(To use this template, replace the prompts in the gray boxes with your own text
and then delete any text that appears in red.)
I know this is not done, but it will be sometime in the near, semi-foreseeable future.
Unit Title: (Name of Unit)
Unit Overview:
(What information would a colleague need to decide whether or not to use the unit?)
This (number) -week, (number) lesson unit is based on Chapter (number)
of
(Name of Textbook) . It engages (beginning/intermediate/advanced)
(middle school/high school) Spanish (level of class such as I, II, III, IV, V) students in
exploring the theme of (theme of unit) . During the unit, students will learn to
(communicative task/s) using the (grammatical structures) . The unit will revolve
around (#) primary topics:
(list of major cultural and vocabulary topics covered during
the unit) . Major activities include:
(titles of major activities from the unit) . The unit
culminates in a (name of integrated performance assessment or final project).
Additional assessments of student progress include: (list of major assessments) . The unit
assumes that students already know (list of key topics) .
Unit Rationale:
(What are the pedagogical purposes of the unit & why will they matter to students?)
This unit is designed to help students understand the importance that
(social issue and/or cultural topic) plays in (name of country or cultural
group) life. It engages students in exploring how and why (name of cultural
product/practice)
(shapes/reflects/relates to)
(name of targeted cultural
perspective) . This unit gives students opportunities to (list why this unit will
matter to STUDENTS) . Students will develop communicative proficiency by
exploring the guiding question:
explore during this unit).
(list the essential question students will
(To use this template, replace the prompts in the gray boxes with your own text
and then delete any text that appears in red.)
 To craft your guiding question, write a statement that explains the main goal of the
unit—the one key thing you want students to know and be able to do by the end of
the unit.
 Next, write a statement that answers the question, “Why should this matter to
students?”
 Now, try to write a single statement that combines the two sentences you wrote
above.
 Finally, flip the resulting sentence into a question.
 (Sometimes, it is easier to craft a set of questions and then pull out the key
elements of each one to form your guiding question. The other questions will
usually become sub-questions that guide individual lessons as opposed to the
entire unit.)
Unit Planning Grid (2 pages)
(How will you provide colleagues with a visual overview of the unit’s key concepts and activities?)
Variety of learning activities? ♦ Meaningful activities? ♦ Structured opportunities to move and talk?
For ideas, see the curriculum framework developed by Granite, Jordan, & Murray school districts in Utah: http://tinyurl.com/ddf6z5
For an example of how you might get started, see pages 10, 12, 16, and 19 of: http://tinyurl.com/cyauvz
Essential (Guiding) Question for the Unit: ____________________________________________________________________
Lesson Title
Targeted Grammatical Structure
Lesson 1:
Targeted Vocabulary
(No more than 7 words)
Language Functions
Lesson Objective:
(What 5 to 7 meaningful,
measurable, standards-based
objectives will you use to guide
students’ efforts to make
incremental, step-by-step
progress toward the overarching
unit goal?)
Students will
(standardsbased
communicativ
e function)
about
(cultural
context/vocab
ulary topic)
using
(grammatical
structure/proce
ss) .
Lesson 2:
Lesson 3:
Lesson 4:
Lesson 5:
Unit Planning Grid (2 pages)
(How will you provide colleagues with a visual overview of the unit’s key concepts and activities?)
(Items in each row should progressively build on one another toward a final product or assessment.)
Lesson Title
TOPIC: Conceptual Issue or Social
Situation (Context for the Lesson)
TEXTS: Culturally Authentic Texts,
Materials, or Realia (Content of
the Lesson)
TASKS: Critical Thinking Tasks That
Engage Students with the Texts in
Meaningful Ways
TALK: Communicative, Interactive
Activities (Interpersonal,
interpretive, or presentational
activities that get students moving
& talking in preparation for the
assessment)
TECHNIQUES, TEMPLATES, & TECH:
(Instructional Strategies,
Scaffolding, & Student Use of Tech)
Adaptations for Individual
Students
Lesson 1:
Lesson 2:
Lesson 3:
Lesson 4:
Lesson 5:
Unit Objectives (1 page)
UETS Standards 1: Learner Development; 2: Learning Differences; and 6: Instructional
Strategies
InTASC Standards 1: Learner Development; 2: Learning Differences; and 7: Planning for
Instruction
PURPOSE: To help you create a framework for your teaching unit informed by the
contextual factors and student needs that you have previously identified.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
List the learning objectives (e.g. language tasks and functions, not the activities) that will
guide the planning, delivery, and assessment of your unit. The objectives should reflect
big ideas from other disciplines (Connections) and be connected to cultural contexts
(Cultures). Ensure that you have at least one objective related to culture.
Objectives should specify (in observable, measurable terms) the:

