¡Conozcamos México



Appendix 12.15. Web Quest on Mexico

¡Conozcamos México!

A Short-term WebQuest for Intermediate Spanish Students

Designed by

Marina Falasca

marinaf@vt.edu

 

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Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits

Introduction

A group of high school students studying Spanish at Blacksburg high school will be visiting Mexico as part of a cultural exchange program. You and your teacher at Virginia Tech have been asked to collaborate in order to assist the high school students in developing their visit. Thus, your teacher has asked that you plan a five-day excursion to a Mexican state with fun and interesting cultural and recreational activities for the high school students.

The Task

After two weeks of Spanish lessons in Mexico City, you and your group members will guide the high school students on a visit to another state of Mexico for three days. You need to plan each day of the visit in detail, including what activities they will do, what sights they will see, how they will travel, what they will eat, and where they will sleep. You also need to estimate the cost of the trip and let the students know how much money they will have to spend. If it is not too expensive, maybe more students can join them! The students are interested in different aspects of Mexico and Mexican culture, e.g., food, government, art, and music, so you need to come up with at least three products, practices, and perspectives. Also, please post your itinerary as a blog, so the high school students can read about their visit to Mexico before they leave.

The Process

Step 1:

Form groups of three as directed by your teacher.

Step 2:

Discuss the following questions in your group:

o What do you think American high school students might want to learn about Mexico?

o What do you think is important to show them in Mexico?

o What would you like to see and do while visiting Mexico?

o What differences and similarities do you expect to find between Mexico and the U.S.?

Step 3:

As a group, agree on a Mexican state for the students to visit, choose a city in that state for the students to see during each day of the visit, and select at least three products, practices, and perspectives that the students can identify with. For example, the statue of a Mexican God (product) that the Aztecs would use as part of their ritual dances or celebrations (practice) and that would show the students some of the Aztecs’ ideas, attitudes, and values (perspectives) towards being from a mestizo culture. You may stay in the same city for more than one night!

Before moving on to step 4, consider another example that reflects the close relationship between products, practices, and perspectives in your own culture:

• U.S. Culture

• Perspective - how much youthfulness is valued

• Products that prolong youth and vitality

o face creams, healthy foods, exercise equipment

• Practices that are perceived as prolonging youth and health

o jogging, spa membership, crash diets

o exercise clothing, running shoes, etc.

Step 4:

Each student in the group should choose one of the following roles:

·         Travel Agent

·         Tour Guide

·         Cultural Attaché 

All group members are expected to contribute in each area. The person in charge of each area will make final decisions.

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Travel Agent

 

o Decide hotels for each night and say why they are more or less convenient.

o Decide how to leave from and return to Mexico City.

o Figure out travel times and cost by plane or bus to and from each city.

o Obtain cost for food and activities from tour guide and cultural attaché.

o Determine a final budget figuring total expenses in US dollars per person. Note that you have to make the trip cost at least $1000 dollars because your boss is trying to increase sales.

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Tour Guide

 

o Plan daily sightseeing events and recreational activities for each day.

o Provide details of events, listing locations, costs & any tour companies used.

o Consider the many interests of the participants and vary events accordingly.

o Work with the travel agent to allow for travel times.

o Work with the cultural attaché to represent the local region.

o Note that you may have to negotiate with the travel agent and the cultural attaché because they may have conflicting interests.

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Cultural Attaché

 

o Summarize the culture, history & language of the state your group has chosen.

o Work with the Tour Guide to schedule visits to points of local interest. Note, however, that you have been given the directive to promote two particular sites, one of which is very inexpensive.

o Work with the Travel Agent to determine average cost of meals.

o Choose one Mexican celebrity to meet the visiting students & give details.

Step 5:

After you have researched your particular area, discuss your findings with your teammates. This is a chance for group members to give input on travel plans, meals, activities, cultural highlights, etc.

Step 6:

When you have your own text written (do NOT copy from the Internet!!!), post your plan to a blog at . (Remember to make sure any pictures you use are not copyrighted.) Your blog should be written in Spanish and it should include at least the following:

Sections for blog:

Welcome message from each student - all

Mexican State chosen and why – all

Introduction to state background – cultural attaché

Arrival to state – travel agent

Day 1

Leave Mexico City

Day 2

Hotel – travel agent

Morning activity – tour guide

Lunch – cultural attaché

Evening activity – tour guide

Dinner – cultural attaché

Cost – travel agent

Day 3

Travel – travel agent

Hotel – travel agent

Morning activity – tour guide

Lunch – cultural attaché

Evening activity – tour guide

Dinner – cultural attaché

Cost – travel agent

Day 4

Travel – travel agent

Hotel – travel agent

Morning activity – tour guide

Lunch – cultural attaché

Celebrity Meeting – short description – cultural attaché

Dinner – cultural attaché

Cost – travel agent

Day 5

Depart for Mexico City

Total budget, parting thoughts

Send your blog URL (Web address, "http://") to your teacher to be listed on the class blog.

Step 7:

"Sell" your plan to your teacher and classmates using your blog in a short presentation. The best plan will be presented to the students at Blacksburg high school.

Step 8:

Check out other groups' plans by looking at their blogs. Add your comments to offer other helpful suggestions.    

