Sequence of the Unit

The unit began with students learning terms related to family and friends. I opened this
unit with an episode from Modern Family in which students had to identify family terms and
relationships. I created a sheet that contained multiple family terms and relationships, as well as
other terms that were unrelated to the topic of the Family. The goal was for students to circle the
family terms and relationships they saw based on the episode of Modern Family. This allowed
students to become familiar with the different terms related to family relationships. Students then
learned how to talk about their family and friends, as well as identify relationships.
We then spent the next two weeks learning about the various concepts that partake in the
Family. Students learned about famous families, including but not limited to Spains Royal
Family. They also learned about the average household sizes in Spanish seeking countries, as
well as forms, agreement, and position of adjectives ending in o/-a, -e, or a consonant, highfrequency descriptive adjectives and some adjectives of nationality, possessive adjectives, the
present-tense forms of regular er and ir verbs, some high-frequency regular er and ir verbs,
present tense forms of tener and venir, and several common expressions with tener,
Students began with famous families and learned how to identify and express terms
related to family and friends. In order to help students understand why terms related to family
and friends are formed and positioned in the way that they are in the language of Spanish, we
discussed forms, agreement, and position of adjectives ending in o/-a, -e, or a consonant. By
participating in a visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activity and discussion, students were able to
understand high-frequency adjectives and phrase formation. Students also learned to compare
and contrast between forms and agreement of adjectives in English and Spanish. After studying

the different forms and agreement of adjectives, we moved on to present-tense forms of regular
er and ir verbs. Once these lessons were completed, students were required to compose a miniessay where they were able to design their family tree, while discussing the name of 3 family
members, relationship to the student, how the relationship is formed, age, height, color of hair
and eyes, body description, personality description, 1 like and 1 dislike, and 2 pastimes.
To conclude the unit, we spent time on the Family system and how we use certain forms
and agreements to explain relationships.
Literacy
Literacy was emphasized multiple times throughout this unit. Students were expected to
understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics (interpretive mode).
These topics included but were not limited to the family, identifying people, professions and
occupations, surnames and families in the Spanish-speaking world, Spains Royal Family,
descriptive adjectives, possessive adjectives, present tense of er and ir verbs, and present tense
of tener and venir.
Students were expected to write and speak in every lesson. For one of the activities of the
Family unit, students had to draw their own family tree and label it with names. Then, students
had to identify the relationships between members. Afterwards, students had to present their
family tree to the whole class. The purpose of these prompts is to help students speak, read, view,
and comprehend the language of Spanish in order to participate effectively in interactions with
their classmates and members of other cultures.
Furthermore, students had the opportunity to interpret the concepts, ideas, and opinions
expressed by their classmates and members of other cultures through media and literature. An

example of an activity that allowed students to infer knowledge consisted of a photos. Based on
the visual aspect, students had to write a fill-in-the-blank sentence to go with each photo.
Working in pairs, they had to guess what was happening in each others photo and complete the
sentence. Every lesson assessed students knowledge by putting their speaking, writing, reading,
and listening skills into practice.
A very important skill that students practiced and developed further throughout the unit
was communication. Students were given the opportunity to cultivate strategies that empower
them. These included the ability to guess intelligently. For example, when students were
introduced to new vocabulary, I encouraged them to look for cognates. The ability to recognize
cognates, allowed students to derive meaning from context and it also allowed them to make
connections between the language of Spanish and their own. Additionally, students had the
opportunity to understand, interpret, and produce gestures effectively. A lot of the vocabulary
learned throughout the unit was taught through gestures. For example, I used gestures to help
students understand and interpret descriptive and possessive adjectives in Spanish. Doing so
allowed students to produce the gestures effectively and learn the material through a total
physical response (TPR). It also made them be more patient and tenacious with the learning and
communication process.
Numeracy
For the Mi Familia unit, numeracy was used extensively. One of the lessons within the
unit required students to put their numeracy skills into practice through a visual and auditory
activity. Another part, required students to put their numeracy skills into practice through
interpretation.

