Learning Activity

Hershey, Cuba: El Pueblo Olvidado

Subject Area

World Languages

Grade(s)

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Overview

This introductory activity provides a gateway to exploring the town of Hershey, Cuba, a town built by Milton Hershey to produce sugar in the early 1900s. Using their taste buds, students will be captivated by this topic and will desire to learn more about Hershey, Cuba. This lesson provides opportunities to explore greater or reinforce the uses of the past tenses (preterit and/or imperfect) as well as build vocabulary related to sugar production and industry.

This activity is for the intermediate proficiency level and should be taught completely in the target language.

This activity is a result of the ALEX Resource Development Summit.

World Languages (2017) Grade(s): 07-12 - World Languages

WL17.WL.L4.2

Interpret, restate, and react to what is heard, read, or viewed on familiar and new topics.

Unpacked Content

UP:WL17.WL.L4.2

Knowledge

Students know:
  • the target language vocabulary for specific topics.
  • how to communicate in a variety of tenses and moods.

Skills

Intermediate Mid Level
Students are able to:
  • understand basic information from advertisments and announcements, audio or print.
  • understand the main idea(s) of voice messages and videos
  • understand basic statements and questions in an interview.
  • understand questions in a survey or questionnaire.
  • understand information in a variety of print formats (ex: brochures, magazines, labels, etc.).
  • understand information in interpersonal communication.
  • understand main ideas, supporting details, themes, settings, characters and plot lines in literary texts.
Intermediate High Level
Students are able to:
  • understand basic information from advertisments and announcements, audio or print.
  • understand interpersonal exchanges, spoken or in print.
  • understand information in a variety of print formats (ex: brochures, magazines, labels, etc.).
  • understand main ideas, supporting details, themes, settings, characters and plot lines in literary texts.

Understanding

Students understand that:
Intermediate Mid Level
  • effective communication requires knowing how when and why to say what to whom.
  • the purpose of language study is to communicate so one can understand others and be understood.
  • other understandings will depend on the theme being taught.
Intermediate High:
  • effective communication requires knowing how when and why to say what to whom.
  • the purpose of language study is to communicate so one can understand others and be understood.
  • other understandings will depend on the theme being taught.
World Languages (2017) Grade(s): 07-12 - World Languages

WL17.WL.L5.2

Understand the main idea and a few details in texts on a variety of topics related to everyday life and personal interests in various time frames and moods using varied vocabulary and more complex sentence structure.

Unpacked Content

UP:WL17.WL.L5.2

Knowledge

Students know:
  • variety of time frames.
  • the target language vocabulary for specific topics.
  • the target language vocabulary for various types of documents (written or audio/video) (i.e., literary texts, newspapers, magazines, websites, radio/tv ads, announcements, or live presentations).

Skills

Intermediate Mid & High Level
Students are able to:
  • relate the main themes and significant details on topics from other subjects and products of the cultures as presented on TV, radio, video, or live presentations.
  • describe the main themes and significant details on topics from other subjects and products of the cultures as found in printed sources for target language audiences.
  • identify the principal characters and discuss the main ideas and themes in selected literary texts.
  • comprehend spoken and written messages in the target language.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • effective communication requires knowing how when and why to say what to whom.
  • the purpose of language study is to communicate so one can understand others and be understood.
  • other understandings will depend on the theme being taught.

Phase

Before/Engage
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

In the target language, students will be able to:

  • restate basic information learned about Milton Hershey and the origins of Hershey, Cuba.
  • describe the model town Hershey, Cuba using various time frames.

Activity Details

1. The teacher will ask the students to close their eyes and put their hands out in front. It is important that the teacher reminds the students to trust him/her.

*It is best if the students are seated in a desk arrangement that allows easy mobility to each student.

2. The teacher will place 1-2 mini morsels of baking chocolates in each student’s hand. Students’ eyes should remain closed until all the students have received the chocolates. The students may not touch or feel what is in their hands.

-Todos cierren los ojos. Confían en mi. No abran los ojos. Pongan los manos enfrente. Yo voy a poner algo en tus manos. No pueden abrir los ojos. No pueden tocar el objeto en los manos.

3. Once all the students have the chocolate in their hands, the teacher will instruct the students to eat the items but not to open their eyes yet.

- No abran los ojos y coman lo que está en los manos.

4. The students will quickly realize what they are eating…and laugh! The teacher will ask the following questions about the item and its ingredients. The teacher can write the students’ answers on the board as they are given.

- ¿Qué les di en los manos? (Chocolate)
- ¿Cuáles son los ingredientes para hacer chocolate? (Cacao, leche, azúcar*)
- El azúcar viene de la caña de azúcar. ¿Dónde se cultiva la caña de azúcar en el mundo? (En zonas tropicales, en Asia, Luisiana, Florida, Cuba*)
- ¿Cuál es la marca de chocolate más conocida de los Estado Unidos? (Hershey*)

5. The teacher will present a short video trailer Milton Hershey’s Cuba to the students. *The trailer is in English but provides a concise introduction to the topic.

6. The teacher will prompt students with follow-up questions after the video.

- ¿Hershey tenía mucho control o un poco control en las partes de la compañía?- Describe el pueblo Hershey, Pennsylvania. ¿Qué tenía en pueblo?
-¿Por qué Milton Hershey quería construir un pueblo en Cuba?

7. The students will be given an individual reading assignment to explore this topic more and begin building a vocabulary list useful to this theme. The reading assignment is an article from the Vanguardia publication in México addressing the history and contents of Hershey, Cuba.

8. After reading the article, the students will write a description of what Hershey, Cuba was like and what it used to have. This comprehension question is found on the back of the article page.

- Después de leer, escribe una descripción de Hershey, Cuba. ¿Cuándo fue construido? ¿Por qué fue construido? ¿Cómo era? ¿Qué tenía?

Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

The teacher-led questions after the video functions as a formative assessment in this introductory activity. These questions allow the teacher to observe students' ability to restate basic information about Milton Hershey and the origins of Hershey, Cuba learned in the introductory video.

The comprehension question after the article is a formative assessment of interpreting the main idea and several details of the article. The comprehension question allows the teacher to observe students' ability to describe Hershey, Cuba using multiple time frames and expanded vocabulary from the article.

Variation Tips

From this introductory activity, activities can be focused around what Hershey, Cuba used to be like and what it is like now. This comparison and contrast requires the use of the imperfect and present tenses to review describing in the past and present. Pictures can easily be found on the internet of Hershey, Cuba of the past and the present.

While sugar production was once the leading product of the Cuban economy, this topic can be further expanded by exploring the decrease of sugar production in Cuba since the revolution and what the country is producing/offering today to support their economy. Furthering this topic reinforces the uses and structures of the preterit and imperfect tenses.

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

Purchase a bag of mini chocolate morsels, usually found in the baking aisle.

Make sure the YouTube video is not blocked by your school’s WiFi. Share the video with students on your teacher webpage or the school learning management system.

Print copies of the news article for the students.

Digital Tools / Resources

Youtube Video: Milton Hershey's Cuba
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo7Q5XpYrcQ

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

sralawrence100
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