¿Crisol, ensalada, mosaico, guiso?
Re-inventando el “melting pot”
Students from Barcelona, Spain will shortly be visiting us again. How do you think they might perceive the American
society of today? You have been asked by the Program Coordinators to create a poster that represents our
American Society as you see it today. Using the concepts/metaphors of the “melting pot” and the “salad bowl” as an
inspiration, work in small groups to develop a new metaphor that helps describe the people and the cultures that
live in the United States of America. As a group you must come to a consensus on how you will visualize your
metaphor. Be prepared to unveil the poster in a group oral presentation. Below is a quick summary of both
metaphors.
EL CRISOL (MELTING POT)

EL PLATO DE ENSALADA

For generations, Americans have believed in becoming
one people. It is critical that we not stress our
differences, but rather come together as Americans
who believe in a core set of values.
For far too long, immigrants came here and were
made to feel ashamed of who they truly were. One
does NOT have to give up their ethnicity to become
American. We can have common American values
AND still focus on what makes us unique.

We cannot be a united people and also be a nation of
“hyphenated” Americans. If we focus on being IrishAmericans, African- Americans, Italian-Americans, and
any other type of Americans – we are not united, but
rather breaking apart.
America is strongest when we celebrate our
differences. We are stronger when we draw on all
of those differences. When people give up their
heritage, they give up a big part of themselves.

What has always made us strong is our belief that
anyone can come here and become American. That is
totally unique to our story. That is not true for so many
other nations of the globe. Most of us cannot go to
Japan and become Japanese or to France and become
French. But immigrants CAN come here and join us to
become Americans. BUT, this does require leaving the
past behind and focusing on becoming American.
The beauty of America is that our values transcend
our differences. We can be Italian-Americans,
Irish Americans, African-Americans – any type of
Americans – yet we remain Americans and believe in
the same core principles. Those are the principles
found in the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
We are already too divided as a nation. This focus on our
differences only divides us more. Where does this end – with
everyone in their own ethnic neighborhoods speaking their
own languages? We have to get away from that.
We show the world time and time again that we are
the only nation that can have such harmony in a
world of difference. There is nothing wrong with
America being a land of multiple languages. That is
nothing more than a measure of how the globe is
shrinking by the day. America should be proud to
reflect that.
This is a presentaional assessment that will be divided into part parts.
Part I: The oral presentation
Please make sure that you incorporate the following items in your
presentation and break it up evenly amongst the people in your group
a. ¿Qué es la metáfora que están usando y por qué están usandola?
b. ¿Han usado el crisol, la ensalda mixta o elementos de los dos para
ayudarles a definir ¿qué es la cultura estadunidense?
c. Describe el visual. . . que representan los diferentes pedazos?
d. Hay algo que mantiene a todas las diferentes culturas juntas? ¿Qué es?
e. ¿Dónde estan Uds. en el visual? ¿Qué usasate para representarte en la
metáfora y por qué?
Part II: The visual/ unveiling of the new visualization of metaphor/ poster
Please create a visual (poster) that answers all of the questions in part I.
Please label each section and place descriptions in proper areas of your
poster.
You will have two days to work in class on this assessment.
Also make sure to use at least 10 new vocab. Words from the packet to
enhance your poster and presentation. The presentation should be 2 minutes.
The only notes that you may have will be on the poster. Please take the time
to read the attached rubric.