Social:
Author: Feven Yared
School/Organization:
Central High School
Year: 2024
Seminar: The Past, Present, and Future of Latinx Studies
Grade Level: 9-12
Keywords: Aztlán, Chicanx/a/o/@, Indigenismo, La Llorona, La Malinche, La Raza, Mestizaje, Mestizo, Mexican history, Mexican/a/o/@, Myths, Teaching culture in Spanish, Tenochtitlan
School Subject(s): Languages, Spanish
Culture, when taught in the K-12 Spanish classroom, is too often de-territorialized. This three-week Spanish II unit combines Visible Thinking routines and Comprehensible Input teaching strategies to re-territorialize the teaching of Mexican and Chicanx cultures through the myths of Tenochtitlan, La Llorona, and Aztlán. Students will build on their prior knowledge of the Preterite vs. Imperfect grammar tenses to read the myths in Spanish, then analyze and discuss visual art, poetry, and songs related to these myths created by Mexicanxs and Chicanxs in order to develop an understanding of who constructed these myths, how they did so, and why. Through weekly formative assessments and a myth re-write summative assessment, students will further explore how the ideologies of indigenismo and mestizaje have contributed to the construction of a Mexican and Chicanx identity.
Download Unit: Yared-F-Unit.pdf
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Culture, when taught in the K-12 Spanish classroom, is too often de-territorialized. That is, the teaching of Spanish language often excludes the teaching of its corresponding cultures, and further, the teaching of culture is removed from the places of and important to that culture. My understanding of “place” here both refers to Spanish-speaking communities and countries, but more importantly extends to the mythological places that have constructed that culture’s sense of its origins and national identity. In this rationale, I first briefly examine the current state of teaching culture in Spanish classrooms, problematize the teaching of Mexican culture in the textbook at my school, then propose a unit which seeks to re-territorialize the textbook’s teaching of Mexican culture through three myths: Tenochtitlan, La Llorona, and Aztlán. In 1996, the ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century named the teaching of Cultures as one of its “5 C’s,” and suggested teachers develop curriculum and instructional practices to prepare students to “interact with cultural competence and understanding.”[1] Despite these recommendations, only an average of 14.2% of all activities in the best-selling high school Spanish textbooks across the U.S. focus on cultural activities.[2] The choice to teach culture from the textbook–and to even teach it at all–is at the discretion of the teacher, and the How and What of the culture they teach is largely shaped by their attitudes on its role in the Spanish classroom. Some teachers may view teaching culture as an add-on, as “adding an appetizer to a meal in order to entice people to eat the main course” of grammar and vocabulary.[3] For example, to spark student interest and engagement in September, the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, culture-as-appetizer teachers may plan lessons around Latinx and Spanish traditions, holidays, and music up until but not after October 15. This common “Four Fs approach” of teaching culture through its Food, Fashion, Festivals, and Folklore[4] trivializes it, fragmenting cultural phenomena from its social and historical contexts and restricting its teaching to a convenient month. Present-day teachers implementing year-round culture-based instruction must not only adopt a critical understanding of and approach to culture as it is represented in mainstream textbooks, but must overcome several additional challenges: the lack of culture-based pre-service teacher education, time constraints,[5] grammar and vocabulary-centered testing practices, and the shortage of quality teaching materials.[6] The challenge is greater still for teachers of novice Spanish students, like me, who aspire to meaningfully teach culture in the target language. A first-year Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 teacher at Central High School, I turned to the available textbooks for content-aligned cultural teaching materials. Avancemos 2 Unidad 4, titled “Mexico: Cultura antigua, ciudad moderna,”[7] anchors the cultural study of Mexico in the grammatical teaching of the Preterite versus Imperfect past tenses for Spanish 2 students. It is split into two sections—“Lección 1: Una leyenda mexicana” and Lección 2: “México antiguo y moderno”—the former of which I elected as this unit’s focus because its “legend vocabulary” is a tested topic on Central’s Spanish 2 final exam. On page 198, Avancemos 2 states that, through the study of vocabulary, students will, “learn the words about legends and stories. Then [they will] use what [they] learned by naming characters and other elements in a legend.”[8] The following pages introduce vocabulary such as “Había una vez…,” “una leyenda azteca,” “el héroe,” “el emperador,” “el dios,” and “la princesa” adjacent to pictures of teenage actors dressed in “Aztec” battle-ready clothing: feathered headdresses, shields, wooden clubs, and decorated masks. While the Preterite vs. Imperfect grammar dominates the unit’s focus, the Oaxacan/Aztec legend of Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, the fresco painting “Historia de Michoachan” by Alfredo Zalce Torres, the encounter between Moctezuma II and Hernan Cortés, and the Zaptoec legend of “El fuego y el tlacuache” are also interspersed as cultural lessons to be taught in Spanish. This half of the unit ends with a cultural comparison activity between the Mexican and the U.S. flags, and briefly mentions Nahault as the “language of the Aztecs.” Though it claims to teach vocabulary and grammar in a cultural context, the teaching of Mexican culture in Avancemos 2 Unidad 4 is deliberately decontextualized. Aztecs are identified in the presentation of the vocabulary as part of Mexico’s “ancient culture,” yet the textbook does not specify the dates of their rule nor have activities that thoroughly explore their cultural practices, products, and perspectives. The battle-centered vocabulary and clothing characterizes Aztecs as a warring people, yet the textbook fails to describe with whom they warred and why, most notably omitting the fighting with their own marginalized subjects in the 1521 Battle of Tenochtitlan and the ensuing conquest and colonization of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish Empire. The legend of study in this unit, Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl, is presented as a discreet story and not one of the many fascinating Aztec legends, such as the Five Suns creation myth, that, through their reading and study in Spanish classrooms, can reveal important understandings about indigenous cosmologies. Therefore, Aztecs are represented in the textbook as a stereotyped and de-historicized people whose connections to their myths and origin stories are obfuscated. Most importantly, lost here is the connection between Aztec/Mexican myths, 20th-century nation-building and Chicanx cultural nationalism, and the national identity formation of Mexicans and Chicanxs. Exploring Mexican and Chicanx culture in this unit should not only mean reading the narrative content of three aforementioned myths in Spanish to acquire the grammar and vocabulary in context, but developing an understanding of who constructed these myths, how they did so, and for what purposes. Unit Overview This three-week Spanish II unit introduces to students three myths: the founding of the impressive Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, the vengeful and haunting figure La Llorona, and the Edenic Chicanx homeland of Aztlán. Throughout the unit, students will learn essential historical information about the Aztec Empire, the Mexican Revolution and Mexican Muralism movement, and the Chicanx movement to contextualize their understanding of the historical processes that shaped the creation of and continue to mythologize these myths. At the beginning of each week, students will read, listen to, analyze, and discuss selected and modified versions of these myths in Spanish. Then, in English, students will analyze visual art and poetry created by Mexicanxs and Chicanxs. At the end of each week, students will discuss and complete formative assessments about how Mexicanx and Chicanx identities have been shaped by, aligned with, and in tension with the ideologies of indigenismo and mestizaje. The end-of-unit assessment will be to re-write one of the three myths in a different perspective based on their now nuanced understanding of indigenismo and mestizaje and in consideration of the question: What complexities, contradictions, and nuances about your identities could a myth about yourself or your culture reveal to a reader? This unit assumes that students have been introduced to the uses of the Preterite vs. Imperfect and have been assessed on the regular conjugations of both forms. In such a way, teachers need only support students’ understanding of the non-Legend vocabulary they will read in the myths. For teachers using the Avancemos 2 textbook or a similar material, the author recommends pre-teaching the Legend vocabulary and irregular form of the Preterite before beginning this unit. For example, teachers could create a lesson utilizing but critiquing the decontextualized presentation of Legend vocabulary on pages 198-201. Additionally, this unit may be extended to four weeks to allow for more grammar- and culture-centered lessons. One suggestion is to design more Spanish-only, Comprehensible Input-informed lessons that teach more creation myths (see “Aztec Gods.” in bibliography), then create activities, games, assessments, and homework that evaluate grammatical and cultural competency. Examples may include: Cloze passages of a new version of the myth, information gap questions, comprehension questions, summarizing the myth in your own words, answering open-ended questions about the cultural information in the myth, or re-telling the myth with a comic strip. Essential Questions
The teaching strategies of this unit largely draw on the Visual Thinking Routines from Harvard University’s Project Zero and a teacher-compiled list of Comprehensible Input (CI) activities. Most lessons are designed around one or more visual thinking routines because they lend themselves to student-centered discussion of the complex and nuanced content in this unit. Lessons 1, 5, and 8 utilize CI-informed activities to support the teaching and understanding of a Spanish level that is just beyond students’ current level of proficiency. All teaching strategies are sorted and the rationale for their use briefly explained below. Visible Thinking Routines: Comprehensible Input Activities: Additional Strategies: Didactic instruction (Labeled in lessons as “mini-lecture”), Jigsaw, Cloze listening, and Take a Line for a Walk
Week 1: Tenochtitlan Objective: Students will read, analyze, and discuss in Spanish an adapted version of the migration myth of the Mexica peoples from Aztlán to Tenochtitlan. Essential Questions: Who were the Aztecs? Where are they mythologized to come from? What complexities, contradictions, and nuances does the Tenochtitlan migration myth legend reveal about the Aztecs (and more broadly about Mexican identity)? How does this myth complicate our understanding of who Aztecs were (and who Mexicans are)? Materials: Google Slides, “De Aztlán a Tenochtitlan” myth hand-out (see appendix) Learning Plan See-Think-Wonder + K-H-W-L (5 min) – Teacher will project an image of the Mexican flag and an image of Tenochtitlan from the Codex Mendoza. Teacher will ask students to discuss with their partner for two minutes what they See, Notice, and Wonder about the two images. Then, the teacher will project a K-H-W-L chart on the board, asking the students to copy it down in their notebooks, and ask students to individually respond with at least two bullet points each of: What they Know, How they Know, and What they Want to Know about Mexico’s history and origin story. Provide Unit Overview (2 mins) – Teacher will briefly state the unit topic, its essential questions, goals, timeline, and end-of-unit assessment title and its due date. Teacher will explain how this unit will be interspersed throughout the larger Preterite v. Imperfect grammar unit. Anótalo (15 min) – Teacher will distribute Spanish copies of the myth for students to read in pairs. Students will take turns reading aloud the story to each other in Spanish, annotating according to the Anótalo símbolos de anotación textual. In preparation for the Disappearing Voices activity, the students will also underline the four most important sentences in the story (each pair can have each student pick two, or each student can pick four by themselves). The students may occasionally search the definitions of words they don’t know on WordReference.com, but the teacher should encourage students to put a question mark near words they don’t know and, if they’re really stuck, to ask the teacher for translation assistance. Disappearing voices (15 min) – Teacher will read aloud the story in Spanish, displaying a slideshow of the text and accompanying pictures of the myth as told in The Codex Boturini. Students will join in the read-aloud every time the teacher reads aloud a sentence they underlined as important. Teacher will make mental notes of which lines were of most importance. Myth vs. Truth T-Chart and discussion (10 min) – Teacher will project a “Mito v. Verdad” T-chart, and prompt students to decide and share-out in Spanish what parts of the stories were “mythologized” vs. “factual.” Teacher will prompt students to explain their thinking in English, making sure to neither confirm nor deny the “truth” of their statements. Throughout the discussion, teacher will ask students: What kind of truth does myth tell? What kinds of truths does this myth tell about the Mexica? HW: Watch “Introduction to the Aztecs (Mexica)” video” (read the accompanying article if you so wish). In your notes, write the definitions of Mexica, Tenochtitlan, Nahua, Nahuatl, Aztlán, Chicomóztoc, and Huitzilopochtli. In your K-W-L chart, fill out the “L” section with at least 3 bullet points about what you learned in class and 3 bullet points about what you learned from the video/article. Objective: Students will gain a basic understanding of the terms and ideologies that have shaped Mexican identity (and Latinidad more broadly). Essential Questions: Who are Mexicans? Where do they come from? What’s the relationship between where they came from and who they are now? Who decides who is Mexican, and why? Materials: Google Slides, Jamboard Learning Plan: 3-2-1 Bridge (5 min) – Teacher will write “mestizo (mixed)” on the board. Students will write down three words or thoughts, two questions, and one metaphor or simile about the term. If students are unfamiliar with the term, teacher will encourage students to consider the English translation of mestizo as “mixed,” while noting that “mixed” could be defined as similar to, but not synonymous or interchangeable with, “mestizo.” Mini-Lecture and Guided Notes (10 min) – Teacher will provide background into Mexico and define the following terms and ideologies: Mexico, Mexican, mestizo, indígena, mestizaje, and indigenismo. Students will copy definitions into their notebooks. Teacher will ask students which Mexicans may be excluded by these terms. Teacher will explain why some populations (e.g., Afro-Mexicans / afrodescendientes) are not the focus of this unit, though their identities and histories are tied to the terms and themes of our exploration. Research + Jamboard Concept Map (25 min) – Teacher will divide students into groups of 5; these groups will be their groups for the remainder of the unit. Each group will choose one of the four terms – mestizo, indígena, mestizaje, indigenismo – to research. Students will first generate a list of words, phrases, and ideas about the terms with their group. Then, they will individually research historical paintings, artwork, images, quotes, related terms, book titles, poem titles, etc. related to their term. Lastly, they will as a group sort and make connections between each item from their list / research on a mind map on a Jamboard slide. Share-out and discussion (10 min) – Teacher will project the Jamboard onto the screen, asking one student representative from each group to summarize their research findings. Teacher will structure the discussion to draw attention to the similarities and differences between the terms. Homework: Explore this website’s 3-D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan. Post either one connection, one surprise, or one question on the class Jamboard. Objective: SWBAT learn essential historical information about the Tenochtitlan and a timeline of Mexico’s history. SWBAT break down and identify the key actions, objects, and relationships of the subjects of the “La Gran Tenochtitlan” mural. Essential Questions: What was Tenochtitlan? How is Tenochtitlan mythologized? What attitude does the “La Gran Tenochtitlan” mural take about indigenismo and mestizaje? Materials: Google Slides; cut-outs of cropped frames from “La Gran Tenochtitlan” Learning Plan See-Feel-Think-Wonder (5 min) – Students will look cropped frame #1 of “La Gran Tenochtitlan” (see appendix) and complete the See-Feel-Think-Wonder portion of their “La Gran Tenochtitlan” graphic organizer (see appendix). Zoom-in inquiry (class) (5 min) – Teacher will project onto the Smartboard the same cropped frame of “La Gran Tenochitlan.” Teacher will ask students a combination of open-ended See-Feel-Think-Wonder questions and prediction questions about the image (e.g., When do you think this was painted? Who painted it? What story does this painting try to tell? Why do you think this mural was painted? What attitude does this mural take about indigenismo and its relationship to Mexican identity?); these questions will be re-visited as part of the main focus of the next lesson. Teacher will gradually zoom out to reveal the entire mural, continuing to ask open-ended and prediction questions. Mini-Lecture and Note-taking (10 min): Zoom-In Inquiry (groups) (15 min – 5 mins per photo): Teacher will divide students into groups of 4-5 if they are not already seated in their table groups. Teacher will distribute 1 cropped image to each group (see appendix). Ideally, these images are printed in color and are of high enough quality so as to capture the detail of the mural. Students will spend five minutes analyzing each image using the discussion questions on the “La Gran Tenochtitlan” Graphic organizer (see appendix). After 5 minutes, students will swap photos clockwise with the group next to them. Creative Question Starts (5 min): Exit Ticket (5 min): Homework: Objective: SWBAT learn essential historical information about the Mexican Revolution and Mexican Muralism movement. SWBAT evaluate how “La Gran Tenochtitlan” and other murals of the Mexican Muralism movement contributed to the construction of Mexico as a mestizo nation. Essential Understandings: Essential Questions: Which people are being claimed as “Mexican” by the emerging nation-state? Why? Which people are excluded from being “Mexican”? Why? Materials: Google Slides; “La Gran Tenochtitlan” Graphic Organizer (Day 2) (see appendix) Learning Plan: HW debrief (5 min) – Teacher will project the HW questions on the Smartboard, then ask students to share-out their Part 1 HW findings in pairs. Teacher will call on volunteers to share-out their findings. Mini-Lecture (15 min) – Teacher will present a Google Slideshow to provide historical context for the following three topics: The Mexican Revolution; the The Creators of indigenismo and mestizaje; the creation of a mestizo nation; and the Mexican Muralism movement. Teacher will begin and frame the presentation with the aforementioned essential questions. Students will take notes using their graphic organizer. Teacher will end the presentation with a brief click-through of the 10 selected murals, explaining what two or three murals most drew the teacher’s attention and why. Teacher will pose the HW question again (What common theme(s) and/or message(s) do you notice between these murals and “La Gran Tenochtitlan”?). Think-Pair-Share (5 mins): Students will re-group in pairs to examine at least 2-4 selected murals on their computers and discuss the HW question. Values, Identities, Actions discussion in Concentric Circles (20 min) – Teacher will project 4 selected murals, one of which is “La Gran Tenochtitlan.” Students will line up in either two concentric circles or in two lines facing each other (depending on the classroom set-up). Assuming the former, students will form an inside and outside circle. Teacher will call on different students to read aloud the discussion questions. The students will pose to their peers the 10 Values, Identities, Actions questions in the graphic organizer, discussing their responses with the person in front of them and rotating every 2 minutes to discuss each new question. Teacher will walk around, facilitating discussions and transitions. Exit Ticket (5 min): In your journal, respond to the following reflection question: Did your ideas about “La Gran Tenochtitlan” – and its relationship to mestizaje and indigeneity – change after you learned more about the Mexican Muralism movement? If so, how and why? HW / Formative Assessment: Respond in bullet-points to the questions in the Values, Identities, and Actions activity of today’s graphic organizer. Pay particular attention to the bolded questions. Use the information from our in-class discussions and your personal reflections on the relationship between “La Gran Tenochtitlan” (and the other murals we’ve studied in class) and mestizaje / indigeneity. I will collect this graphic organizer tomorrow in-class for a grade. Week 2: La Llorona/La Malinche Lesson Objective: SWBAT will read, compare, and discuss in Spanish three versions of La Llorona’s story. Essential Questions: Who was La Llorona? What archetypes about womanhood and motherhood does she represent? How do the three versions of the La Llorona myths construct different truths about La Llorona? Materials: Google Slides; 3 versions of La Llorona story Learning Plan 4 corners (5 min): Teacher will