First, I presented to the students an imaginary scenario that consisted of an email that my
brother had sent me in regards to my upcoming graduation. The story line of the activity was that
I had recently found out that my whole family was coming from Mexico to Fort Collins for my
graduation. Although I was very excited to receive the news, it was causing me a lot of stress
because I needed to figure out how many family members were coming, and for how many
people I should make a dinner reservation. In order to make the scenario look even more real, I
provided students with my familys trip itinerary. The itinerary displayed flight information,
arrival and departure times, as well as quantity of family members flying into Fort Collins for my
graduation. Furthermore, the itinerary gave students the opportunity to activate prior, as well as
current knowledge, and apply it to a real-life scenario. They utilized their knowledge of numbers
and telling time while linking it to newly acquired knowledge of the Family unit. Afterwards, I
integrated an auditory activity in which students had to listen for names and family relationships,
and write them down. At the end of the activity, students had to draw a family tree based on the
auditory information that was presented to them, as well as write down how many people were
coming to my graduation and for how many people I needed to make a dinner reservation.
Second, I presented to the students a map of Ecuador that included information of its
area, population, currency, languages, main cities, and more. Students put their numeracy skills
into practice as they analyzed numbers and transferred the visual information into writing.
Overall, the unit on Mi Familia offered positive and powerful opportunities for students
to strengthen their skills. It challenged them to apply and further develop their range of literacy
and numeracy skills through the Spanish language. Discussion, presentation, translation,
interpretation, comparing numbers, and analyzing population statistics in Spanish challenged the
learners numeracy competence and gave them real exposure to the Spanish language.

Technology
I incorporated Technology into this unit in several lessons. For one of the lessons I used
Bitstrip. Bitstrip is a web and mobile application that allows users to create a cartoon of
themselves and their friends. In the case of the Family, Bitstrip seemed to be the most
appropriate tool to utilize. The goal of the lesson was for students to demonstrate their
knowledge in an innovative manner. Bitstrip is an innovative tool that challenges students in
multiple ways and it makes learning more exciting.
Students had to create their own animated avatar by adjusting multiple physical
characteristics and accessories. Their avatar had to look as similar to them as possible. Once their
avatar was created, they had to create 6 textboxs in which they described their life, in Spanish.
They could use my Bitstrip as a guide in creating their own. Once students were done, they were
to comment on 3 their classmates' Bitstrips. They had to write at least 3 sentences for each
comment. When they commented, they had to express likes and dislikes, as well as agreement.
Overall, students were very excited to work with Bitstrip. They were challenged to make their
avatar look like them, as well as to write about themselves in Spanish.
Another tool that I utilized in the Family unit was Pear Deck. Pear Deck is a different
educational technology tool that offers a web-based application. One of the goals of the lesson
was to make learning interactive. Pear Deck enables teachers to teach with an interactive
slideshow displayed on student devices. When students answer questions or solve problems
using Pear Deck, the teacher can display the results anonymously to the class.
I used Pear Deck to teach students about descriptions. Specifically, how to write a
sentence using descriptive and possessive adjectives in Spanish. Throughout the Pear Deck

presentation, students had to fill in blanks with the appropriate descriptive adjective(s), draw
lines to distinguish between right and wrong, choose the appropriate answer for multiple choice,
and write a small paragraph describing 2 characters. Overall, students really enjoyed using Pear
Deck. I noticed an increased amount of participation with the use of Pear Deck. I think that, as a
student, being able to produce as you learn in an interactive manner is very motivating. It makes
learning more exciting and it allows students to become better acquainted with the material.
Additionally, Pear Deck also allows me to check for understanding and see where I need to stop
and what I need to explain in more detail.
Instructional Strategies
Several different instructional strategies were used throughout this unit. I used
cooperative learning several times throughout the unit as well as collaborative learning and
inquiry-based learning. In fact, all of the lessons that I developed in this unit are inquiry-based
and involve cooperative learning. Direct instruction was used periodically throughout the unit as
well as demonstrations when the students were shown through demonstration followed by an
expectation of repetition by the student. Throughout the unit I also used Do-Nows. Do-Nows
allowed me to provide closure to the lesson(s) as well as to help students narrow down what the
important concepts of the lesson were. Additionally, I used think pair shares throughout the
unit to let students review material throughout the lesson.
Management
Throughout the unit I tried to monitor how long each activity took students to complete. I
realized early on that students remained more focused if I planned several short activities. I also
tried to incorporate activities that allowed students to work in partners and practice their

communicative skills. This allowed students to be involved throughout the lesson(s) and often
led to short discussions throughout the lesson(s). Overall, I found that designing lessons where
students could work together or where there was minimal instruction from me seemed to
eliminate any management problems.