Unit provocation: los festivales y las celebraciones

It is the start of a new semester and new MYP units which means it time for provocations! In a recent workshop with Tania Lattanzio (click here for info on her workshops) I was reminded about the essential criteria for an effective unit provocation:

• open inquiry
• connected to the conceptual questions
• connected to the concepts
• where possible, real people, places and experiences
• provide a hook for interest
• create a sense of curiosity
• enable students to begin to understand aspects of the unit
• promote student agency
• have clear teacher intent

I wanted to follow these guidelines and really spark enthusiasm in my students for this unit, and give them the opportunity to do a hands-on task using real life objects. I was pleased that as soon as my students walked through the door they were intrigued by the bags of objects on the table, and some started asking if we were making decorations or having a party. So, a hook was created immediately! Through this provocation I wanted the students to figure out for themselves what the unit of inquiry would be about and so the students set about completing the following tasks.

1. Working in randomly selected groups (I love my popsicle sticks!) the students had to remove the objects from the bags and identify which objects had aspects in common with each other. They grouped the objects according to these similarities and gave each group or category a name or title which they wrote clearly on a folded piece of yellow cardboard.
2. The students got up and walked around the room, looking at the object groupings on other tables and comparing and contrasting them to their own. We had a class discussion about the similarities and differences between the groupings. What I love about being a teacher is witnessing the insight and perception of my students and the wonderful ideas that they generate that are different to my own. Some groups grouped the objects according to the festivals of different countries, and others had categories such as food (comida) and birthdays (cumpleaños).
3. Next the students used sticky notes to label each of the objects with the correct vocabulary word in Spanish. I hope that presenting the key vocabulary to the students in this manner will be memorable for the students, and that they will consequently be able to recall and use the vocabulary more easily and effectively throughout the unit.
4. It was then over to the students to identify the key concept that we would be studying (culture) and the content that we would be studying in the unit (festivals and celebrations).  They did this successfully and this fills me with confidence that our students are becoming more inquiring students who are truly able to understand the concepts and skills in Language Acquisition .
5. Finally the students embarked on a discussion of the inquiry questions that will drive this unit.

• ¿Cuáles son los festivales y las celebraciones celebrados en tu familia? ¿Cuáles de estos festivales y de estas celebraciones son religiosos y cuales no son religiosos?
• ¿Cómo los festivales y las celebraciones representan los valores y las creencias de una cultura?
• ¿Hasta qué punto respetamos y comprendemos las celebraciones de culturas diferentes?

I loved engaging my students in this provocation task and I'm exciting about the upcoming unit. Next up we are going to be inquiring into the celebrations of Christmas and New Year and discovering more about the students' own cultures and how they spent their winter holidays in Shanghai or abroad. Please see below the pictures of provocation lesson and leave me any comments or feedback that you would like to share.