Unit Plan Overview Template
By Avelina Staker
1) Unit Title: Spending a week in Colombia
2) Unit Overview:
This one week unit is based on Chapter 7 of ¡Así se dice! It engages intermediate Middle
school Spanish II students who will explore the theme of traveling. During the Unit,
students will learn to conjugate Spanish verbs using the preterite and imperfect tenses.
The unit will revolve around four primary topics: geography, art, music, and food of
Colombia. Major activities include: making post cards, listening to Colombian pop
music, participating in learning centers that also involve analyzing artwork, creating a
vacation plan, instructional conversation, as well as listening to a children’s story about a
Colombian market, and sharing food traditions with a small-group presentation. The unit
culminates in a simulated Colombian market activity.
Additional assessments of student progress include: a written exam covering the use of
the past tenses, and teacher evaluations of the various activities that are part of the unit.
The unit assumes that students already know something about the difference between
the preterite and the imperfect tenses in Spanish.
___ 3) Unit Rationale:
This unit is designed to help students understand the importance that street
children and obesity play in Colombian life. It engages students in exploring how
and why these problems shape the social and cultural outlook of Colombians.
This unit gives students opportunities to contemplate the realities of life in a major
Spanish-speaking country and contrast it with their own world view. These
explorations support students in developing communicative proficiency by
learning how to read, write, listen and converse about events in the past, using
the two tenses that exist in Spanish. They will also learn common phrases about
activities that occur every day while visiting a foreign city and participating (as a
buyer or seller) in a foreign market.
Unit Plan Template ♦ Revised 2010 ♦ Cherice Montgomery ♦ cherice_montgomery@byu.edu
___ 4) Standards-based Guiding Question:
Students will explore the question: How can my worldview be changed or
enhanced by learning basic facts about life and travel in another country (Colombia) and
mastering the grammatical structures in Spanish that reflect a different way of thinking
about the past (preterite and imperfect) and liking (gustar) something?
___ 5) National Standards:
Students will demonstrate progress toward the 5 C’s in the following ways:
Standard 1.1, Communication (Interpersonal): Students
engage in conversations about music, art, and food, and
buy and sell to imitate new food traditions.
Standard 1.2, Communication (Interpretive): Students
understand and interpret written and spoken language on
music, art, and food by reading lyrics, analyzing art forms,
and listening to an authentic story.
Standard 1.3, Communication (Presentational) Students
present information to an audience of listeners on the topic
of family food traditions.
Standard 2.1, Cultures: Students demonstrate an
understanding of the relationship between the practices
and perspectives of the culture studied by communicating
in Spanish and learning to simulate a realistic market
experience.
Standard 2.1, Cultures: Students demonstrate an
understanding of the relationship between the products
and perspectives of the culture studied by analyzing the
music, art and foods of Colombia.
Standard 3.1, Connections: Students reinforce and further
their knowledge of music, art, and food through the foreign
language and its cultures by listening to music, analyzing
art, and presenting a family recipe tradition.
Standard 3.2, Connections: Students acquire information
and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only
available through the foreign language and its cultures by
using the two Spanish past tenses and expressing likes and
dislikes with Spanish words.
Standard 4.1/4.2, Comparisons: Students demonstrate
understanding of the different Spanish past tenses and
market culture through comparisons of the language and
culture studied and their own through Spanish presentations
about their own family traditions.
Standard 5.1, Communities: Students use the language
within and beyond the school setting by engaging in a
realistic market experience and relating it to their own
family food traditions
Standard 5.2, Communities: Students use the language for
personal enjoyment and enrichment when they can use
foreign currency to make purchases in a foreign country
and learn to appreciate different music, art, and food.
___ 6) Standards-based Unit Objectives:
a) Students will partner and name the main cities from Colombia, with 80% accuracy
in a 12-minute time frame (Standard 1.2).
b) Students will create a vacation plan by tracing a map and then write eight
sentences about travel activities using the formula of “gustar” + activity, with 100%
accuracy after 12 minutes in a learning center (Standard 1.2).
c) Students will participate in brief guided presentations about food vocabulary using
the verbs “tener” and “necesitar” for 1 min. with 75% accuracy (Standards 1.1-1.3,
4.2).
d) Students will listen to the story of the Saturday Sancocho book and write 10
sentences about the story and its applications using the verbs from the story in
preterite and imperfect, with at least 70% accuracy (Standard 1.2).
