SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN
Lesson Plan (2 days)
Class and Meeting Time:
First-Semester Spanish
Class meets four times a week for 50 minutes
Day 1 Objectives:
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

To reconstruct a text (dictogloss) that will help us infer the topic of a short film.
To review the construction of the present progressive and stem-changing verbs in
the present in the text that we have previously recreated.
To learn the rules for adverbs ending in –mente by recognizing them in a text and
thus creating our own rules.
To anticipate the end of a story after watching the first half of a Dominican short
film.
Materials Needed:



For students: Handout A
For instructor: Script A
Projector / Computer
Day 1
TIME
07:55
GROUP SIZE
08:00
In pairs
08:05
Sequence:
Individual
In pairs
Groups of 4
08:30
In pairs
08:40
Individual
08:48
All students
Day 2 Objectives
INSTRUCTIONS
Write goals on the board.
Greet students in Spanish as they come in the classroom.
New Vocabulary / Translation
Paso 1: Look up new vocabulary in the dictionary.
Paso 2: Translate adverbs from English to Spanish.
Dictogloss
Paso 3: Read the paragraph three times. The first time,
students listen to the main idea. The second time, they take
notes. Then, they reconstruct the paragraph with a
classmate.
Paso 4: The third time, they compare the text with another
couple. Each group of four should end up with one final
version of the paragraph. Finally, instructor shows original
script on projector.
Inductive Grammar
Paso 5: Students recognize examples of: present
progressive, stem-changing verbs in the text, and –mente
adverbs. They come up with their own rule for adverb
formation.
Top-down Approach / Video
Paso 6: Students will watch the first three minutes of the
short “La cartera”. Then, they will answer the three
questions on their handout.
Wrap-up / Homework: Dialogue and Prediction
Explain homework. Each student will write a possible
dialogue for the following scene of the movie based on
what they had watched and their creativity (Instructions on
Handout A).
MATERIALS
Students:
Handout A
Students:
Handout A
Instructor:
Script A
Students:
Handout A
Instructor:
Short Film
“La cartera”
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

