Lesson 1: The North (Day 1)

A. Geography

B. Art/culture

C. The people (demographics

D. Dialect examples

 

Lesson 2: The South (Day 2)

A. Geography

B. Dialect examples

C. Food

D. Art/music

 

Lesson 3: The West (Day 3)

A. Geography

B. Border-town influence on culture

C. Border-town issues (Discourse Analysis)

D. Spanglish

 

Lesson 4: The Midwest (Day 4)

A. Geography

B. Indigenous/American relationship

C. The people (demographics)

D. Origin of People

E. Dances with Wolves Video

F. Situation similar to border-towns?

 

Lesson 5: California (Day 5)

A. Geography

B. History/Migration

C. Food

D. The people

E. Origin of the people

F. Important events/festivals

 

 

Day 1: The North

1. As a group, color the Northern region on maps and talk about what states makes up the North.

2. Open class discussion: what do you think the Northern U.S. is like?  What do you know about the North?  Movies, music products, friends, etc?

3. Show a video that portrays the many different typs of people in the North.  Specifically the cultural diversity (especially in New York).

4. Have students write down some of the phrases and sentences they hear in the video by native speakers of English.

5. Open discussion abou tthe language students have recorded.  Use this opportunity to talk about spoken versus written language as well as grammatical standards.  How might the language in New York City differ from the language in Atlanta?  Have students find specific words or phrases for homework.

 

Day 2: The South

1. As as group, color Southern region on maps and talk about what states make up the South. 

2. Go over some Southern Dialect and also talk about homework findings.  What are the differences between Southern dialect and Northern dialect?

3. Teacher hands out pictures of foods eaten in different Southern regions.  Students must guess where each food is eaten.  Teacher hands out recipes to groups.  Groups present (or paraphrase) recipe to class.  Based on spoken recipe students must guess which recipe goes with each picture. 

4. Teacher plays blues music for class and discusses the history of blues.  For example, the birthplace of Elvis, Leadbelly, etc.

 

Day 3: The West

1. As a group, color Western region on maps and talk about what states make up the West.

2. Introduce Mexico and its influence on the Westsern United States.  Talk about food such as burritos.  Also talk about music, langauge, climates, etc.

3. Read text pertaining to Mexico-U.S. border towns.  Discuss in small groups new vocabulary.  Small groups present vocabulary to class.  Make a list of new vocabulary that is specific to border town talk.  Read text again after discussing vocabulary.

4. Read The Spanish Influence on American Language and Society.  Assign part for students to read individually.  Talk about whole article together as as class.  Discuss Spanglish and origin of words.

 

Day 4: The Midwest

1. As a group color midwestern region on maps and talk about what states make up the midwest.

2. Focus on the struggle and relationship that exists between the indigenous people and other Americans.

3. Show parts of movie: Dances with Wolves.

4. Discuss language in video.  Discuss balance between two cultures (similar to that found in border towns).

 

Day 5: California

1. As a group color Califorina region on maps and talk about major cities.

2. History of migration to California.  Show clip from Dead Man where they are shooting buffalo from the window of the train on the way to California.

3. Break students into four groups and have each research one of the following categories:

     food

     lifestyles

     origin of people

     important events/festivals

Students may do research via the internet (if resources are available) or class may work in library as a group.

4. Groups perform mini-presentations to class.

 

End of Unit Assessment:

Essay-style exam

Time limit: 55 minutes

Students will be given questions prior to exam in order to do necessary preparatory research.

Students must answer three of the following questions in English:

1. Describe different foods eaten in at least two different regions.  Explain the origin of the foods.  How do the current food trends reflect the cultural pasts of the people who live in each region?

2. Compare words and phrases of the North to that of the South.  Are the differences mainly in grammatical structure, pronunciation, or new words altogether?  What are some dialect varieties found in Japan?  What are the stereotypes attached to people who use these dialects?

3. What is a border region?  How does a border affect the language and culture of an area?  Are there any areas of your country that resemble a border region?

4. Pick one region that we studied in class and explain it in detail.  Tell me what the climate is like, what kinds of jobs the people have, what type of food is popular, the history of people there, etc.