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Day One:
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Diario - ¿Qué es algo que haces cada día o frecuentemente, algo que es
importante para ti? ¿Por qué es importante? (5 minutes)
 Students’ responses will be written in Spanish in a separate
notebook kept in the classroom that the teacher will read from time
to time to add comments and give encouragement to their thoughts.
The grammar will not be counted for a grade; this journal works
solely to spark thinking and to practice writing.
Introduction to topic/ vocabulary (5 minutes)
o Distribute vocabulary list and go over the words orally three times.
 The students will repeat the words after me, each word three times
in Spanish.
o Durante los próximos días vamos a discutir y estudiar los derechos
humanos.
Discussion – Human rights (5-7 minutes)
o ¿Qué es un derecho humano? ¿Qué son algunos ejemplos de derechos
humanos?
o ¿Son importantes los derechos humanos?
o ¿Son universales los derechos humanos? ¿Tiene los mismos derechos que
nosotros la gente de México? ¿De Cuba?
o ¿Cúales son algunos factores que pueden afectar los derechos de la gente
en un país?
o ¿Pueden Uds. pensar en una injusticia que existe hoy en los EE.UU. o en
otro país? ¿Qué es algo malo que sufre la gente norteamericana o la gente
de otro país?
 The length of this activity will vary with the responsiveness of the
students. If the students become very involved in the questions
and there is not enough time to get through them all, use the
leftover questions for the diario the following day.
Group work (15 minutes)
o Split the class into groups of four and assign them a human right
 Freedom of press
 Religious freedom
 Freedom of speech
 Freedom to keep and bear arms
 Extra human rights in case of a larger class: Right to
speedy and public trial, right to assemble peacefully, right
to petition the government.
 The students will be asked to develop arguments for and against
their assigned right. The students should try to develop at least
two arguments for each side. These arguments should be written
in Spanish.
o Posters
 The students will be asked to develop a slogan for their assigned
right. They should think about what is the most important part or
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quality of their right. The slogan should be creative or presented in
an inventive way.
 These slogans will go on a poster that the students will present.
The poster needs to include the human right and the slogan.
Presentation of arguments (8 minutes)
 The groups will be asked to present their posters to the class, along
with the other arguments they developed or issues they discussed
surrounding this right. Each student should speak at least one time
during the presentations.
 The groups will be marked down if every member does not
participate in the discussion of their right, the creation of the poster
and their short presentation.
Activity Wrap Up
o This activity of discussing and examining the importance of different
human rights will bring us to our cultural focus. We will be learning
about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
Cultural Focus – Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (3-5 minutes)
o Una monja mexicana.
o Nació en México en 1651 y murió en 1695.
o Se disfrazó (disguised herself) de hombre para poder asistir a la
Universidad de México.
o Entró al convento para poder seguir estudiando y escribiendo.
o Ella defendió los derechos de las mujeres.
o Fue activista por las mujeres.
Allow time for questions or clarifications.
Focus (8 minutes)
o Excerpts from the letter from Sor Filotea de la Cruz
 After reading an overview of this letter, the students will be asked
about its content with specific attention to whom they believe the
author to be, what type of relationship this person may have had
with Sor Juana, and what the main arguments of the letter were.
Homework (2 minutes)
o The students will read portions of Sor Juana’s response letter to Sor
Filotea.
o What is one of the “pleadings and commands of others” that you see in
this country today? (Examples: prejudice, education problems, poverty,
etc.) Write a letter in Spanish to describe this problem, and tell why it
needs to be solved. Your response should be at least 100 words.
Day Two:
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Diario – Inventa tu propio “derecho humano”. Describe a la gente que necesita
conseguir este derecho y por qué has inventado este derecho. (5 minutes).
Writing/Speaking/Peer-editing Activity (18 minutes)
o The students will exchange their homework letters with a partner.
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o The students will read their partner’s letter and complete a peer-editing
form.
o The students will get their own letters back, with their partner’s responses,
and have time to discuss the letters. They should pay special attention to:
things they thought were interesting, things they thought were creative,
what they should improve, etc.
