Elizabeth+Hauck

click above of this looks too wonky for you **Unit title: “Lazarillo de Tormes”**

**Introducing the pícaro in the target language**

**in a high school classroom**

**Grade level:** High School- Grade 9 or Grade 10

**Subject/course:** Intermediate Spanish- Spanish 2 or Spanish 3

**Designed by: Liz Hauck**

**School:** Boston Latin School

Boston, MA

//**MA State Standards addressed by the lesson:**//

Students of modern languages will converse in a language other than English to provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.

2. PreK–12 STANDARD 2 Interpretive Communication

Students will understand and interpret ideas and information written or spoken in a language other than English.

3. PreK–12 STANDARD 4 Cultures //Students will demonstrate an understanding of the traditions, perspectives, practices, and products of the culture studied, including human commonalities as reflected in history, literature, and the visual and performing arts.//

**Brief Summary of Unit (including curricular content and unit goals):**

In this unit, students will read, understand, discuss, and write about the first tratado of the picaresque novel, Lazarillo de Tormes, written by an anonymous Spanish author and published in 1554/1555. Through reading this fictional first-hand perspective of a boy who is given away by his prostitute mother to be cared for and subsequently mistreated by a series of amos (caregivers) at the hands of which he learns a constellation of harsh lessons over the course of his adolescence, students will build on their developing reading, writing and speaking skills while learning about the picaro in the language in which it was first written. This unit will focus on the first tratado, in which the amo is el ciego, the blind man.

Students will read and understand the story in the target language, Spanish, and then make connections between (1) the story and the history and geography of Spain, (2) the story and its role in the picaresque genre and Literature, and (3) the society presented in the story, and the one in which they live. Students will identify the effect of the first person narrator, in which the narrator serves as a “filter” of the story. Students will reflect upon and discuss the story particularly in regard to three themes: 1) learning and lessons; 2) adolescence and growing up and 3) making decisions and having control of a situation, and 4) society and environment as situation.

Literacy skills are emphasized in this unit. Through a series of questions in the pre-reading activity, students will discuss the roles of work, moving and fruit in their own lives. A variety of reading strategies will be used, including As they read the text, students will be asked to use the mark-it-up strategy of note taking, recognizing particular grammar structures, identifying new vocabulary, noting point of view and character development, and flagging bigger questions, as they arise. In the post-reading activity, students will be asked to make comparisons, think critically, and recognize their life and role in a global society. Students will read and understand, discuss and debate, and write a critical reflection in the target language.

Depending on time constraints and the flexibility of curriculum, this unit may be abridged or expanded as desired. In the interest of sustainable development, in order to focus building understanding of literature, reinforcing literacy skills, and developing students’ comprehension skills and accuracy in the target language, within a sigle unit in the, I have chosen to focus on only the first tratado. For more advanced students, the whole novel may be approached. For less advanced students, perhaps the introductory activity and first two pages would be addressed.

**I. Objectives**

**Enduring understandings (what understandings are desired?):** //literature is a social text.//
 * Students will understand tha**

**Essential questions (what essential questions will be considered?):**

To what extent is the life of a character –or person- determined by the situation that (s)he is born into?

What kinds of lessons are important?

Where do you come from?

**Outcomes (what key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this lesson/unit?)** //what a pícaro is. Students will ignite their background knowledge of key literary concepts (fiction, irony, false autobiography, protagonist, antihero) and vocabulary, as well as critical thinking skills in English in order to develop these skills and acquire this vocabulary in Spanish.// //read, discuss, and critically reflect upon the short story, both in writing and in oral debate in the target language. Students will be able to make connections between the life of the character in the story, and their own.//
 * Students will know…**
 * Students will be able to…**

**Language Objectives:** At the end of this activity, students will be able to talk about their family of origin, and the day of their birth using family vocabulary in the target language, Spanish; students will demonstrate command of the preterit tense.

At the end of this unit, students will be able to talk about __Lazarillo de Tormes__ as a picaresque novel, and Lazaro as a pícaro.


