Name: Amy Roberts
Grade Level: Seventh
Lesson Number: Three
Lesson Title: La Quinceañera
Materials: “Sweet 15” worksheet, overhead projector, DVD player, “Sweet 15” movie, term
information for the worksheet
Differentiation of Instruction:
Content: Same for all students.
Process: Activity for visual learners. Large group discussion.
Product: Same for all students.
Standard(s): OPS World Languages Standards
02 Communication-Communities: Present information in Spanish in written form
03 Culture Connections: Gain knowledge and understanding of other cultures
04 Comparisons: Develop linguistic awareness of Spanish
Rationale: It is very important to learn about other cultures and their customs, and La
Quinceañera is an extremely important topic in Spanish speaking cultures. It is important for the
students to learn about this celebration and have an understanding of what it is. The terms from
the worksheet are also very important to know and understand. They are all important topics
when learning about the Spanish culture and their relationship with the United States. The terms
are: citizenship, immigrant, illegal immigrant/illegal alien, amnesty, and green card.
Performance Objective: Students will be able to show their understanding of the terms from the
“Sweet 15” movie as well as show that they learned from the movie independently and with help
from a class discussion by filling out the worksheet and correctly answering the questions with
85% accuracy.
Anticipatory Set: Do an Esponja (Sponge) activity, which is like bell work to get their minds
going. The topic of the Esponja will be immigration and it will ask them what they know about
it. Have a short group discussion over their Esponja answers. Then, review once again the basic
parts and information of a Quinceañera. Lead this into telling the class that we will be starting a
movie about a Quinceañera.
Instructional Input/Procedures:
1. Inform the students that we are going to be starting to watch the movie called “Sweet
15.”
2. Pass out the “Sweet 15” worksheet to the class and have them get out a writing utensil
to take notes. (worksheet comes with the movie, an educational attachment found on the internet)
3. Go over the “Sweet 15” vocabulary terms as a group using an overhead projector.
First, ask students for examples of their own definitions and then after a few examples, show the
dictionary definition on the overhead for them to take notes over.
4. After the vocabulary notes are finished, give them a brief introduction to what the
movie is about. (Sweet 15 is a 1990 American made-for-television family drama film about a
fourteen year old girl whose dreams of having a perfect quinceañera are suddenly halted when
she realizes that her family is not in the United States legally. A WonderWorks film, it is
commonly shown in Spanish classes all over the country to teach about Mexican culture.)
5. Tell the class the expectations I have of them while watching the movie. No talking,
pay attention to the movie, and most importantly, take more notes on the worksheet regarding the
vocabulary terms (examples) and then answer the multiple choice questions. Completing this
worksheet individually will show me that they were paying attention to the movie and
understand what was going on in the movie.
6. This movie is 120 min long and will take approximately 2 ½ to 3 class periods to
completely finish. I will not make an additional lesson plan for these days. This will serve as that
lesson plan. The next lesson plan will involve the activities that we are going to be doing to
follow up the movie and wrap up the unit over the quinceañera.
Closure: First thing is to turn the movie off and take note of where each class left off so that I
know exactly where to start the next day. Have the class gather their things and place their
“Sweet 15” worksheets somewhere safe where they can be sure to bring it to class the next day.
For certain students, or depending on how responsible the class is as a whole, I may pick up the
worksheet and keep them until the next day.
Assessment: At the end of the movie, students will hand in their “Sweet 15” worksheets to me.
They must be fully completed and they have to have at least 2 examples of things they saw from
the movie for each vocabulary term. The worksheet will be graded partially by completion as
well as accuracy.