 The students will get eighteen minutes to do this activity (twelve to
read/edit and six to discuss). This activity is designed to give
students a chance to peer edit, read in Spanish, explore a unique
idea of a classmate, respond in Spanish with original thoughts and
give and receive oral feedback.
Sharing (7 minutes)
o Two groups will be asked to volunteer their letters for class discussion.
Discussion - The true identity of Sor Filotea (6 minutes)
o Reveal the true identity of Sor Filotea.
o Discuss the importance of the fact that “Sor Filotea” was a pseudonym for
the bishop of Puebla: ¿Cómo afecta esto la situación? ¿Es importante el
hecho de que Sor Filotea sea de veras un hombre? ¿el hecho de que sea
arzobispo?
o ¿Esta información cambia tu reacción a la repuesta de Sor Juana?
o ¿Tiene un impacto cultural el hecho de que Sor Filotea sea hombre?
¿Cómo?
Introduction to poetry (1 minute)
o Transition from Sor Juana’s letter to her poetry by challenging students to
look for common themes in both the letter and her poem or to see
differences and what those differences imply, if anything.
Poetry/ Homework Introduction (18 minutes)
o We will look at a part of Soneto 145 (“A su retrato”).
o As a class we will read and discuss the poem. The students will need to
understand its meaning in order to complete their homework. By writing
about what a portrait of her was NOT, Sor Juana contradicted the
“praises” the portrait was intended to make.
o Homework
 The students will begin to write their own poems following the
model of Sor Juana’s poem.
 The students should not feel obligated to expose their innermost
secrets. They should simply identify things about themselves:
hobbies, characteristics, personality traits, etc.
Day Three:
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Diario: ¿Qué es un retrato? ¿Qué nos muestra? ¿Qué no nos muestra? (5
minutes)
Sharing/Reading aloud (8 minutes)
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o Three or four students will be asked to volunteer the poems they wrote for
homework. These volunteers will come to the front of class and read their
poems aloud.
Information Gap Activity 1 (5 minutes on activity, 5 minutes on discussion = 10
minutes)
o Activity
 Break into pairs. Sit back to back. Decide who will be person #1
and who will be person #2. Look at your handout for directions:
 Partner #1: Describe the picture below to your partner,
using only Spanish. You may not say the word itself (and
that includes spelling it!)
 Partner #2: After listening to the description your partner
gives you, draw what is described. You may not show your
picture to your partner until the activity is done.
o Discussion
 After finishing their descriptions and drawings, the students should
share the word and the original picture and compare them to the
picture that was drawn.
 Does the picture you drew/described look like the actual
picture?
 Does your picture honestly depict what is seen in the
original picture?
 How does this relate to what we read from Sor Juana?
 How can you put this message into your own lives? (The
students should be directed to think about how this applies
to gossip and/or what they are told by others.)
 What damage can come from taking the information second
hand instead of seeing it truthfully for yourself?
Information Gap Activity 2 – Guess the Word / Vocabulary Practice (18 minutes:
2 minutes for set-up, 9 for first rotation, 7 for second rotation)
o Carousel Activity
 The class will arrange the desks into two carousels (one ring of
desks inside of a second ring ). The students will take seats and
then pick a vocabulary word out of one of two hats (each hat has a
complete set of the vocabulary words, one for each carousel). In
front of them the students will have a list of their vocabulary words
without definitions.
 The students need to interview their classmates to try to figure out
what person has what word. They will have one minute at each
stop on the carousel for the first trip around (each student should
get to ask at least one question about their partner’s word). None
of the students can directly say their own vocabulary word nor the
word they are asking about. The student should ask questions such
as: Is your word used to describe___? Does your word mean___?
After the students finish their one-minute interview times, they
should write their partner’s name next to the word they believe
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their partner has; then they will shift seats (outer ring moves
clockwise, inner ring moves counter clockwise). On the second
trip around the carousel, the students will directly ask their partner
if they have the word that they guessed for them: ¿Tienes ____?
Assessment – Vocabulary and Unit Quiz (up to 14 minutes)
o This quiz will be composed of matching, fill in the blank, and short
answer.
 The students will have the remainder of the class to finish their
quizzes. If all of the students finish early, or if the other activities
take less time than planned, you can move on to an optional
activity.