Resources

The following links will help you complete your different tasks. Feel free to explore others as well.

(Many of these links are available in English & Spanish. Your work will make more sense if you work directly in Spanish instead of trying to translate information you gather. Also, do not copy and paste information! Personalize your message for your guest students! They want to hear from you!)

:

México Desconocido:

Turismo en México:

Video -- Estado de Tabasco, México:

Turista México:

Comida Mexicana:

Música Mexicana:

Gobierno de México:

México Global – Arte, Cultura & Sociedad:

: (you should have a "gmail" account for the new version)Evaluation

Each member of your group will be given an individual grade and a group grade.

 

You will be graded individually on your part of the itinerary written on the blog.

Travel Agent – budget, hotels, travel, schedule

Tour Guide – variety of events, activities, sights to be visited

Cultural Attaché – food, customs, history, language, celebrity meeting

 

Your group grade will be based on the overall quality of your itinerary posted on your blog, which will be evaluated on accuracy as well as creativity. It will include your welcome message to the visiting students and your brief presentation of it to your own class and teacher.

 

The individual and group grade will each be worth fifty percent of the final grade.

Rubric

 

|  |Exceeds expectations |Meets expectations |Approaches expectations |Does not approach expectations |

|Travel Agent |The travel details are |Travel details are |Some details about the travel, |Few or no details about the budget, |

| |realistic and |somewhat realistic, & the|hotels, and budget are given, but |travel or hotels are given. They are |

| |comfortable. The hotels |choice of hotels and |aren’t always realistic or clear, or|unclear or unrealistic. |

| |are well chosen & |consideration of travel |don’t contribute very much to the | |

| |explained. The budget is |make a contribution to |visit. | |

| |clear and accurate. |the trip. | | |

|Tour Guide |The activities are |The activities scheduled |The activities chosen may not |The activities are not well explained |

| |representative of the |are somewhat interesting |represent the region or the variety |or have little or no variety. They do |

| |state chosen and suit the|and varied. The visitors |of the interests of the guest |not consider the region or the |

| |different interests of |will learn something |students. |interests of the guest students. |

| |the visitors. They are |about the region & will | | |

| |clear and well planned. |enjoy most of the trip. | | |

|Cultural Attaché |The description of the |The regional cultural |The information about the region |The cultural information provided was |

| |region was interesting, |information given was |added little to the plan. The |inadequate. Meals were not well planned|

| |original & accurate. The|somewhat interesting. The|details for food or other background|or described. The meeting with a |

| |planning of meals & |description of meals or |information was not original or did |Mexican celebrity was not clear or was |

| |meeting with a Mexican |restaurants and a meeting|not contribute very much. |missing. |

| |celebrity made a big |with a Mexican celebrity | | |

| |contribution to the trip.|somewhat made a | | |

| | |contribution. | | |

|Itinerary & Blog |The itinerary overall was|The itinerary should go |The itinerary may have some problems|The itinerary is unrealistic or does |

| |very well planned & |well, & the blog includes|or is not very clear on the blog. |not meet the expectations of the |

| |clearly explained with |most of the components |Some aspects of the trip need more |participants. The blog is unoriginal or|

| |visuals on the blog. The |requested. |attention. |unclear. |

| |visiting students will |  |  |  |

| |learn a lot & have fun. |The plan was clearly |Most of the plan was clearly |The presenters weren’t well prepared to|

| |  |presented to the class. |presented. |explain their plan. |

| |The plan was well | | | |

| |presented. | | | |

|Products, Practices & |The group agreed on more |The group agreed on at |The group agreed on 2 or less |The group did not agree on any |

|Perspectives |than 3 products, |least 3 products, |products, practices, and |products, practices, and perspectives. |

| |practices, and |practices, and |perspectives. Some of the |There is no evidence of connection |

| |perspectives. |perspectives. There is |connections between each of the |between them. |

| |Each product, practice, |evidence that each |products, practices, and | |

| |and perspective was |product, practice, and |perspectives chosen are not clear. | |

| |carefully chosen and the |perspective was |The match between some or all of the| |

| |connection between them |considered with an eye to|products, practices, and products | |

| |was made clear on the |making a connection |selected does not work. | |

| |blog and itinerary that |between them. | | |

| |was planned. | | | |

Individual Grade _____/4 = _____ % /2 = _____/50

 

Group Grade

Itinerary & Blog + Products, Practices & Products  _____ /4 = _____% /2 = _____/50

Final Grade

Individual Grade _____/50

Group Grade _____/50

Total _____/100

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Conclusion

Visiting a foreign country can be both exciting and a little confusing. Planning is essential.

Mexico is a big, beautiful country with a wide variety of landscapes, peoples and cultures. For a foreign visitor who often has preconceived ideas, there is much to learn and explore. Hopefully, this task has given you the chance to learn about different aspects of the country in the context of a real-life experience.

Moreover, you may also have been able to get a better understanding of how products reflect practices and perspectives. No doubt, your perspective at this point is much more realistic!

Now it’s time for you to write a paragraph on the blog about how your views of Mexico and its people have been transformed.

 

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Credits & References

The Mexican flag was obtained from:

The rubric was created based on a template from:

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Last updated on September 9, 2008. Based on a template from

Source: Falasca, 2008, original material.

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