 * Key Vocabulary:** //first person verb forms, madre, padre, nacimiento, verdad, also the following phrases: de esta manera, por lo/la cual. Students will also be able to recognize fiction (ficción), autobiography (autobiografia),novel (novela), and anonymous (anómimo) as cognates in Spanish and demonstrate that they have a metacognitive understanding of the language transfer in regard to literature. Students will understand irony and identify humorous incidents.//

**Learning Objectives:** //At the end of this activity, students will be able to identify the first person narrative voice (el yo narrativo), the difference between an autobiography and a false autobiography, between hero and antihero, and fiction and non-fiction.//

At the end of this unit, students will be able to identify Lazarillo de Tormes as a false autobiography, a work of fiction, and a picarseque novel. Students will also be able to discuss the difference between a hero and a pícaro using examples from literature they have read.

Additionally, students will demonstrate higher thinking skills as they reflect on themes in the story and express their interpretations of the story using first person statements of opinion in the affirmative (Creo que, opino que, pienso que…) and the negative (No creo que…, No opino que…, no pienso que…

**II. Assessments**

**Performance tasks (what evidence will show that students understand?):**


 * //Students will participate in paired and whole class discussions answering pre-, during, and post reading questions.//
 * //Students will mark up their texts as they read- identifying new vocabulary, underlining main ideas, and highlighting story development.//
 * //Students will create a story map, identifying key concepts, characters, and moments.//

**Other evidence (quizzes, tests, prompts, observations, dialogues, work samples):**

Formative assessments**:** On-going reading logs/ journal written reflection

Reading quizzes

Summative assessments: Final essay

Socratic seminar-style whole-class discussion.

**III. Learning activities and lesson plan** //**Learning activities (what will students do and what will you, the teacher do, to prepare the students to achieve the desired outcomes?:**//

**Pre-reading strategies:**

1. Activation of prior knowledge; tuning:

**Reading strategies:**

1. Mark-it-up reading: students receive their own copies of the text, and are expected to

underline new words and highlight important details, descriptions, and passages, and

go back through, looking up the underlined words and noting them in the margin.

2. Reading log & reflections: students reflect as they read the story in paragraph level

Writing, with a running list of new vocabulary.

3. Read aloud with interruptions: a part of each day is dedicated to reading aloud, so that

students can hear the study & interrupt as they have questions.

4. Story map: story map, identifying key concepts, characters, and moments. For this story, a map of Spain may be used as the backdrop for the story map, since Lázaro physically moves as the story moves along.

**Communicative activities:**

1. Pair and whole class sharing; 2. Silent charades with guessing and explanation; 3. Socratic-style seminar

**Unit Plan:**

//Introductory Activity//
 * Day 1: “ Para introducir Lazarillo de Tormes” **

1. Students are given a handout with the following information, as written here:

“

Paso 1: Contesta las siguientes preguntas usado oraciones completas. (15 minutes) 1. ¿Cómo te llamas? 2. ¿Cómo se llama tu padre? 3. ¿De dónde es tu padre? 4. ¿Cómo se llama tu madre? 5. ¿De dónde es tu madre? 6. ¿Qué es algo interesante sobre ese sitio? 7. ¿Describe algo sobre tu nacimiento- sobre el tiempo que hacía, o alguna detalle que sabes. 8. ¿Cómo afectóesa detalle a tu madre? 9. ¿Y a tu padre? 10. ¿Qué tiene que ver con cómo eres ahora?

Paso 2: Ahora, añade tus respuestas al párrafo siguiente. (5 minutes)

...a mi me llaman (1) __, hijo de (2)__ ___,__ __natural de (3)__ ___, y (4)__ __, natural de__ __(5)__, (6)___. Mi nacimiento fue (7)__ _, por la cual (8)_ __de manera que con verdad puedo decir que__ . “ 3. Students share their ideas in pairs. 4. Students share with the class; volunteers are sought.

Homework:

**Day 2: Pre-readin****g questions & reading technique**

Preparation: Pre-reading questions are written on the black board when students arrive. One may be given as homework the night before.

Antes de leer:

1. Cuando alguien te cuenta algo, ¿se lo cree? ¿Por qué?

2. ¿Dónde se aprende alguien? ¿Qué es un ejemplo de algo que aprendiste

afuera de la escuela formal? ¿Quién te lo enseñó?

3. ¿Qué tiene que ver cómo nace una persona con como vive?

Pre-reading questions (translation): 1. When somebody tells you something, do you believe it? Why? 2. Where does one learn? What is something that you learned outside of school?

Who taught you? 3. What does how someone is born have to do with how he lives?

1. Students are asked to first read the questions, then to respond in writing in their reading

logs. Students should be allowed to consult their dictionaries, to look-up and list// words they need but do not know in order to answer these questions in the target language. (10 minutes) 2. Students are asked to share responses in pairs. (5 minutes) 3. Students are asked each of the questions aloud, and share their responses with the class. (5 minutes) 4. Teacher “tunes” the response/ discussion to introduce the story of the boy, his social position, being given to a stranger, and having to survive by his own wits. (5 minutes) 5. Introduction to the picaresque novel, including key aspects and historical background. Students are expected to take notes. (10 minutes) 6. Teacher passes out copies of the story, and introduces or reviews the mark-it-up reading strategy, wherein students receive their own copies of the text, and are expected to underline new words and highlight important details, descriptions, and passages, and go back through, looking up the underlined words and noting them in the margin.(5 minutes) Homework: Mark-it-up/ read the first 2 pages of the story & reflect (@ least 1 paragraph per page)

**Day 3: Read & Reflect** 1. Reading quiz -3 questions, 2 closed and 1 open- (10 min) 2. Read aloud with interruptions (20 min) 3. Story map (10 min) Homework: Students are asked to summarize and reflect and/or continue the discussion in their reading logs (@ least 1 paragraph) & then mark-it-up read the next 2 pages.

**Day 4: Read & Reflect & Bigger Questions** 1. Quiz -3 questions, 2 closed and 1 open- (10 min) 2. Read aloud with interruptions (10 min) 3. Review quiz/reflection questions; ask for comprehension questions; bigger questions (10 min) 4. Finish story map, add characters with thought bubbles/ how the character feels & thinks (10 min) Homework: Mark-it-up Read & Reading log (Finish)

**Day 5: Story charades or with scenes or objects** (40 minutes) 1. As they come in students are given a number 1-6. 2. Students get into small (random) groups. 3. Each group is given a scene or theme from the story. 4. Each group acts out their prompt without words, other groups guess. 5. Discussion (in target language); discussion is geared toward the essential questions. Homework: Prepare thoughts and notes for Socratic-style discussion, using & building off of essential questions, and discussing __Lazarillo__ in the context of )

**Day 6: Socratic-style Discussion** 1. Students are seated in a circle, facing each other. Students may use notes & dictionaries; though will not receive maximum credit for reading). 2. ¿Quién quiere empezar?” Discussion is student-run, teacher throws out the object (like the conch in __Lord of the Flies__- but must be softer!) And students pass it around- interested students raise hands when ready to speak, student with the object finishes,  passes the object. Teacher stays silent, keeps track of conversation points- 1pt for  comments, 2pts for upper-level questions, 2pts for answering other students’ questions.  (35-40 minutes)  Homework: prepare for essay.

**Day 7: Essay/ timed writing assessment** 1. Students are given paper and 40 minutes to answer one (of two- students have a choice) question; they have access to story map, reading logs and key vocabulary. Questions: 1) How is Lazaro a picaro? Mention at least 3 characteristics of the genre, and how Lazaro displays them.  2) What are 3 examples of irony in the first tratado of Lazarillo de Tormes?

Resources: The full text of this story is widely available on-line; both original and modified versions are available.

Possible Extensions: 1. Students may be asked to write false autobiographies or false autobiographical poems. 2. After reading the first tratado of Lazarillo, students may be engaged in a linguistic conversation about nacer (passive in English versus active in Spansih) and vernacular (what is it? when/ when to use it?), then, specifically the terms "hideputa" (why even today, in English this is an insult that is used regardless of a person's background?) and "lazarillo" (used to this in Spanish as seeing eye dog for the blind). 3. Connections may be made to other, more modern literary pícaros; specifically, __Oliver__ __Twist__ and __Huckleberry Finn__, of which many ninth and tenth graders will have read one or both. Students may be asked to write an essay of comparison & contrast.