Education Standards

Cultural Differences and Conflicts - Storyboards and Fotonovelas

Cultural Differences and Conflicts - Storyboards and Fotonovelas

Overview

Middle school is a conflict-ridden stage, particularly for our emerging bilingual students, who are normally known as ELLs. Not only do they have to overcome numerous problems of linguistic and cultural adaptation, but they also have to face challenges such as family or economic instability and moves, often cross-border. Indeed, it is not uncommon to meet Hispanic students: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans, etc. who travel to their countries of origin, or to the countries of origin of their parents for seasons, sometimes even to stay and live there, despite having been born in the United States and having lived here all their schooling until that moment. It is also quite common to see students who migrate with their families to the United States when they are already 11 or 12 years old and who, as we mentioned, not only have to learn the language, but adapt to a new life, culture and traditions.In this lesson plan we propose to use these personal experiences to introduce basic conversational vocabulary. It is designed for both dual immersion programs and English development classes.

Lesson Summary/Overview

Middle school is a conflict-ridden stage, particularly for our emerging bilingual students, who are normally known as ELLs. Not only do they have to overcome numerous problems of linguistic and cultural adaptation, but they also have to face challenges such as family or economic instability and moves, often cross-border. Indeed, it is not uncommon to meet Hispanic students: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans, etc. who travel to their countries of origin, or to the countries of origin of their parents for seasons, sometimes even to stay and live there, despite having been born in the United States and having lived here all their schooling until that moment. 

It is also quite common to see students who migrate with their families to the United States when they are already 11 or 12 years old and who, as we mentioned, not only have to learn the language, but adapt to a new life, culture and traditions.

In this lesson plan we propose to use these personal experiences to introduce basic conversational vocabulary. It is designed for both dual immersion programs and English development classes (from now on, we will call them DI and ELD, their acronym in English).

La escuela secundaria es una etapa llena de conflictos, muy en particular para nuestros estudiantes bilingües emergentes, los que normalmente se conocen con ELLs en inglés. No solo tienen que sobreponerse a numerosos problemas de adaptación lingüística y cultural sino que también tienen que afrontar retos como inestabilidad familiar o económica y a mudanzas, muchas veces transfronterizas. En efecto, no es raro conocer estudiantes hispanoamericanos: mexicanos, puertorriqueños, salvadorenos, etc que viajan a sus países de origen, o a los países de origen de sus padres durante temporadas, a veces incluso para quedarse a vivir allí, a pesar de haber nacido en los Estados Unidos y haber vivido aquí toda su escolarización hasta ese momento. 

También es bastante habitual ver estudiantes que migran con sus familias a Estados Unidos cuando ya tienen 11 o 12 años y que, como mencionamos, no solo tienen que aprender el idioma, sino adaptarse a una nueva vida, cultura y tradiciones.

En esta unidad didáctica planteamos usar estas experiencias personales para introducir vocabulario conversacional básico y está pensada tanto para programas de inmersión dual como para clases de desarrollo del inglés (desde ahora, los llamaremos DI e ELD por sus siglas en inglés).

Esta unidad se trabaja a partir de fotonovelas. Las fotonovelas eran publicaciones muy populares en Hispanoamérica desde los años 60 a los años 80, donde progresivamente fueron reemplazadas por las telenovelas, debido al mayor acceso a aparatos de televisión. Su popularidad se debía a la facilidad para comprender las historias, su vocabulario sencillo y sus tramas adictivas de amor, celos, drama, crimen o misterio. Para los estudiantes, las fotonovelas suponen un recurso muy interesante para introducir elementos lingüísticos, tanto en español como en inglés, a la vez que se trabaja de forma creativa e imaginativa usando temáticas de su vida real, cercanas a sus propias experiencias.

Young latino man leans against a car

This lesson explores how cultural differences affect our perspectives, and how conflicts can arise if we don’t consider other points of view.  Students explore international customs, and then zero in on how cultural differences can affect people living in the same country, and oftentimes going to the same schools.

Lesson Goals and Objectives

Alignment and Objectives

Content Standards:  Grade 6 Standards 1,2,4,7, 9, 10

Content Objectives: Students will be able to describe what happened in a conflict or misunderstanding,  and tell how to resolve it appropriately through creating and solving their own conflicts.

ELP Standards:  6-8.1, 6-8.2, 6-8.3, 6-8.4, 6-8.7

Language (ELP) Objectives:  Students will be able to respond using the vocabulary terms: Conflict, Resolve, Respond, Solution, Solve when resolving a given conflict.

Students

Supporting Academic Language

Language Functions:  Describing actions, Expressing and supporting opinions, Summarizing, Cause and effect, Explaining, Sequencing

Language Modalities:  Reading, Writing, Visual, Auditory

Vocabulary:  Conflict, Resolve, Solution, Solve, Respond

Syntax or Sentence Structure(s):  Provided in sentence frames

Discourse:  Description, Exposition, Argument

Lesson Preparation

School Cafeteria

Considerations

Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills:  Ability to work cooperatively and effectively with groups and partners

Instructional Materials

Resources, Materials, and Technology required or recommended for the lesson:  Handouts, Google Slides, Jamboard, Computer, Projector

Learning Supports

Socio-emotional supports:  Effective grouping, think time, time to prepare rehearse material shared with class

Cultural & Linguistic Responsiveness:  Effective grouping, sentence frame support, Gradual Release - I do, We do, You do

Accessibility:  

Instructional Supports

Differentiation:  Strategic grouping, Sentence frames available, but not required

L1 Supports: In Dual Immersion Class

L2 Development (by level):  Sentence frames, reinforcing vocabulary

Lesson Procedures - Day 1

Day 1 - Anticipatory Set/Motivation/Hook

Time:  15 minutes

Teacher Does/Students Do:  Teacher presents a question; students write their answers.

How much do you know about other cultures? Describe something you know about another culture on a half sheet of paper. For example: People in some countries greet each other with kisses on the cheek. Be sure to avoid negative stereotypes. For example:  All French people wear berets and carry baguettes. After all students have written an example, have one student in each group gather the papers, then exchange with another group. Have the students read the examples in their groups and choose which one they would like to share with the class. Have each group share the example they chose.  This is a good time for students to share their own personal cultural experiences.  Make the connection that students who are already bicultural can more readily connect with new cultures and are often sought after by employers.

Students

Focused Instruction (Teacher-as-Model) - Place Your Bets

Time:  30 minutes

Google Slides Questions: Place Your Bets Cultural Differences

Google Slides Questions/Answers: Place Your Bets Cultural Differences - With Answers

Teacher Does/Students Do: The teacher presents the Place Your Bets Slides. As each statement is read to the class, students decide in partners whether they think the statement is true or false. Students begin with $50 and can bet up to 50% of their total for each question. Their goal is to earn as much as they can, but they must agree on their answers and how much they would like to bet. The more sure they are of their answer, the larger percentage of their money they can bet. First, students decide together if they think the statement is true or false. Then they decide together how much of their money they want to bet.  When all students are ready, the teacher tells the students if the statement is true or false.  Students add or subtract the amount they bet.  At the end of the slides, students total how much money they earned.

Lesson Procedures - Day 2

Day 2 - Guided Instruction (Teacher-to-Student Joint Responsibility)

Time:  10 min.

Warm up:  Write down a cultural difference that you remember from yesterday.

Sentence starter:  One interesting cultural difference that I learned about was…

Have students share what they wrote down in groups or with the whole class.

Time:  25 min.

Teacher Does/Students Do:  After the first set of slides, the teacher presents the second set of slides, and explains why each is true or false, while students take notes (Google slides, Guided note taking handout).  The guided note taking hand out can be used to support specific students or for the whole class based on their skill level.

Guided Note Taking Handout

Optional:

Cultural Differences in Business (more advanced) - Youtube Video (12:17)

Cultural differences - From all over the world... to Italy!  (less advanced)

Show the video, pausing to clarify vocabulary words such as: reciprocal, harmony and any other words that would benefit from clarification for your particular class, and to ask clarifying questions.

 

Sample Questions

How is the Chinese system different from our own?

What is different about how Chinese students view their teachers?

How is harmony defined in Chinese culture?

How is face defined in Chinese culture?

 

Cultural Differences - Gestures (advanced)

Gestures Around The World

 

Differences around the world (less advanced)     

Cultural Differences - From all over the world... to Italy!

 

Lesson procedure - Day 3

Day 3 - Group Application (Student-to-Student Joint Responsibility) - Jamboard Activity

Time:  10 min.

Warm up:  Write down something about Chinese culture that interested you from the video yesterday.

Sentence starter:  Something that I found really interesting about Chinese culture was…

Individual Learning (Independent Practice and Application)

Time:  30 - 40 min.

Teacher Does/Students Do:  The teacher assigns one Jamboard slide to each group or set of partners.  The students’ goal is to create a matching sticky note to answer each question on their slide. Students can search for answers to their questions using a Google search.  Create a copy of the Jamboard for each class to work with.

Jamboards: These are example Jamboards (linked below and attached as PDFs) - you will need to create your own for this activity.

Jamboard Exploring World Cultures and Viewpoints 

Copy of Jamboard for newcomers.  Students used translanguaging to respond to the Jamboards depending on their level of comfort in each language.

This Jamboard activity can be linguistically challenging for ELD newcomer students who don’t have the benefit of working with a group of students with strong language skills. An alternative to the Jamboard activity would be to assign each group a country that reflects the same differences covered in the Jamboard activity and ask them to create a set of slides answering  the questions.  Another possibility is to use a piece of paper with sticky notes.  Also allow students to respond using the language of their choice.  This lesson was used effectively with a newcomer class.

If students complete their Jamboards or slides before the end of class, ask groups to volunteer to present their findings.

 

Lesson Procedure - Day 4

Day 4: What happened?  Guided Instruction (Teacher-to-Student Joint Responsibility)

Time: 10-15 min.

Warm up: Ping Pong

Give students 5 minutes to jot down as many cultural differences as they can remember. Then divide the class into two teams. Students raise their hands to share a cultural difference. The game continues until one side of the room can’t give another cultural difference. If a team repeats a difference that has already been given, the other team automatically wins.

Sometimes cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts.  Can you identify the root source of each conflict?

Children in India

Game: What happened? 

Time:  30 min.

Teacher Does/Students Do:  The teacher presents each situation in the slides to the students who are working in groups.  The students discuss in their groups what they think the cultural misunderstanding was in each situation.  The teacher then rolls dice to determine which group gets to answer first.  If that group doesn’t answer correctly, the chance to answer gets passed to the next group until the correct answer is given, and the team that gives it gets a point.

If time remains in the class, the teacher can introduce the storyboard activity, so that students can be thinking about what idea they are going to use the following day.

Assessment - Day 5

 

    Day 5 - Storyboard/Fotonovela Project:

    Objective: I can make a storyboard/fotonovela exploring cultural differences and conflicts using conversational vocabulary in the target language (Spanish or English). See the rubric for more details.

     

    Resources:

    Speech Bubbles 1 and 2 (Pixbay Free for Commercial Use - No attribution Required)

    Storyboard Framework

     

    When you move to a different country or adjust to a different culture you can be vulnerable in many ways. More and more companies are looking for employees who are not only bilingual, but also bicultural.  What does it mean to be bicultural?  How does understanding other cultures lead us to be more empathetic?  These are questions that we will explore to finish up this unit.

    If students are familiar with another culture, they may create a storyboard experience of someone coming to their country from the United States and what challenges they might face.

    Today, we will take a look at some examples that will help you build ideas for your storyboard/fotonovela project. The consumer protection section of the FTC has a series of fotonovelas in English and Spanish that deal with common scams that affect immigrant communities in the USA.

    Provide students with samples of description and dialogue from fotonovelas by clicking on the links below.  

    Pass out graphic novels from the library or allow students to get examples from anime or comic books. Show the webpage about the importance of speech bubbles in comic design.

    Activity:  Respond to the questions on the slide using complete sentences.

    Google slide # 20

    Have students share what they discovered.

    Present the rubric you will be using to grade the storyboard and give a copy to each student to submit with their final assignment.

    Examples of fotonovelas in Spanish:

    Consumer Fotonovelas | PALawHELP.org - Your Online Guide to Legal Information and Legal Services in Pennsylvania

    Fotonovelas | Consumer Advice

    EJEMPLOS DE FOTONOVELAS | Miguel Ángel Viciana

    Bacterias Actuaciencia: Fotonovela científica: ¡No laves el pollo!

    Fotonovela - ejemplos para inspirarse

    Lesson Procedure - Day 6

    Instrucciones en español:

    Hacemos una fotonovela

    Durante las sesiones anteriores observamos distintos problemas a los que se enfrentan los jóvenes como tú en la escuela. Seguramente no te han pasado todos a ti, pero quizá sí a un amigo, familiar o conocido.

    Ahora vamos a aplicar estos problemas a construir una historia en forma de fotonovela. Las fotonovelas son una especie de cómic que usa fotos en lugar de dibujos. Tienen temas parecidos a las telenovelas: amor, drama, … pero también puede haber de terror, misterio o incluso de superhéroes. Nosotros nos vamos a centrar en hacer una fotonovela sobre los temas que te interesen a ti.

    Objetivo: Puedo hacer una fotonovela usando vocabulario conversacional en la lengua objetivo (español o inglés). Mira la rúbrica para ver más detalles.

    Rúbrica.

    Posibles temas:

    • Llegas a una escuela nueva de Estados Unidos desde un país hispanohablante. En tu primer día de escuela interaccionas con maestros y otros estudiantes.
    • Tu familia decide mudarse a un país hispanohablante, por ejemplo, México, y tienes que ir a la escuela allá. Quizá nunca has estado en una escuela hispanohablante.
    • Eres testigo de una escena de racismo en el comedor de la escuela, pero tu amigo te dice que no te metas donde no te llaman. Tú no estás tan seguro.
    • Un chico/a te gusta y te gustaría invitarlo/a para ir al cine, pero ¿te rechazará? ¡Qué miedo!
    • Llegas tarde. Todos parecen conspirar para que llegues tarde a clase esta mañana. El celular no tenía la hora correcta, el bus va lento. Un retraso más y tendrás una detención: ¿llegarás a tiempo?

    Paso a paso:

    1. Elige un tema para hacer la fotonovela. Pide ayuda a tu maestro/a para asegurarte que el tema sea apropiado para la escuela y que sea lo suficientemente sencillo.

    2. Divide la historia en 3 partes:

      1. Introducción del conflicto.

      2. Nudo, o conflicto en sí

      3. Desenlace, o resolución del conflicto.

    Cada parte puede tener unas 3 viñetas de la fotonovela.

    1. Escribe un “storyboard” o boceto de cómo puede desarrollarse la historia. Pon lo que dicen los personajes en bocadillos (así se llaman las burbujas de los cómics donde se escribe lo que dicen los personajes).

    2. Con permiso de tu maestro/a busca localizaciones para tomar fotografías sobre tu historia. Actúa dramático. Mira los ejemplos en esta lección.

    Day 6 - Students begin their storyboards/fotonovelas

    Warm Up:  Vocabulary Review  #1

    Words:  Conflict, resolve, solution, respond, stereotype, culture

    Time:  10 - 15 min.

    Teacher Does/Students Do:  The teacher presents previously seen vocabulary from the unit that will be helpful for students creating their storyboards/fotonovelas, and students complete a mini crossword with partners using the vocabulary in context.

    Crossword:  Cultural Differences and Conflicts - Vocab. list #1

    After completing the crossword, students begin working on their storyboards/fotonovelas, and work on them for the remainder of the class.

    School Bus

     

    Lesson Procedure - Day 7

    Day 7:

    Warm Up:  Vocabulary Review #2

    Words:  Universal, perceive, insult, inclusion, reciprocal

    Time:  10-15 min.

    Teacher Does/Students Do: The teacher presents previously seen vocabulary from the unit that will be helpful for students creating their storyboards/fotonovelas, and writing them on the board.  Students complete a mini crossword with partners using the vocabulary in context.

    Crossword:  Crossword for Cultural Differences and Conflicts List #1 and #2

    This crossword contains vocabulary from Review #1 and Review #2

    After completing the crossword, students begin working on their storyboards/fotonovelas, and work on them for the remainder of the class.

    Final Presentation - Day 8

    Day 8:

    Warm Up: Vocabulary Review of Previous word lists - Quizlet

    Time:  10 min.

    Teacher Does/Students Do: Students complete their projects and prepare to present them to their classmates.  Students who are already finished can continue to practice the vocabulary on Quizlet.

    Girls walking

    Presentation of Storyboards/fotonovelas:

    The storyboard/fotonovelas can be presented in a variety of ways.  The following way was chosen because it is less intimidating for students who are still building literacy skills.

    The students present their project to their groups, and begin by working in the group where they feel the most comfortable.  The size of the group can be determined by the teacher based on the size of their class.  As the student presents their project, the other group members listen attentively, and then fill out their feedback forms.  After all group members have presented, the feedback forms are given to the student they were filled out for.  Students then rotate to a new group.  One way to have students rotate is to have one group member rotate clockwise to a new group and another rotate counterclockwise to another group.  The process is then repeated, allowing each student to present their project several times.  The advantage of this is that it allows all students to become confident with presenting their projects and also provides additional speaking opportunities for students who are building literacy.  When students have finished presenting their projects, the projects are turned in for a summative assessment by the teacher according to the original rubric.

    Student to student feedback form for the storyboard/fotonovela or other project:  Google Doc.

    Student to teacher feedback form for the unit:  Google Form (this is an example form - you will need to make your own for this project).

    Extensions

    Ideas for Key Assignments, Extensions, and Adaptations for Online Learning Environments:

    Turning the storyboard or fotonovela into a video project and recording it.

    Having students put together a project about another culture using Google Slides or by making a collage.  Fully adaptable for online learning.

    Essay on culture.