Lo que hicimos cuando estuvimos de
vacaciones
(What we did
when we were on vacation)
A webquest designed
by Scott Pitchford
Introduction
You and three of your best friends have won a month long, all
expenses paid vacation. It will be necessary,
however, to meet a few prerequisites in order to claim your prize.
a. You must travel to four different countries (one country per
week)
b. All four of the countries will have to speak Spanish as a
first language (you might want to stay in South America, you would lose time by
traveling to Spain)
Mexico
Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
c. A daily journal of activities will be mandatory
d. You will also need to take a camera; photographs are
essential
e. Speak as much Spanish as possible!
For those of you who are having a difficult time with
pronunciation, there’s no better way to learn than by being immersed into a
Spanish speaking culture!
Task
Upon the completion of the webquest, you and your friends will have
created a beautiful journal about what you did while you were in Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile (those are just example countries, you don’t necessarily have to
choose those four). The journal will be written entirely in Spanish, and in the
past preterit tense. Many different
sources from the Internet will be used in order to obtain useful information
for your journal. The document will be
at least one full page in length (line spacing: single). You will have also created a second page
into which you will have inserted all of the wonderful photographs that you had
take while you were on vacation.
1.
Choose the friends
with whom you will be traveling.
2.
Each of you is to
pick a country that you would like to visit.
3.
Once you have
selected your four countries, you will need to go to a website that is going to
give you ideas on where you might stay and what activities are going to be
available.
4.
Take flight…
5.
The moment you
arrive in your Hispanic country of choice, you will need to start taking notes,
as well as pictures. This trip might be
free, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t have to work. Pay attention to your environment and use
your senses to help make your journal more vivid. For example: When we walked the streets of Taxco, the air was filled
with the aroma of freshly cooked tortillas, which were being sold street side.
6.
Did I mention that
your journal has to be written in Spanish?
7.
Your journal has to be
written in Spanish.
8.
Since there are four
of you who will be writing the journal, be sure to divide the work fairly (one
paragraph per student). I don’t want to
hear any stories about how Jon D. did all of the work while the others were at
the beach.
9.
Be imaginative. You might write about how you visited
ancient Incan ruins one day, and
spent the next day walking through the streets of Cuernavaca in search of souvenirs.
1.
Locating your countries. These sites are very
helpful in obtaining ideas about where to go and what to do. Be imaginative! Be imaginative! Be
imaginative!
http://www.creativetraveladventures.com/mexicoresortsframe.html
http://rimstar.1rez.com/public/south_america.shtml
http://www.south-america-online-travel.com/
You are not limited to using
only the Web. You can, of course, use maps, dictionaries, magazines, or any
other information that you might find in other locations (library, home, etc.).
2.
Since you will be writing todo en Espanol, you
might need some help with the translations.
The following sites are the best on the net; they will help you
translate almost anything. However, I
will know if you have abused these sites.
I know of what you are capable and of what you’re not. Please try to use your own knowledge of
Spanish, not someone else’s.
http://www.lingolex.com/spanishbasic.htm - adj
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/tr
3.
Here are some sites where
you will be able to find some cool jpegs of Spanish speaking countries,
artifacts, and activities, which you can insert into your photo page. You can also use pictures from home (we’ll
pretend that you were on vacation in South America).
http://www.jqjacobs.net/mesoamerica/sculpture.html
http://www.hawksaloft.com/gallery/sonora/index.html
Evaluation
Mis Queridos,
I know that learning how to
speak Spanish is a long and difficult process. You must remember a very
important fact…Spanish is a foreign language!
It is impossible to understand all grammatical aspects in only four semesters,
let alone, four years. As I have told
you before, I am still a student of the language and I still have to
study. There will always be new subject
material to be mastered. Be
patient! Be patient! Be patient!
I am proud of you. Know that you
hard work does not go unnoticed! Mr.
Pitchford