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
To confirm yesterday’s hypotheses after watching the end of the short film.
To discuss about the life of Dominicans in a marginal neighborhood in Santo
Domingo.
To describe the neighborhood and the people living there using grammatical
constructions previously studied.
To review the uses of the immediate future by speaking in couples about what will
happen after the story ended.
To present a topic of Dominican culture by comparing the Caribbean game of
vitilla to the American baseball.
Materials Needed:
 For instructor: Script B, C, D, Article A
 Projector / Computer
Day 2
TIME
07:55
GROUP SIZE
08:00
All students
08:05
All students
08:15
All students
08:20
Groups of 3
08:30
In pairs
08:35
In pairs
[In English]
08:42
In pairs
08:48
All students
INSTRUCTIONS
Write goals on the board.
Greet students in Spanish as they come in the classroom.
Warm-up
In Spanish, ask students what they remembered about the
short “La cartera” and predict what will happen at the end.
Homework / Dialogue Presentation
Instructor chooses three students to present their
homework (dialogue) in front of the class. Ask for
permission to project them on the screen.
Have two other students read the dialogues and briefly
correct any mistakes.
Video
Show the complete short film “La cartera”. Confirm
hypotheses.
Interactional Approach / Dialectal Spanish / Translation
Instructor shows the original script of one particular scene
of the movie. Each group will “translate” the dialogue from
Dominican Spanish to First-Semester Spanish. Students
turn in their dialogues.
Oral Communication / Bottom-up Approach
In couples, students will use the Immediate Future to
answer the questions on Script C.
Culture / Comparison between the US and the DR
Instructor will show an article about Dominican baseball
player: Francisco Liviano. One student will read it out loud.
Then, students will contrast American baseball with the
Dominican vitilla (which they saw in the movie)
Definitions
Each couple will come up with a definition for the
Dominican game. Choose three couples to read their
definition out loud. Then, show an online definition for vitilla
and have students compare it with the one they wrote.
Wrap-up
Explain homework for the following day.
MATERIALS
Instructor:
Script B
Instructor:
Script C
Instructor:
Article A
Instructor:
Script D
Nombre: ________________________________
Capítulo 4: La República Dominicana (Handout A)
Paso 1. Look up these verbs in the dictionary. Are any of them irregular or stemchanging verbs? If so, explain the irregularity.
VERBO
caer
SIGNIFICADO EN INGLÉS
IRREGULAR
STEM-CHANGING
recoger
devolver
Paso 2. What are the Spanish equivalents for the following English adverbs?
Suddenly : ______________________ Actually : ______________________
Paso 3. Your instructor will read a paragraph three times. The first time, take notes of
words and expression you recognize. The second time -and with a classmate- try to
reconstruct in the space provided a first version of the story:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Paso 4. Listen to your instructor one more time. Write the final version of the story:
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Paso 5. From the previous text, find examples of the present progressive, stemchanging verbs, and adverbs:
Present Progressive:
PRONOMBRE PERSONAL
ESTAR
GERUNDIO
Stem-changing Verbs:
PRONOMBRE PERSONAL
VERBO CONJUGADO
INFINITIVO
Adverbs ending in –mente:
ADVERBIO
ADJETIVO ORIGINAL
Write your own rule for adverbs ending in –mente:
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Paso 6. You will now watch the first part of a short movie made by teenagers in the
Dominican Republic. Pay attention to the story, the place, and the actors. Then, answer
the following questions [en español].
1. ¿Por qué la película se llama “La cartera”?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. ¿Cómo es el barrio en la película?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. ¿Cuántos años crees que tienen los muchachos de la película?
_____________________________________________________________________
Paso 7. Tarea para mañana: Grandma seems pretty upset, right? In a separate piece of
paper, write a possible dialogue between her and the guys in the movie. Be creative!
Abuela:
Muchacho 1:
For the instructor:
Script A
Es domingo por la tarde. Cuatro amigos están caminando por las calles de Santo Domingo. De
repente, ven cómo a un muchacho se le cae una cartera. Los cuatro amigos recogen la cartera
del suelo. Quieren devolverla a su dueño pero no pueden. El muchacho empieza a correr
rápidamente hasta llegar a su casa. Los cuatro amigos lo persiguen por todo el barrio. Cuando
finalmente encuentran la casa del muchacho, van a hablar con su abuela. El problema es que
ella no está muy contenta, en realidad, está muy enojada. ¿Qué creen que va a decir la abuela?
(98 palabras)
Script B
Abuela
¿Muchacho dónde tú estabas? ¿Con quién tú estabas? Dime. Contéstame que
te estoy hablando.
Nieto
Doña, doña, déjeme tranquilo, suélteme en banda.
Abuela
¿Cómo que te suelte en banda? ¿Tú quieres que te rompa la cabeza?
Respétame que para eso soy tu abuela.
Abuela
¿Y ustedes, qué quieren comebocas?
Muchacho 1
Doña, doña, no se agite, tranquila, nosotros vinimos a…
Abuela
No, yo no me agito.
Muchacho 2
No, no, señora… Lo que pasa es que nosotros vinimos a… a traerle esta cartera
a…
Abuela
¿Qué cartera ni qué cartera? ¿De qué cartera tú me hablas? Ese muchacho no
tiene documentos, ni acta de nacimiento, ni cédula.
Se me van de ahí.
Script C
¿Qué crees que va a pasar con el nieto?
¿Qué va a hacer la abuela?
¿Qué van a hacer los muchachos?
¿Qué va a hacer el dueño de la cartera?
Script D
Definición de “vitilla”
Vitilla es una simplificación del juego de beisbol, usando un palo de escoba o vara de poco
grosor como bate y las tapas de las botellas de agua como "pelota". En esta variante no se corre
a las bases y es un duelo entre el bateador y el lanzador, asistido por los demás miembros que
tratan de atrapar la tapa cuando es golpeada por el bateador.
Article A
August 7, 2006
From Small Field to Major Leagues
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
JUAN BARÓN, Dominican Republic, Aug. 3 — The
town’s only baseball field sits at the back of a dead
end. Pigs, goats and chickens wander near a cement
wall that surrounds the field. Small trenches mark the
basepaths on the field, and rocks and trash are strewn
on the grass.
In this coastal fishing town about a 90-minute drive
from Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital, a current
major league baseball player made local history when
he was 14, when he became the youngest player to
hit a home run over the cement wall.
People here said he was one of the best outfielders
the area had ever seen, but he does not get to swing
the bat much anymore. His days playing the outfield
are probably over.
That young slugger, Francisco Liriano, has blossomed
into a left-handed pitching phenomenon in the United
States.
[…]
Liriano joked that he could still play the outfield in the
majors and credited his ability to hit so well to a game called vitilla, popular among children in
Latin America. It is a modified version of baseball, using a broomstick and a bottle cap. The cap
swerves and swoops like a slider or knuckleball.
“I played all the time when I was a kid — every morning and afternoon from when I was 5 until I
was 15,” Liriano said. “It taught my eyes and my hands to move faster.”
[Otro comentario sobre la vitilla en la red]
American coaches who visit the D.R. are intrigued by how these young players are made. For
starters, they note, most Dominican kids don't have video games-they have beisbol. They may
practice three hours a day, two or three days a week. Then, after dinner, they run outside and
play more baseball. Children hone their skills with street games like vitilla, in which the batter
tries to hit a water bottle cap with a broomstick. Good pitchers can make the cap dive like a
curveball. By age 9, kids are trying to hit tossed kernels of corn.