Alex Yonkers

Unit Reflection

In the unit for my teacher work sample, I was able to solidify what it takes to create a
cohesive unit based around a particular theme, with that being Hispanic festivals and
celebrations. It was truly a perfect time to implement my knowledge I learned while abroad in
Spain. There were certain festivals and celebrations I would not have been able to explain as well
if I hadn’t studied abroad there. One activity that stood out as unit-defining would be the
Autonomous Communities Festival Poster Project. This gave students enough cultural
knowledge that they could pull out at any moment (particularly on the test) about a region of the
world they do not have much knowledge of (Spain). Not only that, but it was heavily inquiry
based, meaning students got to choose what to research and then got to do their own
investigating without being told exactly. This helps foster their critical skills necessary for the
21st century. An activity that I think did not have much success was the deducing understanding
with vocabulary half sheet. I feel as though with it being one of the last activities in the unit,
students already had a good understanding of vocabulary, so it was just busy work. It could do
better if placed right after introducing the vocabulary so students truly have to deduce meaning
from words. By using context clues of a story, they can figure out the meaning of new words.
This represents a strong foundation of language acquisition, by giving them something
comprehensible, yet they have to think a bit to figure it out. By the time they did the activity in
class, they were no longer new words for them.
If I were to teach this unit again, I would like to focus on modeling for them. This unit
was very culture heavy which is great, but particularly for the poster assignment, I could have
made my own poster as a teacher to give them an idea of what I am looking for, and/or find
authentic examples from Spain to give as well. Although not giving them an example poster
provoked some creativity with the language, some students were lost along the way.
Overall, the creation of this unit showed me that since most of my students are heritage
speakers and know how to use the language, it is imperative that with that particular group of
students I can do more with the teaching of culture through a second language and focus less on
teaching the language itself. Being in Spanish level 3, it is time to start honing in on what we can
do with the language, rather than teaching the language itself.