Lesson ideas for El chile en nogada
The food unit is part of our second-semester Spanish course, and I use the Essential Question "How does food bring us together?" to guide the unit. (I believe this idea came from my Twitter friend, Michelle Walpole.) El chile en nogada provides an example of the foods that unite us around our cultural or national heritage. This is especially evident in the colors of el chile en nogada, which are the same as those of the Mexican flag. Also, Mexican cuisine has been recognized by UNESCO on their list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and el chile en nogada is a great example of the richness of Mexican gastronomy.
While I have taught this unit before, this lesson on el chile en nogada is new and mostly inspired by a few authentic resources I found, including an article and a TikTok video (see resources and activities below). Additionally, I am thinking through the steps of this lesson using the IMAGE model, which provides a systematic way to analyze images and discuss cultural perspectives.
As we work through these materials, my goals are for students to be able to:
- describe el chile en nogada, including ingredients and flavor.
- identify the main idea and some details in an authentic text about el chile en nogada.
- express their opinion about el chile en nogada.
- describe how this dish brings people together.
- describe a dish of cultural significance in their community.
Our courses this fall will be primarily online with a combination of synchronous sessions using Zoom (50-minute sessions) and asynchronous tasks that students will complete independently. Therefore, as I am planning course content and how to sequence instruction, I am also thinking about the best tech tools to incorporate to support my students. Here are a few tools I plan to incorporate for our discussions about el chile en nogada.
Image credit: Pixabay
Padlet
My plan is to start with an activity to get students talking a bit with a See / Think / Wonder activity using Padlet. See / Think / Wonder is a thinking routine that I like to incorporate as a lesson "hook" and as a way to activate students' background knowledge and curiosity. I love that it's an adaptable strategy for different proficiency levels that moves students from concrete observations to making inferences and hypotheses.
First, I will show my students a few pictures of el chile en nogada, which I uploaded in the first column of the Padlet we will use. Then, I will put my students in pairs in Breakout Rooms in Zoom, and they will complete the three columns in Padlet with their ideas for See / Think / Wonder. After we come back together as a group, we can note common observations and thoughts and review some of the interesting questions that came up. Then, I will follow up with a short and highly comprehensible description of the dish to clarify their observations and address their questions.
For the fourth prompt on the Padlet, students will return to complete that question at the end of the lesson to share their opinion about the dish and whether they would like to try it.
Collaborative Google Docs
The authentic text I want my students to work with is a small portion of this article from the website México Desconocido: 5 chiles en nogada que puedes recibir en tu domicilio en la CDMX.
Before students delve into the segment from this authentic text, I will present some highly comprehensible information (using pictures, cognates, repetition, comprehension checks, and all those good strategies!) about the dish in Google Slides during our Zoom session. I purposely include some information that they will encounter in the authentic text in order to prime students for the task.
Next, I will read the segment of the authentic text (modified very slightly) to students and have them highlight the the information they understand in the text in their Google Doc to build confidence (an idea I started thinking about after watching Rebecca Blouwolff's NFLC presentation "Learning Progressions for the New Now"). Then, I will set them to work together in pairs on the interpretive reading guide in Google Docs. Later (most likely the next class session), we'll come back together as a whole class to discuss what they read, their opinion of the dish, and how this dish brings people together. To conclude the lesson, students will complete the last column of the Padlet as a kind of "exit ticket."
Flipgrid
As independent work after our Zoom session, I want students to do some cultural comparison and describe a dish of cultural significance in their community. I set up this activity in Flipgrid with my own example of el pierogi, a Polish dish that is popular in my hometown, Cleveland, Ohio. I will provide students with detailed instructions, helpful hints for using Flipgrid, and some sentence starters to help them describe their dish. I will assign them small groups and ask them to later watch the videos of their group members and comment with a reaction or question.
The food unit is always popular! I loved your activity ideas, but I am not sure about the ice cream... :)
ReplyDeleteI have a question about the part in your lesson where students are sent to breakout rooms. You say "I will put my students in pairs in Breakout Rooms in Zoom, and they will complete the three columns in Padlet with their ideas for See / Think / Wonder" -- My question is: why are they working in pairs for that activity? It seems that's something they *could* do individually. In that case, some pairs might not be very inclined to talk to each other, so I wonder if the time it takes to put them in breakout rooms, then bring them back, and all that is truly worth it, you know? I tend to reserve breakout rooms for tasks where they really depend on a partner to be able to complete them. But maybe I'm misunderstanding the task or maybe your students are super motivated and take any advantage they get to talk to each other. In our lower-level courses, that's not really the case.
Also, I'm sure you know about this resource, but just in case... https://www.tasteatlas.com/
Christa,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys teaching around food topics. First off, thanks for letting me know about chile en nogal. I'm a foodie and I enjoy trying all kinds of foods and, although I've been to Mexico a few times and we have plenty of Mexican restaurants in Salt Lake, I've never tried this chile.
It is so unfortunate that students can't gather together and try the dish which is obviously the most authentic experience. However, your proposal for an online unit is excellent given the limitations. I like the See / Think / Wonder strategy, I never heard of it before and I think it's a great starter. The other stages you designed with TikTok docs and Flipgrid sound like engaging ways to present authentic materials and have students learn language effectively from them.
Christa,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love all of the ways that you include us in where your own inspiration and guidance comes from. It is fascinating. Thank you for all the resources.
I admit that I'm a foodie too, and that for many years my partner was a chef (still a chef) of haute French cuisine. That said, his mom Italian, his dad Polish like mine... so between all of the French, Italian, Polish foods, there were so many times that "coming together" was at another restaurant. Chefs are so busy that normally their only time away is to go to other restaurants... and they comp each other! But all of these experiences are how foods bring us together, families and foodies. I love seeing the pierogies! I always say "dumplings, pierogies, empanadas" there always seems to be a food similar to a pierogi. They all bring us together! Carmen Lomas Garza has a painting named "Empanadas". Great job with FlipGrid modeling! Yum! I love that market! One of my best friends works at Cleveland Clinic, so last summer we went to West Side Market... and we bought way too many foods for our short 5 day stay... including pierogies!
The see/think/wonder strategy I've seen with my son's class... and it truly is something for all people. I've loved to hear "tell me about your wonderings".
The TikTok: I'd try that ice cream! Can you find something on Venezuelan ice cream shops? Some of the flavors are meat, onion, vegetables.... At a time when gazpacho sounds really good, I'd try some of those. Would your students? I want to know what they say!
Maybe students could also extend (speaking, writing) with a specific memory of bringing people together.
Also, maybe consider the Great Thanksgiving Listen. They wouldn't have to send it to the National Archives, but it's something to get people thinking during the Thanksgiving holidays... although, I don't know what that will look like this year... maybe it would be a great year to do the Great Thanksgiving Listen... through Zoom or GoogleHangouts ... https://storycorps.org/participate/the-great-thanksgiving-listen/for-educators/
Something like this is fun to debrief in pairs:
¿Con quién hablaste? ¿Qué le preguntaste? ¿Se reunieron en casa o por Zoom? ¿Qué platos típicos comen durante el Día de Acción de Gracias? ¿Qué otro evento anual es importante para tu familia? ¿Qué comidas tradicionales comes durante el evento?
Thank you, Christa!