read a series of three statements in Spanish that foreshadow the story of La Llorona. Students will move to one of the four corners of the room depending on if they Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree with the statement. Teacher will read each statement at least three times, projecting the statement on the Smartboard the third time for students to read. Teacher Read-aloud (10 min): Teacher will invite the students to sit “criss-cross applesauce” in the front of the classroom and ask them to listen carefully to understand the events of the story so that they can make predictions afterwards. Teacher will read the beginning of Version 1 of La Llorona in Spanish; this is a variant of the most famous version in which she drowns her children then herself. Teacher will conclude by asking prediction questions such as: “¿Es un cuento positivo o negativo?” “¿Es un cuento histórico o mítico?” “¿Quién es la mujer?” “¿Es una mujer buena o mala?” “¿Qué va a pasar con la mujer?” Volleyball Read (15 min): Students will take turns in pairs reading aloud their version of “La Llorona” in a Volleyball reading style. Partner 1 reads a sentence in Spanish, then Partner 2 translates the sentence to English. Next, Partner 2 reads the next sentence in Spanish and Partner 1 translates to English. Jigsaw and Venn Diagram (10 min): Teacher will group students into groups of three such that they are paired with students who read the two other versions. Students will make a 3-circle Venn Diagram, comparing the similarities and differences of La Llorona as portrayed in their stories. Students will draw the Venn Diagram on large poster paper and write their bullet-pointed comparisons in Spanish. Class-constructed Venn Diagram (5 min): Teacher will project a 3-circle Venn Diagram and ask students to share-out their comparisons in Spanish. Teacher will ask students to question why the stories are different, and ask students to share their answers in English. Teacher will conclude by polling students to see who does and does not think La Llorona was / was based on a real person. (Alternatively, if short on time and/or teacher has a group of students who are quiet, direct students to do a Gallery Walk throughout the room to observe all the student posters and to give them a notecard to write their answer to the exit ticket questions). HW: Lesson Objective: SWBAT learn essential historical information about Malinztin/La Malinche. SWBAT analyze and compare the three most popularized archetypes of Malinztin/La Malinche. Essential Questions: Who was Malinztin/La Malinche? What are the three most popularized archetypes of Malinztin/La Malinche? What is Malintzin’s/La Malinche’s significance to the construction of a Mexican identity? Materials: Google Slides; Gallery images; La Malinche graphic organizer (see appendix) Learning Plan Venn Diagram (5 min): Teacher will project a three-circle Venn Diagram, labeling each circle as: Eve, La Llorona, La Malinche. Teacher will introduce the name of the lesson, “Malintzin/La Malinche: ¿Madre, traidora, o sobrevivente?”, and ask students to copy and fill out the Venn Diagram in their notes with these three archetypes in mind. Students may work individually or in pairs. Students will fill out what similarities and differences they see within each of these female archetypes, using the knowledge about La Malinche they learned from last night’s HW, previous lessons and assignments about La Llorona, and their knowledge of Eve. Note: Direct the students who may not be familiar with Eve to leave that circle blank. Mini-Lecture and Guided Notes (10 min): Gallery Walk (20 min): Gallery analysis (15 min): Groups will stand by their assigned section of the “gallery” and answer the discussion questions outlined in the “Malintzin / La Malinche” graphic organizer. Teacher will walk around the room to answer questions and encourage students to maintain rich discussions. Share-out and discussion (15 min): Extensions/Additional Lesson Ideas: HW: Watch “La Malinche” poem read-aloud. Read “La Malinche” poem. Objective: SWBAT analyze Malinztin / La Malinche’s – and by extension, La Llorona’s – reinterpretation by Chicanxs and her impact on Chicanx culture and identity. Learning Plan: Exit Ticket / Formative Assessment: Extension / Additional lesson: Read and discuss “La Malinche” poem (Claribel Alegría). Week 3: Aztlán Objective: Students will listen to, read, analyze, and discuss in Spanish the song “Somos más americanos.” Essential Questions: What is Aztlán? Where is it? What does Aztlán symbolize to Chicanxs? Materials: Google slides. Song lyrics. Cloze listening worksheet. Learning Plan: Extension: Read and discuss “The Homeland, Aztlán: El otro México” (p. 25-29) by Gloria Anzaldúa. HW: Read the preamble to “El Plan de Aztlán” (p. 181). Pick 1 line that stood out to you the most and write it in your notebook. Skim the rest of “El Plan de Aztlán.” What organizational goal stands out to you the most? Why? Come to class prepared to share your answers. Objective: SWBAT analyze the poem “I am Joaquin” to evaluate how it constructs an archetype of the ideal Chicanx man. Essential Questions: Who are Chicanxs? What identity did Chicanxs organize around and why? How does Yo Soy Joaquin represent and contend with a mestizo Chicanx identity? Materials: “Take a Line for a Walk” handout. Learning Plan: Think-Pair-Share (5 min) – Students watch the preamble to “El Plan de Aztlán”. Teacher projects the preamble on the Smartboard. Students answer the following questions with their partner: What imagery does the author use to describe Aztlán? What imagery does the author use to describe Chicanxs? Mini-Lecture and Guided Notes (10 min) – Teacher will define the term Chicanx and provide essential background information into the Chicanx movement (e.g., dates, origins, goals, key persons – Chicanos vs. Chicanas, and outcomes; also, parallels to other movements at the time – e.g., Pan-African nationalism). Teacher will provide historical context for the preamble to “El Plan de Aztlán” and the poem “Yo Soy Joaquin.” Teacher will display the entirety of (e.g., form, purpose, impact, key figures). Yo Soy Joaquin poem (e.g., purpose, impact, . Students will take notes in their graphic organizer. Word-Phrase-Sentence (15 min) – Students will take turns reading aloud their excerpt of the “Yo Soy Joaquin” poem to their group. Then, students will individually find then briefly share: 1 word that captured their attention or struck them as powerful, 1 phrase that moved or provoked them, and 1 sentence that was the most meaningful / impactful to them. Take a Line for a Walk (15 min) – Students will copy the meaningful sentence on the “Take a Line for a Walk” hand-out. Students will write 1-2 sentences answering the question: What connections can you make between this line and what you’ve learned about: mestizaje, and indigenismo, being mestizo, and/or Chicanx identity? Once finished writing, students will stand up with their group and move to a new group’s handouts. Students will read the meaningful sentence, the previous comments, and will continue the conversation with their own thoughts. Does the student agree or disagree with the previous student(s)? What new connections can they make? Repeat until 5 minutes left in class. Students will return to their original seats and read all the comments on their hand-out. If time permits, students will share-out the written conversations from their hand-out with their group.