Audience (students)

Behavior (standards-based communicative function – stated as an
observable, measurable verb)

Conditions (cultural context, grammatical structure, or vocabulary)

Degree of performance (performance parameters – accuracy,
frequency, quantity, time).
Students will + (standards-based, communicative function)
NOT know
learn
practice
understand
about (cultural context/vocabulary topic) using (grammatical
structure) + (performance parameters - accuracy, frequency,
quantity, time) .
Note: Consider taking your verbs directly from the ACTFL World Readiness
Standards for Learning Languages , the Utah Core Standards for World
Languages, the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the National Technology
Standards for Students.
Unit Objectives (1 page)
Steps for Writing Objectives (These objectives should be the same
objectives you have listed in your Unit Planning Grid.)
a) Goals: Make a bulleted list of your goals for students—the things
you want them to learn.




Grammar: Use the preterit v. imperfect correctly
Vocabulary: Clothing, natural disasters, news, and weather
Culture: Journalism in Latin America
Social Issues: Effects of natural disasters on Latin America’s
economy
b) Communicative Language Functions: Using the World Readiness
Standards for Learning Languages the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines,
the NCSSFL-ACTFL Global Statements, and the ACTFL 21st Century
Skills Map, generate communicative language functions students
would need to converse about the bulleted items on your list.




Narrate
Describe
Compare & contrast
Analyze & explain
c) Objectives: Plug the communicative functions you have identified
into the formula below to generate your objectives:
Students will (standards-based communicative function) about
(cultural context/vocabulary topic) using (grammatical
structure) + (performance parameters - accuracy, frequency,
quantity, or time).

Grammar: Students will narrate key events that occurred during
a natural disaster using the preterit and imperfect tenses.

Vocabulary: Students will describe people who are missing due
to a natural disaster using adjectives, clothing, news, and
weather vocabulary.

Culture: Students will compare and contrast the journalistic
content and style of news reports about natural disasters in Latin
America with those of the United States.

Social Issues: Students will analyze and explain the effects of
natural disasters on the economy of Latin America.
(To use this template, replace the prompts in the gray boxes with your own text, then delete any text that appears in red.)
World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages: (1 page - How will your UNIT address each of the standards?)
Complete the chart below:
Standards-based Essential (Guiding) Question: Insert your guiding question for the unit here.
Targeted Proficiency Level: Novice Intermediate Advanced Superior / Low Med High
Standard 1.1, Communication (Interpersonal):
Standard 3.1, Connections: Learners build,
Learners (interact and negotiate meaning in
reinforce, and expand their knowledge of (list
one or more disciplines besides Spanish) while
conversations to share information, express
reactions or feelings, and exchange
using the language to develop critical thinking
opinions) about (name of topic/s)
and to solve problems creatively by (list tasks)
Standard 1.2, Communication (Interpretive):
Standard 3.2, Connections: Learners access and
Learners understand, interpret, and analyze
evaluate information and diverse perspectives
what is (heard, read, or viewed) on (name of that are available through the language and its
cultures by (list tasks or explain how)
topic) by (reading/listening to/viewing)
(type of texts)
Standard 1.3, Communication
Standard 4.1/4.2, Comparisons: Learners use the
(Presentational) Learners present (information, language to investigate, explain, and reflect on
concepts, and ideas) to (inform, explain,
the (nature of language/concept of culture)
persuade, and narrate) about (name of
through comparisons of the
topic/s) using appropriate media and
(language/cultures) studied and their own by
(list tasks)
adapting to various audiences of
(listeners/readers/viewers)
Standard 2.1, Cultures: Learners use the
Standard 5.1, Communities: Learners use the
language to (investigate, explain, and
language both within and beyond the
reflect) on the relationship between the
classroom to interact and collaborate in their
community and the globalized world by (list
practices and perspectives of the culture
tasks or explain how)
studied by (explain how)
Standard 2.1, Cultures: Learners use the
Standard 5.2, Communities: Learners set goals
language to (investigate, explain, and
and reflect on their progress in using languages
reflect) on the relationship between the
for enjoyment, enrichment, and advancement
by (list tasks or explain how)
products and perspectives of the cultures
studied by (explain how)
(To use this template, replace the prompts in the gray boxes with your own text, then delete any
text that appears in red.)