EssentialQuestion:Howdoglobaltrendsinfluence

individual,societalandglobalcitizenship?
o

WEEK ONE- Language Evolution

Subquestions:

Is language alive?

Is language constantly
changing?

What makes a language evolve?

Introduction
To begin the unit we will brainstorm
as a class what a language is.
Students will talk about it as a means
for communication, as a way to
maintain culture, as evolving with
technological advancements.
Example
Asanexample,Iwillgiveabriefexplanationofhowhighlevelsofimmigrationfrom
ItalyandotherEuropeancountriesafterWorldWarhadalastingeffectontheArgentine
dialect,culture,architecture,art,etc.
Howdoeshistoryplayafactorinlanguageevolution?
DoArgentineshavethesamevaluesandtraditionsastherestofSouthAmerica?
Doeslanguagehavearoleinthat?
Think,Pair,Share
Ingroupsstudentswillsharetheirknowledgeofothercountriesthathavegonethrougha
similarprocessorthatspeakdifferentdialectsofalanguageandhypothesizewhythatis?
Wewillcometogetherasaclasstosharewhatwevelearnedandaddtoeachothers
ideas.
Parental/communityinvolvement
Studentswillbeaskedtogohomeandspeakwiththeirparentsandotherrelativesabout
whattheyhavelearnedinclassandseeiftheyholdanymoreknowledgeonthesubject.

DotheyspeakalanguagethathasbeenmodifiedsincetheymovedtoCanada?How
so?
Dotheyknowofothercountriesthathavegonethroughasimilarprocess?
Project:
Studentswillactaslinguisticanthropologistsandartistsanddoaminiprojectingroups
of34ofaSpanishcountryoftheirchoice(thatcannotbethesameasanyoneelsesin
theclass).Theywillinvestigatehowthatlanguagecametobewhatitis.Whatarethe
majorinfluences?Theremaynotbejustonerightanswer,oranyrightansweratall.
Studentswillthinkaboutwhattheythinkaretheimportantelementsoflanguage
evolutionandhowcultureisaffected.Studentswilleventuallyrepresenttheirfindings
throughametaphororpieceofartpoem,rap,song,painting,symbolandsharewiththe
class.

WEEK TWO- LANGUAGE AND (IN)EQUALITY

Subquestions for Week two:

Is there a relation between language/heritage and

wealth/inequality?

How can language/language learning affect your future?

Do language trends exist?

Introduction: Accessing prior knowledge

Students will think about the following questions in small group
and then share as a class:

What do we know about inequality?

Have you experiences inequality or discrimination?
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to or
were able to make a difference?
Is there a relationship between speaking English and
discrimination?
Are there benefits to speaking English? What are they?

Digging deeper: Will share the following resources

Las ventajas de hablar ingles (The advantages of speaking
English) http://www.learnenglish.edu.co/web/noticias/notilearn/28-las-ventajas-de-hablaringles

Ted Talks: The World's English Mania

http://www.ted.com/talks/jay_walker_on_the_world_s_english_mania

[Summary: English is the language of hope and of problem solving- where we

can work together to solve the world problem (ie global conferences)]
Students will be given time to reflect on what they have seen and read and share
with a partner

What do you think about this?

What are the pros and cons of having a universal language?

What are benefits to speaking other languages?

When you travel what language do you speak?

What music do you hear?

What about vice versa? Do we know their actors?

Do we have their clothing brands?

Implications
Is something wrong with this picture?
Does this seem fair to you?
Global application
As a class we will discuss the following questions:
What has history told us about inequality?
What are some major instances?
Between who?
What was the outcome?
Going deeper
Encourage students to do some reflecting throughout the rest of the day
Get students to take note of any inequalities that we see daily in society
Examples:
- Stairs instead of elevators?

- Short roofs
- Having to pay to
- Get jobs based on who you know
- Need to have a masters to get a good job= need lots and lots of money
Bringing it back
Talk about what the students notice about equality and inequality in Calgary
Connect back to the countries initially investigated in week oneIs there great inequality seen here?
What language did they speak?
Were they colonized by Europeans?
Do we see a trend here?
What would you do to change these inequalities?
write down their answers on the board
Grammar incorporation- Imperfect Subjunctive (IS)
Teacher writes the IS conjugated in front of their answers so they can see its
practical application
Ask students to guess what the formula for conjugation is
Assist them until they understand
Write conjugations on board
Explain when the IS is used
Ask students to come up with more uses of IS to show understanding
Make sure students are feeling comfortable using it
What are some of the benefits that we have being Canadian that others may not?
If I were born in another country
If I werent Canadian
If I could do one thing to make a difference in the world
Watch movie:
Tambin la lluvia (on Netflix)

-about colonization
-how history changes
-poor vs rich
-what it takes to change
During the movie want students to pay attention to what they do and dont agree
with in the movie- be critical- about plot, characters, technology, editing. Also how
it makes them feel- their reactions
Internalizing what we have seen
Write a reflection
How does this make you feel?
What would you do in this situation?
Employ the imperfect subjunctive
-if I were in that situation, I would.
How would you help?
Is this situation unique to Spain?
Is it happening in our country?
FNMI
What can we do to make a difference?
Activity
Students will come up with their own activity of how they can make a difference in
equality either in the school, the community or at an international level. Can be as
a class or in groups. Everyone will have a role.
Ex. Write letters to diplomats, start campaigns, charities, fundraisers, website,
etc.

Weeks 3 & 4
Students will finish working on
projects from Week one and
two and also have class time
for the overarching NGO
Project