Perú, tierra de los Incas

Course Overview

Course Summary

The Incan empire was one of the major ancient civilizations in the Americas; its capital was located in Cusco, Perú, which is why the focus of this class will be centered on this country. Perú, however, was home to other great civilizations that have contributed to the rich and fascinating culture found in this place. In this course, students will learn about Peruvian history, and landmarks, as well as the influence that Quechua (Perú’s 2^nd official language) has in the Spanish dialect spoken in Perú.

 

Final Project

Students will pick a pre-Columbian civilization to research in depth, in order to do a presentation at the end of the course in which they will ask and answer questions from the rest of the class. 

 

Honors

Students taking this course for honors, will pretend to be travel agents, and plan a trip to the location in which the civilization they’ve chosen is at, and try to “sell” the trip to their classmates. Students will present weekly reports on actual itineraries, e-mail exchange with hotels, phone calls to airlines, etc.

 

Objective

The main objective of this course is to be able to improve/ learn writing, reading, speaking and listening skills, through Peruvian history. Students will not only know Peruvian culture but will be able to express their knowledge (through narration, answering questions, and making invitations) to others, in Spanish.

 

Digital Portfolio

Students will be asked to choose 3 activities from the whole course to put on their portfolios.

 

Bathroom policy

Each student will be given five bathroom passes per semester, to be used wisely. If the student needs to use the restroom after using the five passes, he/she will be losing points on the work habits area.

 

Assessment strands

ü  Conversation (25%)

-          Using Spanish in class (i.e. asking questions / addressing teachers or classmates)

-          Explaining or acting out one new vocabulary word each day.

-          Expressing opinions about videos and maps presented in class.

-          Discussing work, such as painting, pottery, molding clay, etc.

ü  Interpretation (25%)

-          Answering questions about myths presented in class (oral and written)

-          Recognizing vocabulary words or phrases presented in class.

-          Following written or oral directions leading to an activity.

ü  Work habits (25%)

-          Being fully present throughout class and participating in Spanish activities each day.

-          Presenting work on time (homework, assignments, weekly project reports)

-          Showing interest and effort in each class.

ü  Presentation (25%)

-          Doing a presentation on a Peruvian ancient civilization/culture.

-          Showing materials pertinent to their presentation.

-          Show artifacts made in class at exhibition night.

-          Creativity and originality during presentation.

-          Answering questions regarding project.

 

Course overview

 

	Content	Projects
August 27th – 30th	Introduction to Perú and the Incas
September 3rd - 6th	Inca Empire	Making and explaining “quipus” (Incan counting system), and other artifacts
September 9th - 20th
September 20th	Nazca Culture	Recreate own version of Nazca lines, and discuss.
September 30th
October 4th October 18th	Paracas Culture
October 25th	Wari Culture	Rock painting, while explaining process and results to classmates.
November 1st
November 4th	Chimú
November 8th
November 12th	Amazonian cultures	Build a model of types of Amazonian housing/living while describing the process of it.
November 22nd
November 25th	Perú´s typical music and dances	Learn and teach how to dance using the target language
November 27th
December 2nd – 6th	“Huayno” week (ethnic songs)	Singing Peruvian’s ethnic songs.
December 9th – 13th	Project presentation week
December 16th – 20th
January 2nd – 3rd	Review of topics learned
January 6th – 10th	Revision week (grammar and vocabulary assessment)