Lesson Title: Cultural Diffusion: The Arabic Influence on Foods We Eat Today

Name: Ruth Rhone

Discipline: French, Latin

School: Suitland High School, Prince George’s County, MD

Grade Level/Content Focus: Grades 10-12/ French, Spanish, Language Arts, Social Studies

Time Required for Lesson: Three 90-minute periods in an A/B schedule

Standards:
Students will focus on three of the five Foreign Language Standards as set out by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages: Communication, Connection and Culture.

Essential Learner Outcomes:
Students will understand how history affects their personal lives.
Students will expand their horizons and become more aware of international influences around them.

Specific Objectives:
Students will be able to:

• gather information on foods of Eastern and Arabic origins (nuts, dried fruits, rice, spices, etc.), in order to recognize the different cultural influences that surround us;
• create menus/recipes in French, using ingredients that have their origin in the Eastern/Arab world in order to expand their vocabulary in French; and
• recognize trade routes used by Arabs and Europeans during the Renaissance period, and those used by Europeans in their travels to the New World, in order to show how products and ideas were diffused throughout the centuries and across regions.

Vocabulary/Concepts:
In French:

• weights and measures
• salutations
• French currency
• questions relating to cost (how much?)
• words related to the concept of an open air market in Europe

Materials/Resources:

Textbook:

Eigeland, Tor. “Arabs, Almonds, Sugar and Toledo.” Al-Andalus. Houston, Texas,
2004. (pages 58-65)

Video:

Renaissance Travel, Trade & Exploration (DVD) available for purchase at Libraryvideo.com ©1998-2005, Library Video Company

Web Resources:

http://www.spicehouse.com/recipe/category_67.php

http://www.arabe.de/arab/Arts_Entertainment/Cooking/

http://www.ptv.com.pk/webptv/arabic-cuisine.asp

http://www.history.missouristate.edu/jchuchiak/HST%101--Lecture 24 – mapsofmedieval trade
routes

http://Encarta.msn.com

http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsite

http://www.ottoman-traders.com/trademap.html/

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/spicetrade/

http://www.renaissanceconnection.org/innovations_trade.html/

Other Resources:

• maps of trade routes (15th – 18th centuries) used by Arabs and Europeans
• maps of trade routes used by Europeans and Americans.
• blank maps of the same areas
• crayons
• French/English dictionaries
• food items (spices, dates, apricots, figs, ginger, sesame, etc)

Lesson Abstract:
Students will examine the trade routes used by Europeans and Arabs during the Renaissance and also those used by the Europeans who traveled to the New World. They will discuss the ideas and commodities traded and will understand that some of the foods they eat in the United States are products of culinary evolution.

Lesson Components:

DAY ONE:

Motivation/Warm-Up/Discussion:
• Students will be asked to make a list of ten foods they like.
• The teacher and students will discuss the possible origins of these foods and how they arrived in the United States.
• This will be followed by a “show and tell”/”taste and see” session in class, where the teacher introduces the students to some food items found supermarkets in their areas that actually have their origins in the Arab world (such as spices and some dried fruits).

Independent Practice:
• Students will use dictionaries to look up the French equivalent of these food items.

Modeling:
• The teacher will show a DVD entitled “Renaissance Travel, Trade & Exploration.”
• Afterwards, using trade route maps of the Renaissance and the 17th and 18th centuries, the teacher will point out the trade routes between (1) Eastern/Arabic countries and Europe, especially Italy and (2) Europe and the Americas. (See Internet references for maps.)

Guided Practice:
• The students and teacher will discuss some of the commodities and ideas that were traded.
• With the help of the teacher, the students will trace the trade routes on their own blank maps.

DAY TWO:

Guided Practice:
• With the help of the teacher, the students will work in groups to create a dinner menu. Each group will focus on a different part of the menu (appetizer, entrée, dessert and drink).

Independent Practice:
• The students will use the internet to find recipes for their menu. One or more of the following ingredients, originally from the Eastern/Arabic world, must be included in each of the recipes:
• spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg)
• fresh fruits (apricots, dates, figs, etc)
• dried fruits
• rice
• nuts (especially almonds)
• sugar
• The students will prepare dialogues that will enable them to go to the open-air market in France to buy the ingredients they need for their recipes and menus.
• The students will work on translating their menus into French for presentation.

DAY THREE:

Assessment:
• Students will role play their visit to the open-air market, as if they are buying their ingredients from vendors. Each group will present the entire menu, as well as the recipe that goes with the section they are preparing.
• Students will be assessed on the following:
• Written: a copy of the menu with the recipes, each dish using foods (in French) that are of Eastern and Arabic origins
• Oral: the correct pronunciation of French words that make up the recipes and the menu; the correct use of weight and measures; expressions used in commercial exchanges; salutations; coherency of the dialogues