My third graders love the unit about Don Quijote de la Mancha which is extremely rich in culture!
I teach my classes using Spanish 95% of the time. But --- for this unit, I have written and constructed a big bilingual book so they can enjoy highlights of the story using simplified language. Directly comparing/contrasting English and Spanish is a part of our curriculum, so this is an opportunity to accomplish that task. I (or a student who is a native speaker and reads well) read(s) the Spanish. A different child each day reads the English, sitting next to me. The texts appear side by side as mandated by the second language acquisition theory Suggestopedia. First, I ask what words in Spanish the children already know. Then we find cognates and talk about other comparisions/contrasts in grammars and spell long words and names to review the alphabet and the terms mayúscula y acentuada.
Sample phrases, cognates, and adjectives:
1. un hombre ordinario / un caballero noble
2. una mujer pobre y fea / una mujer rica y bella
3. fuerte / débil
4. alto / bajo
5. listo / no listo
6. le gusta leer muchos libros (I tell the children it's "too, too much of a good thing!")
7. aventuras
8. triste / feliz
9. su amigo Sansón Carrasco / el caballero de la Luna Blanca
10. el duque y la duquesa
11. castillo
12. la bandera de España
13. el autor, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (The children are fascinated by the double vowel.)
To write the actual text, I borrowed children's books in English about the legend from the library to get an idea of what I wanted to emphasize in the story. First, I introduce the characters. Then large colored pictures show various scenes from his adventures. The sad ending when Alonso Quijano dies is a good jumping off point for a brief discussion on depression and mental illness and how nowadays there is help for such conditions. (My third graders just finished Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner in English and compared its ending to that one.)
Ricardo Moraga has written a wonderful song/chant about the characters which teaches/emphasizes the Spanish pronouns which is the centerpiece of my lesson to learn the names of the characters. (The repeat part is an echo.) I'm hoping he records it on his upcoming CD!
Yo soy yo, Don Quijote,
el hombre de la Mancha.
Sí, soy yo; sí, soy yo.
Tú eres tú, Dulcinea,
doncella del Toboso.
Sí, eres tú; sí, eres tú.
El es él, Sancho Panza,
mi escudero fiel.
Sí, es él; sí, es él.
Ella es ella, Dulcinea,
mi querida doncella.
Sí, es ella; sí, es ella.
Ellos son de la Mancha.
Don Quijote y Sancho Panza.
Sí, ellos son; sí, ellos son.
¡Viva España! ¡Viva España!
Everyday different children take the part of each character. As we sing, we point to each character. I have made a large escudo for Sancho Pancha to carry with the flag of Castilla-La Mancha on it. I have a Spanish abanico for Dulcinea to hold as well. Don Quijote stands in front proudly holding up an imaginary sword in one hand with the other arm crossing his chest. As we sing his verse, he changes arm positions. The children love to act out each part. One student plays a cardboard guitar as we sing. Depending on the time factor, all the girls can make their own abanicos (or guitarras) and the boys make their own escudos (or guitarras) to take home. I am thinking about incorporating castañuelas into next year's unit as I have discovered an an excellent source of ones for children to play from Mud Pie Productions, PO Box 127 Leverett, MA 01054-0127 (413) 548 - 8169, http://www.mudpiemusic.com/
Once the children learn the characters, we talk about the use of de in Spanish language names. We then make up names for ourselves and their teachers in this format. The children have already learned señor, señora, and señorita and want to know what don means as well.
I present Rocinante, his white horse, and Rucio, Sancho's gray donkey, to spiral animal names and colors and the terms patas vs. pies.
La Mancha is a very unique area of Spain and I incorporate lessons on the geography of Spain as well. Using a contrasting mucho/poco chart to analyze this area in the late 1500s and early 1600s is very helpful: agua, árboles, plantas, flores, rocas, personas, casas, animales, montañas, desierto, molinos, elementos del tiempo. I then take a survey to see who would like to live there or visit there.
Online resources for ideas, games, activities, pictures, and crafts to support the retelling of this classic Spanish tale include:
The last URL is a Power Point presentation from Santillana in Spain that is slow-loading but worth the wait.
We always view Pablo Picasso's ink drawing of the famous pair of adventurers, along with a picture of Picasso to integrate art appreciation. It's interesting to have the children view the picture up close and then from the back of the classroom and find out which view they like best, also.
For integration of math, we find out when and how long Cervantes lived (1547-1616) and we estimate how many pages there were in the original book (+800 in a typical publication!).
At the end of the unit, children make their own book with a supplied simple narration of the story. The first page is a map of the comunidades de España and the flag of Spain. The children color in Castilla-La Mancha and the flag. I have made stickers of the characters, using labels on my computer, to place on the appropriate pages from this URL:
(Please note that I found it necessary to cover Aldonza Lorenzo's "ample and open bodice" with a white rectangle before printing her out for this age group.)
Sometimes the children like to add arms and legs to the heads and make backgrounds/scenery. Finally, there are pages at the end where the children can draw their own versions of any two (or more) adventures that Don Quijote had and write in the titles and short descriptions.
Lastly, there are online references to "El Día Mundial del Libro" celebration on April 23 at primary schools in Spain where they celebrate the dual birthdays of Cervantes and Shakespeare:
INTERESTING LINKS:
a group of poems about the main characters in Don Quijote
abbreviated version of DQ in English and German with great color pictures
pictures and video to complement any unit
cute black outline picture to color of children with Don Quijote, Dulcinea, and Sancho Panza
second URL is black outline of Sancho Panza and Rucio, el burro
color illustration (below) to be used as wallpaper or poster
CRAFT FROM SPAIN: EL BURRO RUCIO
