throughout the novel so it is imperative that they be written down and referred to as they will continued to be recycled. By the end of the novel, they should know these words well.
(15 min) TPR Vocabulary for Chapter 1 mira, le habla, pienso, llama, tiene hambre, agarra
(10 min) Pre Reading: Introduce Chapter 1 – El Teléfono. Esperanza receives four phone calls: two from her mother and two from a mysterious caller.
PQA recycling words habla, llama, teléfono, put on board and have one partner ask and the other answer, then call on students for stamps
Examples (from Martina Bex’s website) ¿Tú hablas mucho por teléfono?, ¿Quién te llama mucho?, ¿Tus padres hablan mucho por teléfono? ¿Con quién?, ¿Qué haces cuando recibes una llamada de un número desconocido? ¿Respondes?, Hoy en día, ¿es más común hablar por teléfono, por mensajes de texto, o por Facebook?
15 min) During Reading – Teacher reads Chapter 1 to class – change voice to represent different characters, do sounds (respiración, clic, etc.), do some TPR while reading (grabbing phone for agarro, point to head for pienso, hand to stomach for tiene hambre, etc.) as this will reinforce the vocabulary. Pause along the way to ask personalized questions (Ex: ¿Tu mamá es una persona nerviosa? ¿Tu abuela llama a tu mamá mucho?)
(5 min) Descanso Cerebral: Juego de Vasos - see my PowerPoint hyperlink above
(15 min) Post Reading- At the end of the chapter, ask kids to close their eyes and hold up 0-5 fingers for the amount that they understood (0=nothing, 5=everything). Complete the Martin Bex's Chapter 1 Esquema – put worksheet in a page protector and have students complete with thin dry erase marker. They can reread and complete by discussing with partner. Go over answers and give stamps
(10 min) ¿Qué es un sindicato? – Trade Unions – watch the 7 minute video about how dangerous it is in Guatemala even today to be in a unión-Guatemala: In Light of Justice.. Imagine the fear that Alberto and his family would have for him being in a union during the civil war. (Ch 2 Alberto es chofer para el Departamento de Transporte Público y es presidente del sindicato)
Stay tuned for the lessons I do for the rest of the book! So excited about this and so are my fellow Spanish teachers. For many of them this was the first time they had ever done TPR so they were enjoying how well the students were retaining vocabulary.
Day 2: Esperanza Introduction and Chapter 1
The following class I introduced the novel and we began Chapter 1. Again, I want to credit Martina Bex for her lessons and worksheets and you will see I use many of her great ideas. Here is an outline of my lesson plan:
(5 min) New seats, new bathroom passes, grab a novel from the table
(10 min) Introduce Esperanza novel – students read synopsis on back of book, students look at map of Guatemala inside, give a few facts about Guatemala (size, location, etc) on PowerPoint, discuss time period (one slide briefly describing Civil War)
(5 min) Have students create a vocabulary list for Esperanza. Each chapter we will add vocabulary, all words will be repeated over and over throughout the novel so it is imperative that they be written down and referred to as they will continued to be recycled. By the end of the novel, they should know these words well.
(15 min) TPR Vocabulary for Chapter 1 mira, le habla, pienso, llama, tiene hambre, agarra
(10 min) Pre Reading: Introduce Chapter 1 – El Teléfono. Esperanza receives four phone calls: two from her mother and two from a mysterious caller.
PQA recycling words habla, llama, teléfono, put on board and have one partner ask and the other answer, then call on students for stamps
Examples (from Martina Bex’s website) ¿Tú hablas mucho por teléfono?, ¿Quién te llama mucho?, ¿Tus padres hablan mucho por teléfono? ¿Con quién?, ¿Qué haces cuando recibes una llamada de un número desconocido? ¿Respondes?, Hoy en día, ¿es más común hablar por teléfono, por mensajes de texto, o por Facebook?
15 min) During Reading – Teacher reads Chapter 1 to class – change voice to represent different characters, do sounds (respiración, clic, etc.), do some TPR while reading (grabbing phone for agarro, point to head for pienso, hand to stomach for tiene hambre, etc.) as this will reinforce the vocabulary. Pause along the way to ask personalized questions (Ex: ¿Tu mamá es una persona nerviosa? ¿Tu abuela llama a tu mamá mucho?)
(5 min) Descanso Cerebral: Juego de Vasos - see my PowerPoint hyperlink above
(15 min) Post Reading- At the end of the chapter, ask kids to close their eyes and hold up 0-5 fingers for the amount that they understood (0=nothing, 5=everything). Complete the Martin Bex's Chapter 1 Esquema – put worksheet in a page protector and have students complete with thin dry erase marker. They can reread and complete by discussing with partner. Go over answers and give stamps
(10 min) ¿Qué es un sindicato? – Trade Unions – watch the 7 minute video about how dangerous it is in Guatemala even today to be in a unión-Guatemala: In Light of Justice.. Imagine the fear that Alberto and his family would have for him being in a union during the civil war. (Ch 2 Alberto es chofer para el Departamento de Transporte Público y es presidente del sindicato)
Stay tuned for the lessons I do for the rest of the book! So excited about this and so are my fellow Spanish teachers. For many of them this was the first time they had ever done TPR so they were enjoying how well the students were retaining vocabulary.
