In the 6Th Grade, We Are Studying a Unit on Mexico. the Topic Vocabulary Pertains to School

Maria Laskaris Lesson #8 4/1/10

In the 6th grade, we are studying a unit on Mexico. The topic vocabulary pertains to school. Students learn words and phrases so that they can communicate about their school schedules, what classes they take, where their classes are, what classes they like, etc. In order to talk about where their classes are or where their school supplies are, some important vocabulary are prepositional phrases such as left, right, on top of, below, behind, in front of, etc.

As students study the communicative piece, they are simultaneously learning about the Mexican culture, as well. They compare our school system with that of Mexico's. They learn about Diego Rivera, and Frida Kahlo, their artwork and mural painting. To view an example of such art work, they take a look at UNAM - La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. There is a big mural on the wall of the central library of the university.

I thought it would be fun to use "Google Maps" to take them there. I pulled up Mexico City on Google maps, made the image 3D - as if we were actually walking through the streets of Mexico City, and then I had the students give me directions (using their prepositional phrases). We were just exploring essentially. Where should we go from here if we want to go downtown? "Left" they would answer or "Right". When we came across certain images such as a vendor, I would ask them more questions, such as "What is under the table?" and they would answer with the little vocabulary they have accumulated.

I felt this activity was effective for a few reasons. Students had the opportunity to visit Mexico and take a virtual tour of random areas of the city. They were able to use the new vocabulary that was introduced. Finally, they were able to better understand some of the cultural differences - seeing Mexican students dressed in uniforms at public schools, seeing the taquería (or taco) stands, seeing the life in the placita (or square) where people gather.

When we zoomed out, students were able to see where Mexico City is in relation to the rest of the country. Some kids have visited Cancun, so they were able to see how far away it was from Mexico City. They were also getting a glimpse of some authentic Mexican scenes, rather than only seeing the resort areas to which they may have been exposed. Lastly, since we studied areas such as San Antonio Texas in the last unit, they were able to clearly understand the proximity.