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Mi Perro Perdido
(My Lost Dog)

Subjects

  • Foreign Language

Grades

  • 3-5
  • 6-8
  • 9-12

Brief Description

This hands-on lesson teaches students how to follow directions (location directions) in a foreign language.

Objectives

Students

  •  
  • will follow directions (given in the command tense) to a location.

Keywords

directions, foreign language

Materials Needed

For a class size of 28...

  • copies of a map (perhaps a map of your school campus, or a map of the main streets in your community)
  • a handout with a set of directions that will lead students to a specific location on campus (one set of directions per pair of students)
  • colored sheets of paper with "5 Bonus Points" written on them; in keeping with the theme of the activity, those sheets might be in the shape of a dog, a doghouse, a fire hydrant, or a dog bone

The Lesson

Before the Lesson
Before class, prepare maps of your school campus. Along with the maps you will provide each pair of students with a set of directions that will lead them to a specific place on campus. They will use the directions and maps to lead them to pieces of colored paper that you have hidden around the school. (I usually use dog-shaped pieces of paper to go along with the "lost dog" theme.) Each piece of paper has a message on it that states "5 Bonus Points on Your Next Quiz."

Note: If your students will not be free to roam campus -- indoors or outside -- then you might make this an in-classroom hunt. Each pair of students will follow their instructions and mark the end point of their "hunt" on the map.

Introduce students to the vocabulary of directions in the language you teach. Write the news words/terms on an overhead or whiteboard. The vocabulary will include words/phrases such as to turn, to go straight, continue, turn left, turn right

Review verbs in the tu (you fam.) command tense. (Those commands would have been taught in an earlier lesson.)

Provide a map for students. A map of the school campus might work well for this activity; or you might use a map of main streets in your community. Practice in the classroom with the map by giving oral directions to another place in the school/community.

Give directions in the target language such as "Turn to the right" or "Continue straight". See if students can follow your directions and locate the correct end point of your direction string.

Provide several sets of practice instructions until you are comfortable that students have a good understanding of the new terminology.

Then it's time to begin the hunt for my lost dog

Pair up students. Give each pair a paper with directions written in the target language. The students' goal is to find the lost dog. The directions should lead each pair to a different colored piece of paper. When they find the piece of paper, they are to bring it back to the classroom. The piece of paper will award each member of the team 5 bonus points on their next quiz.

As a general rule, I only give 15 minutes for the "hunt" to take place.

Assessment

If the student team finds the paper (my dog), they have completed the objective and earned 5 bonus points on the next quiz. That next quiz might be on directions.

Submitted By

Submitted by Sonya Darnell, Pickens High School in Pickens, South Carolina

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Copyright © 2006 Education World

04/20/2006