Cocina Latina
In this project students learned about traditional dishes and meals from different Spanish speaking countries. They researched the origins of the ingredients, and the history of the dish, and how it has evolved over time. Lastly for their exhibition, in small groups students made these dishes and shared with friends, family, and peers at our annual student exhibition, Festival del Sol.
What did you teach and how did you teach it?
We began the semester having students write down and research their favorite dish. With the help of amazing texts, narratives, and short stories, for example, "Like water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel, we discussed the importance of food in our lives, not just as a nutrient, but as a tool, a bonding tool, that keeps our families together.
We read a number of short stories carefully selected that revolved around traditions, customs, and culture. Which is the focus of this particular Spanish class. As the students gathered the information, for their project, we began a series of peer critique sessions, that we call criticas constructivas. From these peer critique sessions I gather information on what areas of grammar we needed to review or go over as a class. Assessing the student needs, and building the grammar lessons from there, allowed for the students to find relevance in what we were reviewing and why.
What concepts and skills did the students gain in this class through this project?
Students served as masters or experts learning and researching about their dish, and presented to their peers their findings. Many students choose a family recipe, so in order to gather information they needed to do a series of interviews. We discussed, reviewed, and practice, what makes a good interview, and effective forms of collecting data.
We used computer application to produce the recipe cards, in order t get these ready for the exhibition I taught step by step the process to change images, insert text, and refine our work on this application.
How is the curriculum for this project academically rich and grade-level challenging?
This project allowed us to address the 5 C's that are the heart of Foreign Language programs.
1. Communication: Students presented their dishes, but before hand participated in a "Taste test" where they shared their dish, and hand a kind and honest discussion with their peers about how to better their dish for the exhibition. Once at the exhibition, the students, shared distributed samples of their dish and explained to visitors the history of the dish and the origin of the ingredients. All done in Spanish!
2. Cultures: Students experienced food from different Spanish speaking countries. Not just tasting the dish, but preparing it also. Many had to find their way to ethnic markets, in order to purchase certain ingredients that were not available at the supermarket down the street. Students began to understand the diets and lifestyles of people from Latin America.
3. Connections: Students found connections with others subjects, such as math, when the ingredients in the recipe were given in the metric system they had to use conversion tables in order to get the equal amount in the measurement system used here in the US. In regards to health and nutrition, they learned how certain food are beneficial and others harmful. And in regards to history, many were able to find rich historical connections between their dish and what was going on in the city/town at that time. For example Mole, was created in a convent, in the state of Puebla, Mexico, it was a an accidental creation, the archbishop was coming to visit and the nun didn't know what to prepare for his dinner, they began to grind up a numbers of ingredients and spices, and ended up with a delicious sauce their poured over chicken.
4. Comparisons: Students were encouraged to compare and contrast their eating habits, the ingredients that make up with diets, and looks for areas that they might have in common with the culture they are learning about allowing them to gain appreciation for their own culture and language.
5. Communities: We literally took our learning outside the classroom, creating this public exhibition for all to come and learn about these dishes, taste them, and take the recipe home and try it on their own.
To what extent was there integration across disciplines in your class through this project?
Throughout the project students used their various skills primarily focused around research.
1. English: although the writing was done in Spanish, much of the research was done in English. Student gathered information, translating their finding, recipes.
4. history- learning about the history of the ingredients, the dishes, and the people who created the dishes.
5. anthropology- learning about the cultures, their needs, and the requirements of their nutritional needs.
6. ethnic studies/sociology- comparative learning, taking a careful look and how ethnic groups are similar and different in regards to their traditions, customs, and dietary habits.
7. health and nutrition: taking a look at health risks, concerns, and how certain foods and ingredients sustain a group of people, the positive and negative impacts that food have on families.
Which Habits of Heart and Mind (HoHM) and Design Principles were utilized in this project?
Hábitos del Corazón y la Mente
1. Mindfulness-ser conciente de… (ingredients being used, where they were going to prepare the dish)
2. Refinement- Refinar o perfeccionar (after taste test, and criticas constructivas, refine dish for exhibition)
3. Perspective – Perspectiva (understand why people eat what they do? how they prepare it and why?)
4. Evidence – evidencia (recipe cards, and exhibition)
5. Perseverance – perseverancia
6. Compassion – compasión
7. Cooperation – cooperación (working in small groups, sharing computer, teaching one another how to use certain computer applications)
How did you incorporate refinement through this project?
Refinement was a integral piece to this project. Students prepared for the taste test, or trial run they were going to do for their peers. Since they were in groups they divided up the responsibilities of the presentation. They shared the origin of the dish, the history of the ingredients, and the preparation process, and then she shared the dish. After their peers tasted the dish sample, they gave warm and cool feedback. Warm feedback is something they thought went well, from the presentation of the dish to the taste, or even the recipe card. Cool feedback is areas for improvement or growth. Students were excited and nervous about sharing their dish with their peers. After they gathered this feedback from their peers, they took this information and prepared their final dish for the spring exhibition, Festival del Sol.