Unit Planning Template ♦ Revised 2010 ♦ Dr. Cherice Montgomery ♦ cherice_montgomery@byu.edu
e) Students will buy or trade ingredients for a family traditional dish in a market activity
using Colombian bargaining jargon and currency conversion in a 30-minute period
(Standards 1.1-1.2, 2.1-2.2, 3.2, 4.2, 5.1-5.2).
___ 7) Unit Assessments:
Students’ progress toward unit objectives will be assessed by instructional
conversation, participating in learning centers and giving a presentation about a
traditional family recipe. The culminating assessment for this unit will be a simulated
Colombian market in which students will learn to think about exchange rates for
foreign currency and use that foreign currency to purchase food items for creating
or recreating a traditional family recipe to imitate the Saturday Sancocho tradition of
Colombia.
 Assessment on geography: Ask students, as a class, to name Colombian cities
(pre-assessment). Then, assign paired work to study map and name cities
(post-assessment). One point to be awarded to each pair for correctly
naming up to seven cities (1-7 points possible, with extra credit awarded to the
pair with the most number of points). Passing score: 6/7. Adaptation for
students with disabilities: Assign the student to work with one of the fast
learners in the class.
 Assessment on vacation plan: One point awarded for each of eight sentences
using “gustar” + activity (8 points possible – passing score is 8). Adaptation for
slow learners: paired work or more time to complete activity (including taking
it home) or allow them to give their sentences orally.
 Assessment on imperfect worksheet: One point awarded for each of five
sentences using the imperfect tense (5 points possible—passing score is 4).
Adaptation for slow learners: examples with verb endings and fill-in-the-blank
worksheet with verb stems provided.
 Assessment on worksheets completed in learning centers (2 & 3): One point for
each of eight sentences about places in Colombia in center 2 (8 points
possible – passing score is 8). Adaptation for slow learners: more time or work
in pairs to complete or allow them to give sentences orally. In center 3
students receive full credit if they write at least one idea about how to improve
their eating habits. Adaptation for slow learners: Allow them to take it home
to do or give them an opportunity to give answer orally.
 Assessment on brief guided presentation on food vocabulary (speaking skills):
Students evaluated by group and re-evaluated by the teacher on three
criteria: creativity, grammatical accuracy, and quality of presentation. Five
points are possible in each area, totaling 15 points possible. Passing score:
12/15. [see attached Rubric] Adaptation for learners with disabilities: paired
work on the presentation.
Unit Planning Template ♦ Revised 2010 ♦ Dr. Cherice Montgomery ♦ cherice_montgomery@byu.edu
 Assessment on listening to story and writing sentences: One point awarded for
each of 10 sentences that the students write correctly in past tense based
upon the Saturday Sancocho story. Passing score: 7/10. Adaptation for
students with disabilities: allow students to give sentences orally.
 Assessment on participation in the simulated market activity: Students are
evaluated on a pass/fail basis for their participation (Students receive full credit
for taking part in the activity, attempting to use a calculator for foreign
currency conversion, using Spanish and attempting to use the terms and
grammar taught in the lesson). [see attached Rubric].
 Fill-in-the-blank quiz on the preterite and imperfect tenses of verbs. Ten points
possible. Passing score: 7/10. Adaptation for slow learners: Allow additional
time, individual help, or take it home.
 Final written assessment at the end of the unit, mostly matching, translating or
conjugating verbs in preterite or imperfect endings in first person, with some
food vocabulary learned in the unit. Passing score: 75%. Adaptation for slow
learners: Allow additional time, individual help, or take it home.
Unit Planning Template ♦ Revised 2010 ♦ Dr. Cherice Montgomery ♦ cherice_montgomery@byu.edu
___ 6) Unit Planning Web: (How will you provide colleagues with a visual overview of the unit’s key concepts and
activities?)
Unit At-a-Glance
Lesson 1- Geography,
Music, Art, Famous
People
Lesson 3 –
Children’s book, food
presentation
Lesson 2 –
Learning Centers
Places
A Week in Colombia
People
Traditions
Lesson 5:
Assessment
Lesson 4 –
Market Activity
Unit Planning Template ♦ Revised 2010 ♦ Dr. Cherice Montgomery ♦ cherice_montgomery@byu.edu
Unit Planning Template ♦ Revised 2010 ♦ Dr. Cherice Montgomery ♦ cherice_montgomery@byu.edu