Lesson 1 – De Aztlán a Tenochtitlán: el “mito” de la migración mexica
Lesson 2 – Becoming Mexican
Lesson 3 – “La Gran Tenochtitlan”: A Zoom-In Inquiry
Lesson 4 – “La Gran Tenochtitlan”: La indigenización y mitificación de una identidad mexicana
Lesson 5 – Las tres interpretaciones de La Llorona
Lesson 6 – Malintzin/La Malinche: ¿Madre, traidora, o sobreviviente?
Lesson 7 – Malinztin / La Malinche: Reclamada y redimida por escritores y artistas Chicanxs
Lesson 8 – Aztlán: ¿Un mito de la historia o una historia del mito?
Lesson 9 – Yo Soy Joaquin
Lessons 10 and 11 – Introduce end-of-unit assessment. Work periods.
WEEK 1: From Aztlán to Tenochtitlan AJ+ Español. 2020. “¿Quiénes Son Los Mestizos En México? | AJ+ Español.” www.youtube.com. March 29, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx5yB-CO9c4. “Aztec Pages at Mexicolore.” n.d. Www.mexicolore.co.uk. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/. English and Modern Languages Cal Poly Pomona. 2020. “Mexican Muralism.” YouTube. June 22, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1t3Hj_iSqU. Estrada, Professor. 2022. “The Aztecs from Aztlan to Tenochtitlan: The Codex Boturini & the Mexica Pilgrimage Read Page-By-Page.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tagWcDQQsZ8. INAH TV. 2017. “Códice Boturini – Recorrido.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BUjBwfEuZ0. Kole, Thomas. n.d. “A Portrait of Tenochtitlan.” https://tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl/. Kilroy-Ewbank, Dr. Lauren. 2018. “Introduction to the Aztecs (Mexica).” Smarthistory.org. March 19, 2018. https://smarthistory.org/introduction-mexica/. Mamá Alternativa. 2021. “Video-Cuento: Tenochtitlán.” YouTube. January 21, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeN-G11niVM. Mann, Jon. 2014. “Mexican Muralism.” Art History Teaching Resources. September 26, 2014. https://arthistoryteachingresources.org/lessons/mexican-muralism/. Mythopedia Staff. 2022. “Aztec Gods.” Mythopedia. November 29, 2022. https://mythopedia.com/topics/aztec-gods. Somos Nómadas TV. 2015. “Los Aztecas: Capítulo I, El Origen (Documental Completo).” www.youtube.com. February 9, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbnJJD8Vu0. WEEK 2: La Llorona/La Malinche Flora Rees-Arredondo. 2022. “Malinchista (Español + Subtítulos).” YouTube. March 15, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR1xTHFJLag. Jaraba Abellán, Alicia. 2022. Soy La Malinche. Madrid: Nuevo Nueve. Medina, Ricardo. n.d. “La Llorona & Cihuacoatl: The Story We Tell or Don’t Tell Grade Level: 7 -12.” https://www.liberatedethnicstudies.org/uploads/1/6/1/9/16198322/ch_3_7-12_la_llorona_cihuacoatl_1.pdf. Monstrum. 2019. “The Legend of La Llorona.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR1rILLuUzE. New-York Historical Society. 2020. “Women & the American Story: Malitzen, Enslaved Interpreter for Hernan Cortés.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65Phu_EAEs. “Poeta Pachuco — La Malinche — Claribel Alegría.” 2019. Poetapachuco.org. May 15, 2019. https://poetapachuco.org/posts/la-malinche. San Rafael Librarians. 2020. “La Llorona by Rudolfo Anaya.” YouTube. October 1, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5EE4hxEvZ0. Tafolla, Carmen. 1978. “Women in World History: PRIMARY SOURCES.” Chnm.gmu.edu. 1978. https://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/p/171.html. Winick, Stephen. 2021. “La Llorona: Storytelling for Halloween and Día de Muertos | Folklife Today.” Blogs.loc.gov. October 29, 2021. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2021/10/la-llorona-storytelling-for-halloween-and-da-de-muertos/. WEEK 3: Aztlán and the Chicanx Movements Alurista, and Rodolfo González. 1969. “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán.” 1969. https://60sand70samerica.voices.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/101/2018/01/el-plan-de-aztlan.pdf. Anzaldúa, Gloria. 1987. “The Homeland, Aztlán: El Otro México.” In Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute. https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/d/95251/files/2020/09/3.1-Gloria-Anzaldua-The-Homeland-Aztlan-1-1.pdf. González, Rodolfo “Corky. 1967. “I Am Joaquin.” www.latinamericanstudies.org. 1967. https://www.latinamericanstudies.org/latinos/joaquin.htm. Los Tigres del Norte. 2021. “Somos Más Americanos (En Directo Desde Los Angeles MTV Unplugged).” www.youtube.com. February 8, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ue-YP-wvsY. Project Eñye. 2015. “Latino High School Students Find Inspiration from Epic Poem ‘I Am Joaquin.’” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTeaqLs5Rzo. The Critical Perspective. 2022. “El Plan de Aztlán (Chicano Movement) – Juan Gómez-Quiñones.” www.youtube.com. March 10, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl12U8C1VV4. Alberto, Lourdes. 2016. “Nations, Nationalisms, and Indígenas: The ‘Indian’ in the Chicano Revolutionary Imaginary.” Critical Ethnic Studies 2 (1): 107. Albuquerque Art Museum. 2022. “Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche.” City of Albuquerque. 2022. https://www.cabq.gov/artsculture/albuquerque-museum/past-exhibits/la-malinche. Anaya, Rudolfo A, Lomelí Francisco A, and Enrique R Lamadrid. 2017. Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland. Albuquerque: University Of New Mexico Press. Anzaldúa, Gloria. 2007. “Chicana Artists: Exploring Nepantla, El Lugar de La Frontera.” NACLA. September 25, 2007. https://nacla.org/article/chicana-artists-exploring-nepantla-el-lugar-de-la-frontera. Archivo General de la Nación. 2021. “La Historia de La Fundación de Tenochtitlan Preservada En La Crónica Mexicana Del #AGNMex.” Gob.mx. March 13, 2021. https://www.gob.mx/agn/es/articulos/la-historia-de-la-fundacion-de-tenochtitlan-preservada-en-la-cronica-mexicana-del-agnmex?idiom=es#:~:text=Como%20tal%2C%20se%20puede%20se%C3%B1alar. Artes de México en Utah. 2019. “Episode 2: La Gran Tenochtitlan.” Artesmexut. 2019. https://www.artesmexut.org/part2. Australian National University. n.d. “Aztec Myth.” Rubens.anu.edu.au. http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raid1/student_projects97/aztec/AztecMyth.html/Myth1.html. Batalla, Guillermo Bonfil, and Philip A. Dennis. México Profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization. University of Texas Press, 1996. https://doi.org/10.7560/708440. Byrd, David R., and Aaron Wall. 2009. “Long-Term Portfolio Projects to Teach and Assess Culture Learning in the Secondary Spanish Classroom: Shifting the Area of Expertise.” Cárdenas, Cuauhtémoc. 2021. “MEXICO’S CENTENNIALS: The Promise and Legacy of the Mexican Revolution.” Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies. Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies. November 5, 2021. https://clacs.berkeley.edu/mexicos-centennials-promise-and-legacy-mexican-revolution. Contreas, Francesca. 2013. “Eugenics in Nation Building | Modern Latin America.” Library.brown.edu. 2013. https://library.brown.edu/create/modernlatinamerica/chapters/chapter-3-mexico/moments-in-mexican-history/eugenics-narrates-the-nations/. Cubillos, Jorge H. 2014. “Spanish Textbooks in the US: Enduring Traditions and Emerging Trends.” Journal of Spanish Language Teaching 1 (2): 205–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/23247797.2014.970363. Doremus, Anne. “Indigenism, Mestizaje, and National Identity in Mexico during the 1940s and the 1950s.” Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 17, no. 2 (2001): 375–402. https://doi.org/10.1525/msem.2001.17.2.375. Faudree, Paja. “FROM REVOLUTION TO RENAISSANCE: A Political Geography and History of ‘Deep Mexico.’” In Singing for the Dead: The Politics of Indigenous Revival in Mexico, 49-53. Duke University Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11smpv4.6. Figueroa, Mónica G. Moreno. 2011a. “Naming Ourselves: Recognising Racism and Mestizaje in Mexico.” Contesting Recognition, 122–43. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230348905_7. ———. 2011b. “Naming Ourselves: Recognising Racism and Mestizaje in Mexico.” Contesting Recognition, 122–43. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230348905_7. Fitts, Alexandra. “Sandra Cisneros’s modern Malinche: a reconsideration of feminine archetypes in Woman Hollering Creek.” International Fiction Review 29, no. 1-2 (2002): 11+. Gale Academic OneFile. https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/ifr/article/view/7712/8769. Fuller, Amy. 2019. “La Llorona and the Mexican Days of the Dead (1).” www.mexicolore.co.uk. October 28, 2019. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/la-llorona-and-the-days-of-the-dead-in-mexico-1. Gahala, Estella, Patricia Hamilton Carlin, Audrey L. Heining-Boynton, Ricardo Otheguy, and Barbara Rupert Mondloch. 2007. ¡Avancemos! 2. Holt McDougal. http://www.teachermrbenson.com/uploads/7/0/9/8/70984729/avancemos_2_txbk_unidad_2_-_1___2.pdf. Godwin-Jones, Robert. 2016. “Culture, language learning and technology.” In The Routledge Handbook of Language Learning and Technology, pp. 173-184. Routledge, Harvard Hartley, George. n.d. “‘Corky’ Gonzales & Retroactive Chicanismo.” writing.upenn.edu. https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/authors/hartley/pubs/corky.html. Hers, Marie-Areti. 2017. “Chicomóztoc. Un Mito Revisado.” Arqueología Mexicana. September 11, 2017. https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/chicomoztoc-un-mito-revisado. Joffroy, Michelle, and Jennifer Guiglielmo. n.d. “The Many Faces of La Malinche.” A History of Domestic Work and Worker Organizing. https://www.dwherstories.com/timeline/the-many-faces-of-la-malinche. Leibsohn, Dana, and Mundy Barbara. 2005. “Surveying Mestizaje.” Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820. 2005. https://www.smith.edu/vistas/vistas_web/units/surv_mestizaje.htm. Losser, Sheryl. 2024. “Mexico’s First Tianguis: The Story of Tlatelolco Market.” Mexico News Daily. February 29, 2024. Maestri, Nicoletta. 2018. “Pan-Mesoamerican Beliefs about the Origins of People on Earth.” ThoughtCo. August 12, 2018. https://www.thoughtco.com/mythical-place-of-origins-of-aztecs-169339. ———. 2020. “What’s the Mythology of the Aztecs and the Founding of Tenochtitlan?” ThoughtCo. December 10, 2020. https://www.thoughtco.com/aztec-origins-the-founding-of-tenochtitlan-170038. Manrique, Linnete. 2016. “Dreaming of a Cosmic Race: José Vasconcelos and the Politics of Race in Mexico, 1920s-1930s.” Edited by Lisa Miles Bunkowski. Cogent Arts & Humanities 3 (1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2016.1218316. Mursell, Ian. 2016. “The Great Market at Tlatelolco.” www.mexicolore.co.uk. August 12, 2016. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/aztefacts/great-market-tlatelolco. Navarrete, Federico. 2000. “The Path from Aztlan to Mexico: On Visual Narration in Mesoamerican Codices.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 37 (37): 31–48. ———. 2019. “El Lugar de Las Siete Cuevas | Federico Navarrete.” Revista de La Universidad de México. February 2019. https://www.revistadelauniversidad.mx/articles/32b964df-1721-4bc7-915f-f65d2b937f0b/el-lugar-de-las-siete-cuevas. Navarrete, Federico, and Ellen Jones. 2020. “The Myth of Mestizaje.” Los Angeles Review of Books. November 27, 2020. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-myth-of-mestizaje/. Ramírez Chávez, Blanca, and Diana Ortega Gómez. 2021. “La Fundación de Tenochtitlan.” https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/644703/libro-la-fundacion-de-tenochtitlan-inpi.pdf. Romo, Terecita. 2005. “La Malinche as Metaphor.” In Feminism, nation and myth: La Malinche, 139- 151. Houston, TX: Arte Público Press. https://icaa.mfah.org/s/en/item/1082774#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-667%2C215%2C2183%2C1222 Schoenhals, Louise. 1964. “Mexico Experiments in Rural and Primary Education: 1921-1930.” Hispanic American Historical Review 44 (1): 22–43. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182168 Sullivan, Thelma D. 1992. “Myths and Legends of the Aztecs.” www.mesoweb.com. 1992. https://www.mesoweb.com/features/aztecs/migration_text.html. Sutherland, Camilla. 2022. “INDIGENISMO AND THE LIMITS OF CULTURAL APPROPRIATION: Frida Kahlo and Marina Núñez Del Prado.” Angelaki 27 (3–4): 7590. doi:10.1080/0969725X.2022.2093949. The Art Story. 2017. “Mexican Muralism Movement Overview.” The Art Story. 2017. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/mexican-muralism/. Von Weigand, Ellen. 2013. “How Mexico Formed a United National Identity…” Culture Trip. July 1, 2013. https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/art-of-the-mexican-revolution-forming-a-united-national-identity. Woodward, Hayley. 2020. “Painting Aztec History – Smarthistory.” Smarthistory.org. July 30, https://smarthistory.org/painting-aztec-history/. Yang, Xinxiao, and Dianbing Chen. 2016. “Two Barriers to Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Classroom.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies 6 (5): 1128. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0605.29.
RESOURCES (Bibliography for Unit and Lesson Plans)
https://doi.org/10.5749/jcritethnstud.2.1.0107.
Hispania 92, no. 4: 774–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40648459.
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/culture/mexicos-first-tianguis-the-story-of-tlatelolco-market/.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20167492.
44.1.22.
1. Communication: Learners are able to communicate effectively in more than one language in order to function in a variety of situations and for multiple purposes. 2. Cultures: Learners interact with cultural competence and understanding. 3. Connections: Learners connect with other disciplines and acquire information and diverse perspectives in order to use the language to function in academic and career-related situations. 4. Comparison: Learners develop insight into the nature of language and culture in order to interact with cultural competence. 5. Communities: Communicate and interact with cultural competence in order to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world. De Aztlán a Tenochtitlan: El “mito” de la migración mexica Hace mucho tiempo vivían los aztecas en un lugar misterioso del Norte que se llamaba “Aztlán.” Aztlán era un lugar rodeado de (surrounded by) agua, y los aztecas vivieron aquí por muchos años. Al otro lado del lago, había una montaña llamada Colhuacán, el lugar de los ancestros. Dentro de la montaña había una cueva (cave). Los aztecas cruzaban el agua con frecuencia para hacer ofrendas (make offerings) y adorar (praise) a su dios Huitzilopochtli. Un día, escucharon la hermosa canción de un pájaro (bird) desde el interior de la cueva que decía “tiwi, tiwi, tiwi,” que significa, “vamos, vamos, vamos.” Tomaron a toda la gente de Aztlán y salieron para Colhuacán. En Colhuacan había siete pueblos: los Huexotzincas, los Chalcas, los Xochimilcas, los Malinalcas, los Chicimecas, los Tepanecas, los Matlatzincas. Cuando los aztecas de Aztlán pasaron por Colhuacán, los siete pueblos pidieron seguir a los aztecas. Los aztecas trajeron una figura de madera (wooden figure) de su dios, Huitzilopochtli, y la llevaron sobre su espalda. Ellos caminaron y caminaron, y eventualmente llegaron a un gran árbol en un lugar llamado Cuahuitl Itzintla. Descansaron al pie del árbol para comer cuando, de repente, el árbol se repartió por la mitad (broke in half). Esta fue una señal (sign) de Huitzilopochtli de que los aztecas debían quedarse atrás y abandonar los siete pueblos. Entonces, uno a uno, los siete barrios abandonaron a los aztecas. Los aztecas vivieron en Cuahuitl por mucho tiempo y finalmente también se fueron con su dios Huitzilopochtli. Cruzaron el desierto de Teotlalpan, y caminaron, caminaron, y caminaron cuando un día, de repente, aparecieron unos hombres búhos (owl men). Dos hombres cayeron al lado de un cactus mientras que uno cayó al pie del árbol mezquite. Estos se llamaban Mimixcoa, divinidades lunares (lunar divinities), y querían cerrar el paso (block the path) de los aztecas. Huitzilopochtli dijo a los aztecas: “Deben poner los tres cuerpos en las diferentes plantas. Ahora Ustedes no son aztecas. Tu nuevo nombre es ‘Mexica.’ Les voy a llevar a tu nuevo hogar (home). Busca un lugar con un águila (eagle) sentada sobre un cactus y comiéndose una serpiente.” Luego, los mexicas continuaron caminando y caminando al sur por muchos años y vivieron en diferentes lugares. Cuando los mexicas llegaron al Valle de México en el año 1200, los siete barrios ya vivían en las mejores tierras (best land), entonces los mexicas tuvieron que irse a Chapultepec. Aquí se convirtieron en guerreros de la ciudad de Culhuacán. Para agradecerles (thank them) por su ayuda en la batalla, el rey de Culhuacán les dio una de sus hijas para que fuera adorada (so that she could be worshipped) como una diosa. Cuando el rey llegó a la ceremonia, encontró a uno de los sacerdotes (priests) mexicas vestido con la piel desollada (flayed skin) de su hija. Los mexicas dijeron al rey que su dios Huitzilopochtli quería a la princesa como un sacrificio. El sacrificio de la Princesa Culhua provocó una batalla que los mexicas perdieron. Los mexicas abandonaron a Chapultepec y se fueron a las islas en medio del lago (in the middle of the lake) Texcoco. Los mexicas caminaron y caminaron, buscando un lugar para vivir. Un día, en el año 1325, vieron un cactus y encima estaba Huitzilopochtli, en forma de águila, comiéndose una serpiente. Los mexicas llamaron a este lugar su nuevo hogar (home) y fundaron su capital, Tenochtitlán. Sources: Códice Boturini – Recorrido | The Aztecs from Aztlán to Tenochtitlan: The Codex Boturini & the Mexica Pilgrimage | The Founding of Tenochtitlan and the Origin of the Aztecs “La Gran Tenochtitlan” Graphic Organizer (Day 1) See – Feel – Think – Wonder: Respond to the questions in bullet points or complete sentences. Historical Context: Take bullet-pointed notes as you listen to this mini-presentation. What do you see? What stands out? What feelings does this piece evoke for you? What do you think is happening? What story do you think is being told? What do you wonder about this piece? What questions do you have? “La Gran Tenochtitlan” Graphic Organizer (p. 2) Zoom-In Inquiry: Image #1 Zoom-In Inquiry: Image #2 ● What are they wearing? ● What objects do you see? ● What relationships do you see? Zoom-In Inquiry: Image #3 ● What are they wearing? ● What objects do you see? ● What relationships do you see? Creative Questions: In pairs or groups of 3, brainstorm a list of questions you have about the mural. ● What are they wearing? ● What objects do you see? ● What relationships do you see? Creative Questions: Choose and answer one of the questions you brainstormed above. Historical Context: Take bullet-pointed notes as you listen to this mini-presentation. 1. What were the causes of the Mexican Revolution? 2. What were its goals? 3. What were its consequences? 1. Who was Manuel Gamio? 2. Who was José Vasconcelos? 1. La Raza Cósmica (1925): 2. El Día de la Raza (1928): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. What was the main goal of the Mexican Muralism Movement? 2. Who were “The Big Three?” 3. What questions about Mexican identity does The Mexican “La Gran Tenochtitlan” Graphic Organizer (Page 2) Teacher’s Notes: – See Slides 16-18 for paintings/photographs. – Tell students that there are no works by women artists in the “La Traidora” gallery. Gallery #1: La Madre del Mestizaje #1) La Malinche (Santa Barraza, 1991) #2) El Sueño de la Malinche (Antonio Ruiz, 1939) Gallery #2: La Traidora #1) La Traición de la Malinche (Teddy Sandoval, 1993) #2) Cortés y la Malinche (José Clemente Orozco, 1926) Gallery #3: La Chicanx / La víctima del patriarcado #1) La Malinche tenía sus razones #2) La MalincheACTFL World Readiness Standards for Learning Languages
I SEE
I FEEL
I THINK
I WONDER
Tenochtitlan Origin Story:
Pre-Colonial Mexico:
Timeline of Mexican history:
● Who do you see? What do they look like?
● What actions do you see?
● Who do you see? What do they look like?
● What actions do you see?
● Who do you see? What do they look like?
● What actions do you see?
“La Gran Tenochtitlan” Graphic Organizer (Day 2)
The Mexican Revolution
The Creators of Indigenismo and Mestizaje
The books and holidays that constructed A Mestizo Nation
The assimilationist education policies that constructed A Mestizo Nation
Mexican Muralism Movement
Muralism Movement aspire to answer?
VALUES
Do these murals affirm, challenge, or raise questions about mestizaje?
IDENTITIES
Who are these murals trying to speak to?
(Note – they may not be the same people!)
Do you notice any similarities, differences, and/or tensions between the identities of the people the murals are trying to speak about vs. speaking to?
ACTIONS
What actions might these murals encourage?
Malinztin/La Malinche: ¿Madre, Traidora, Víctima?
– Modify and add questions as needed, and write them up into a worksheet or distribute as-is.
What is the relationship between her body and Mexico (its people; its identity)?
