Quincea ñera

1. Quinceañera QUINCEAÑERA Spanish Project for Heritage Learners NHLRC/STARTALK 2012 Heritage Language Teacher Workshop July 20, 2012 Los Angeles, California Susana Velazquez Valdira Ueno VilmaPeccin

2. project OVERVIEW • 30 High school students • Spanish Heritage Language Learners • Ages 14 and 15 • 6 groups of 5 students grouped by proficiency level and needs • 5 1-hour classes: - 4 hours of preparation - 1 hour of final culminating project, a Quinceañera party for the students and their families.

3. Learners’ profile • Background and exposure to HL: Intermediate, but students are reluctant to use target language in class. • Aural proficiency: High intermediate • Proficiency in reading and writing: Intermediate. • Knowledge of the standard language: Low intermediate.

4. social and instructional context • Parents too busy to participate in meetings and in students’ academic lives. • Immigrant parents with very little formal instruction. • Second generation heritage learners. • Broad and narrow needs.

5. group DIVISION • Group 1 – Decoration committee • Group 2 – Food committee • Group 3 – Music committee • Group 4 – Organizing committee • Group 5 – Interviewing committee • Group 6 – Invitation committee

6. Time Organization • Day 1: project introduction, video, instructions, grouping. • Days 2 and 3: - 10 minutes - teacher instructions and response to exit cards - 25 minutes – students work in their groups - 20 minutes – small groups - while the groups are still working, student leaders from each group meet in a separate group to share their previous findings and listen to new ideas and opinions. - 5 minutes – teacher’s feedback and exit cards.

7. Time Organization (cont.) • Day 4: final arrangements, decoration, waltz rehearsal. • Day 5: Quinceañera party

8. Teacher’s Objectives Keeping in mind the 5 C’s: • Motivate students to use the target language in class while they plan and prepare a Quinceañera party, in a fun and meaningful way. • Involve the parents in students’ academic lives. • Raise cultural awareness by giving the students an opportunity to use the target language in atraditionalcelebration in theirheritageculture.

9. Teacher’s Objectives (cont.) • Based on previous assessments, to create a learning environment to fill students’ language gaps so that they can improve their language skills. • Formative assessment throughout the project for immediate feedback and further planning. By planning and organizing a Quinceañera party, students will have the opportunity to integrate the 4 skills and subskills and fulfill objectives according to their specific needs.

10. Teacher’s practices • Scaffolding – previewing, on-the-spot assessment, recycling • Empasizing vocabulary - word sorts, vocabulary self-selection, word walls • Adapting content – adapted texts • Supplementing – pictures, video, related literature, Internet • Strategies – summarizing, reciprocal teaching, visual aids, paraphrasing, previewing and predicting • Promoting engagement – variable grouping, roundtable • Practicing and integrating skills – guided practice connections, independent practice, rewriting a text, hands on the text

11. Teacher’s practices (cont.) • Accessing and evaluating – individual, group, written, oral, pre-lesson assessment, progress-assessment (exit cards), post-lesson evaluation • Differentiating instruction – content, pacing, process, product, stations.

12. Expectations for the students • Group 1 – Decoration committee - Students will: - Create short narrations to describe the decoration items by using the right vocabulary, incorporating the present tense and connecting words.

13. Expectations for the students (cont.) • Group 2 - Food committee - research typical food recipes to assign dishes to be brought. • Group 3 - Music committee – research appropriate music to be played, choose the waltz, coordinate with school authorities for approval, bring the music and other necessary technological devices and make all other arrangements. • Group 4 -Organizing committee – organize the logistics of the party and all the details, including the doll and the dress. Articulate with the other groups to fine tune the preparations.

14. Expectations for the students (cont.) Students will: - Use the target language, demonstrate critical thinking and ability to support their decisions in a coherent way by using compound sentences, comparing and contrasting and the appropriate register.

15. Expectations for the students (cont.) • Group 5 – Interviewing committee Research celebration experiences, formulate appropriate questions, prepare and conduct interviews, synthesize their findings in a final cultural project to be displayed at the party. • Group 6 – Invitation committee Research previous invitations in newspapers to support and discuss their findings in order to guide the groups and help them write the invitations.

16. Expectations for the students (cont.) Students will: Make decisions using critical thinking to develop an interview, and enhanced leadership skills in order to make recommendations and guide all students to write the invitation by incorporating key vocabulary, register, orthographic rules, genres.