Rationale:
The Foreign Language (FL) program in the Prince George’s County
Public School System is dedicated to the development of second language
proficiency. In a curriculum driven by National Standards, known as
the 5 C’s (Communication, Connections, Comparisons, Communities,
and Cultures), students move toward proficiency in the target language
and develop cultural understanding through a variety of contextual activities.
The school curriculum now resembles a fusion of curricular agendas,
and the integration of other content areas—especially the arts—creates
a meaningful context of connectivity across the curriculum. Researchers
and practitioners have clearly identified and affirmed the importance
of using language in meaningful contexts (Curtain & Martínez,
1990).
In the Level I & II Spanish classes, students are expected to demonstrate
an intermediate knowledge of language and culture and be able to communicate
meaningful ideas in real-world situations. Students will be able to
demonstrate achievement in each of the three modes of communication:
Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational. The language program
is in a unique position to progress students toward language proficiency
goals and cultural understanding through the integration of content,
by including selected concepts from a variety of content areas.
The following is an integrated arts unit on Spanish language and related
communicative expression and symbolism in both Hispanic and West African
cultures. This unit is intended to develop students’ knowledge
about the cultural aspects associated with two cultures that demonstrate
significantly similar characteristics in musical expression and symbolism
in the creation of textiles. Throughout this unit, students will have
the opportunity to work individually and cooperatively to further explore
these similarities and construct meaning through instruction and exploration.
Essential Questions:
- How has the spread of important information evolved in our culture?
How was such information spread within the Mexican and Malian cultures?
- What are some of the similarities and differences between the communicative
traditions of the corrido in Mexico and the griot in Mali?
State and Local Standards
National foreign language standards
Communication: Standard 1.2
- Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on
a variety of topics.
Cultures: Standard 2.1
- Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between
the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.
Comparisons: Standard 4.2
- Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through
comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.
Performance Standard
- The students will explore the oral traditions of the corrido from
Mexico and the griot from Mali to determine similarities and differences
in the culturally specific musical expressions of the realities of
current events in the community. Using the information that they have
learned, students will be able to create and perform their own corrido.
II. Topics
In this lesson, students in Spanish I & II will take a look at two
traditional forms of communication through song, in both the corrido in
Mexico and the song of the griot in Mali. They will gain an understanding
of the Mexican song form, the corrido, and its role as a vehicle for communicating
the news and other important events, and will be able to make comparisons
and contrasts with the song of the griot, who communicated the oral history
of a community through specialized instrumentation and song.
Materials:
- 6-8 sheets of paper with the same “Breaking News” on
each
- Audio clip of Kora playing and/or griot
- Audio clip of a corrido
- Lyrics to the corrido “Sonocal”
Vocabulary:
Griot |
kora |
balaphone |
Sundjata |
ballad |
Corrido |
Background information/introduction:
Traditional West African music has many melodies and rhythms occurring
simultaneously, making it both polyphonic and polyrhythmic. Many instruments
are used, including strings, flutes, and many varieties of drums. One
of the best known stringed instruments in Mali is the kora, a harp-lute
type instrument, with 21 strings that are supported over a long neck
made of rosewood. The neck pierces a large hemispherical gourd that
is covered with cowhide. The back of the gourd is often decorated with
interesting stud patterns. The kora is placed vertically in the lap
of the player who plucks the strings with the thumb and index finger
of each hand. The flute was traditionally played by Fulani shepherds
and made from millet stalks, bamboo, and gourds. Drums are made in all
shapes and sizes. Used for communication as well as music, drums are
generally covered with goatskins.
Storytellers, called griots, were the village entertainers, oral historians,
and genealogists. They would sing the praises of people celebrating
life events and tell the stories of the great leaders of Mali, stories
that were appropriately embellished to command respect and reverence.
One of the greatest of these stories is about Sundjata, the Lion King,
founder of the Mali Empire.
The corrido or ballad, developed during the revolutionary period (1910-1920)
in Mexico. The corridos generally consist of the same musical repetition,
but the words change to tell stories of great adventures, heroes, and
love. They have always been music for the “people.” Publishing
houses produced the inexpensive sheet music, folksingers learned the
notes, but were often unable to read so they changed the words to fit
the story that they remembered. Corridos about current events of politics
are popular, but corridos that appeal to the emotions carry a near eternal
quality.
Focusing student attention/"warm up":
Students should be divided into groups of five. Teacher will have
students within each group number themselves. Students who are designated
as 1 will be given some very important news that must be delivered to
student 5 in their group. But before student 5 can hear the news, the
news must first travel from student 1 to student 2 to student 3, and
so on individually, but it must be oral—similar to the game "Telephone."
Students should receive the following instructions: Each group will
spread out across the length of the classroom in order as if lining
up for a relay race. All the 1s will receive the breaking news on a
folded piece of paper, but they cannot unfold the paper until the teacher
gives a signal. They will be given two minutes to read the news and
do their best to memorize as many details as they can. When the two
minutes are up, they must crumple up the piece of paper and return it
to the teacher. Each student must "spread the news" to the
next person in their group until the news spreads to the 5s. When all
5s have heard the news, each 5 will be given a piece of paper. On the
count of three, the 5s in each group will write down the news as best
as they can. Warn your class that the news will contain important specific
details, so they'll need to pay careful attention when listening to
and spreading the news. The group that has written down the most accurate
news wins.
Development activities:
Teacher will begin by explaining to students that important news was
spread by word of mouth before newspapers were widely printed and distributed.
Teacher will also explain that one way individuals could help remember
the details of a particular event was to write a song that told the
story in its lyrics. It will be important to point out that we could
each sing along to a number of different songs without looking at the
lyrics, but would have a hard time reciting the same amount of stories
by memory. Teacher will tell students that the corrido, a particular
type of song developed in Mexico in the 1800s and still popular today,
was often used to transmit information about current events. Teacher
will also tell students that the West African griot was similarly a
historian and praise-singer within the community, who would recount
events through music.
Guided practice (teacher monitored):
Students will be placed in groups of 4 in order to participate in
a reciprocal reading activity. Each student within each group will receive
4 articles, “What is a kora?” “What is a balaphone?”
“What is a griot?” and “What is a corrido?”
The groups will read each of the articles, reciprocally—rotating
duties following each chunk of text. (Reader, Predictor, Clarifier,
and Questioner)
Independent activities:
Teacher will pass out lyrics to the corrido, “Sonocal,”
by Eleuterio Cortez. Teacher and students will listen to the corrido
while reading the lyrics. Students will work in pairs to create their
own corrido. The teacher must emphasize simplicity and a positive attitude
while students are writing corridos.
Assessment:
Students will be assessed based on an oral presentation rubric for
the presentation of their corrido.
Closure activities:
The students will share the corridos that they have created with the
class. (Instruments may be used if desired.)
Differentiation:
Throughout the lesson, students will be exposed to various media and
engaging in a variety of kinesthetic, audio/lingual, and verbal activities
as they learn about corridos and griots. The use of audio technology
as a teaching tool is a component of differentiated instruction.
Resources:
There are numerous invaluable resources to further explore
this topic of communication through song. Some to explore are noted
here:
- Hale, Thomas A. Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music.
Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998.
- Keen, Benjamin. A History of Latin America. 7th Edition.
Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
- Paredes, Américo. A Texas-Mexican Cancionero. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1976.
Internet sites: