ULACIT
CULTURA Y SOCIEDAD CONTEMPORÁNEA AMERICANA
FINAL PROJECT: LESSON PLAN
7/19/2010
Professor: Neli Santiago. Student: Leonie Krug.
FINAL PROJECT
LESSON PLAN
Teaching Culture using the National Standards in Foreign Language Project-
1. Of the Five Dimensions of Culture: Products, Practices, Perspectives, Persons, and Communities, I chose the attitude towards nature of people living in New Zealand.
2. Instructional strategies for Teaching Language and Culture Authentic Materials (Literature), a Role-Play, and students as cultural resources.
3. Task-based Methodology/ESL classroom.
Objectives:
• Standard 1.2: Students understand and interpret written language in the story of creation.
• Standard 1.1: Students engage in conversations about the reading, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
• Standard 2.1: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture of New Zealand.
• Standard 2.2: Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of New Zealand. (Open-minded- laws.)
• Standard 3.2: Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures. Ss recognize differences of viewpoints between New Zealanders and Ticos.
• Standard 4.1: Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own. (Names in the reading.)
• Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own. (Ss compare the story to Costarican stories.)
• Standard 5.1: Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting.
• Standard 5.2: Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment. (Ss perform an improvised role-play.)
Schema Activation:
The teacher introduces the topic with a very short power point presentation about New Zealand and the connection of the Maori Legends to the different cultural components of this country nowadays; to catch the students’ attention on the topic, and to enable them to link the reading to the cultural background of New Zealand regarding the perspectives towards nature.
The following information will be included in the Power Point Presentation:
New Zealand (Aotearoa)
It has the world’s rarest birds, insects and plants due to the fact that New Zealand originally did not have mammals. The native population was the Maori, indigenous tribes who were warriors deeply connected with their surroundings. Today, Māori make up over 14 percent of the population since the tribes began to blend with the Europeans who came to the country in the 18th century (after Captain Cook first arrived in New Zealand). The Māori language and culture still has a major impact on all facets of New Zealand life. The Maori legends like the Story of Creation reflect the beliefs of the Maori towards nature and their values have been adopted by the changing population. For example, if someone dies in a river, the river is cursed for a time, and people do not get water from it or swim or fish in it. Another tradition that shows the respect for every living thing is that people have to ask for permission before they cut down a tree. The connection to nature shown in the traditional meal called “Hangi” that is prepared inside the soil/underground. New Zealand is called the long white cloud because of the story of Recreation.
Pre-Task not included because of lack of time! (Pre-Task: Students are asked to read the text about the story of Creation quickly, and to ask questions if they do not understand vocabulary.)
Task:
Students are told to role-play the story of Creation.
There will be narrators reading the story, giving the other students time to act out what they hear.
The other students must improvise with the language and their body language during the play, according to the character they have been assigned.
The story of the Creation
Narrator 1: In the beginning there was no sky, no sea, no earth and no Gods. There was only darkness, only Te Kore, the Nothingness. The very beginning was made from nothing. From this nothingness, the primal parents of the Māori came, Papatuanuku, the Earth mother, and Ranginui, the Sky father. Pause
Papatuanuku and Ranginui came together, embracing in the darkness, and had 70 male children. Pause
These offspring became the gods of the Māori. However, the children of Papatuanuku and Ranginui were locked in their parents embrace, in eternal darkness, and yearned to see some light. Pause
They eventually decided that their parents should be separated, and had a meeting to decide what should be done. Pause
They considered for a long time - should Rangi and Papa be killed? Or shall they be forced to separate? Pause
Finally, Tumatauenga, the god of War, said "Let us kill our parents". Pause
However, Tane-Mahuta, the god of man and forests, and all which inhabits the forests, thought that Rangi and Papa should be separated. He thought that Ranginui should go up above, to the sky, and that Papatuanuku should should go below, to dwell on earth. Pause
All the children, including Tu, the God of War, agreed with Tane. Pause
Narrator 2: Tawhiri Matea, the god of winds and storms was the only child who did not wish for his parents to be separated. He feared that his kingdom would be overthrown. Pause
One by one the children tried to separate their parents. Rongomatane, the god and father of cultivated foods, tried without success. Pause
Haumia Tiketike, god of uncultivated food also tried. Pause
Then it was the turn of Tangaroa, the god of the sea, Pause
and Tumatauenga, the god of war, Pause
but neither Tangaroa nor Tumatauenga could separate their parents.
Lastly Tane-Mahuta rose. Strong as the kauri tree, he placed his shoulders against his mother Papatuanuku and his feet against his father Ranginui, and he pushed hard, for a very long time, straining and heaving all the while. Pause
Rangi and Papa cried in pain, asking their sons" why do you wish to destroy our love?" Pause
After a long time Tane finally managed to separate Rangi and Papa, and for the first time the children saw the light of day (ao Marama) come streaming in. Pause
Once this happened, Tawhiri Matea, the god of winds and storms, and who had been against the separation of his parents, left for the sky to join his father. Pause
The turbulent winds and storms on earth are caused by Tawhiri Matea, in revenge for this brother's acts. Pause
Narrator 3: Now that the separation of Papatuanuku and Ranginui was complete, and there was a sky and an earth. However, there was just one missing element, and Tane decided to create a female. Pause
From an area named Kura-waka Tane took some clay, and modeled it into a woman. He then breathed life into it, and created Hine-ahu-one - the earth formed maiden. Pause
Tane and Hine had a beautiful daughter called Hinetitama. Pause
When Hinetitama grew, she had daughters to Tane. Pause
One day Hinetitama asked Tane who her father was, and on discovering that Tane was the father of her children, she fled with shame into the night, to a place called Rarohenga, the underworld. Pause
From then on she became known as Hine-nui-te-po, the goddess of the night.
Language Focus:
Students will be divided into two groups, the ones sitting on the left in the classroom will be group 1, and the ones sitting on the right will be group 2.
Students in their groups will comment on the reading, answering the following questions:
Group 1: What did you learn from this story about the perspectives of the New Zealand culture, such as perceptions, attitudes, values and beliefs?
Group 2: What kind of story is it? Is the story comparable to any Costarican story, in literature, or regarding beliefs?
Bibliography:
Robbie Whitmore. New Zealand in History, 2009. Recovered on the 01 of August 2010 from http://history-nz.org/.
Author unknown. Infoplease. All the Knowledge you need. New Zealand, 2009. Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. Recovered on the 01 of August 2010 from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107834.html?pageno=2.
Author unknown. New Zealand Tourism Guide. New Zealand Nature, 2009. Recovered on the 02 of August 2010 from http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/about-new-zealand/nature.html.
Author unknown. 100 % Pure New Zealand. Maori Culture, 2009. Recovered on the 02 of August 2010 from http://www.newzealand.com/travel/about-nz/culture/culture-maori-culture.cfm.
Author unknown, 2009. The main sources of the article are "Land of the Long White Cloud (Māori Myths, Tales and Legends)" from Kiri Te Kanawa and "Māori myths and tribal legends" from Antony Lepers. Recovered on the 02 of August from http://history-nz.org/maori9.html.
Author unknown, 2009. Christchurch City Libraries. A Beginner's Kete To Learning Basic Māori Language. Recovered on the 04 of August from http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Maori/TeReoKete/.
