Session 1
The unit will start with a pre-assessment using the Think-Pair-Share (TPS) strategy which allows students to think first for themselves, discuss their thoughts with a partner and share and discuss with the whole class7. Thanks to this strategy students have time to ponder on the answers, allowing a learning environment that fosters high-quality answers8. With the TPS strategy students work cooperatively towards a common goal while they increase their understanding in an environment where it is safe to make mistakes9.
First, students will take an individual survey to assess their previous knowledge about literature. This activity will be a Gimkit10 questionnaire with multiple-choice questions about literature: authors, tales, literary genres, titles of books, poems, pictures of literary characters, monuments that will be relevant for this unit and famous quotes. Gimkit creates a report with the students’ results as well as with the percentages of the questions that were answered correctly. This will allow the teacher to find out which contents students are more familiar with, and which contents need to be further explored in class.
Secondly, after the individual approach to the content, students will have acquired some knowledge and concepts about highlights of Hispanic literature of the 15th and 16th centuries, and they will then pair up with a classmate to answer some open-ended questions that appeared in the Gimkit:
- ¿Qué es la epopeya? (What is an epic?)
- ¿Qué es un juglar? (What is a jungleur/minstrel/troubadour?)
- ¿Qué es un cantar de gesta? (What is a song of heroic deeds?)
- ¿Qué relatos épicos conoces? (What epic poems do you know?)
- ¿Qué representan? (What do they represent?)
- ¿Conoces Don Quijote? (Do you know Don Quixote?)
- ¿Quién escribió 'Don Quijote de la Mancha’? (Who wrote 'Don Quixote’?)
- ¿Quién fue El Cid? (Who was El Cid?)
- ¿Quién escribió El Poema de mio Cid? (Who wrote the Poem of mio Cid?)
- ¿Qué sabes de La Celestina? (What do you know about La Celestina?)
- ¿Quién fue Francisco de Quevedo? (Who was Francisco de Quevedo?)
- ¿Quién fue Luis de Góngora? (Who was Luis de Góngora?)
- ¿Quién escribió “La Coronación del Marqués de Santillana”? (Who wrote “La Coronación del Marqués de Santillana”?)
After the pair work, students will share their answers with the whole class by using the interactive presentation software Mentimeter11, so that their answers can appear anonymously on the screen and students can participate actively without fearing making mistakes. This will provide feedback for the teacher, and it is an entertaining way of checking what they have learnt during the lesson.
Session 2
This session will give some insight into the historical context that led to the characteristics of medieval Spain. The first video12 shows how the Muslims came to rule most of the Iberian Peninsula and how they defeated the Visigoths. The second video13 focuses on the Reconquista or the reconquest of Al-Andalus, the series of campaigns led by Christian states to recover the territories from the Muslims (Moors), who had occupied most of medieval Spain and Portugal since the early 8th century14.
Students will be given some maps15 dating different periods of the Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula between the 8th and 15th centuries. While watching the video, they will have to locate some important names of cities that are relevant in the poem as well as to identify the correct dates to each map. In this session the students will be assessed on their knowledge of Al-Andalus in terms of geographical limits, timelines, historical facts, etc.
Session 3
This session will be focused on the architecture relevant to the time period studied in the previous class. Students will be shown pictures of Muslim monuments and constructions that still can be found in Spain16. As this is a research activity, they will need their Chromebooks and they will be given some websites to find the information about the monuments and constructions. They will need to identify the name of the construction, its function at the time and the dates when it was built. This exercise will help them reinforce the contents from previous lessons and will trigger curiosity about traveling to Spain and visit these monuments.
Session 4
This session will deal with El Cantar del Cerco de Zamora for context. Students will watch the video “Historia de León. El Cerco de Zamora”17 to gain some insight into the context of the exile of El Cid.
Afterwards, students will be given an article that explains the reasons that lead to the exile of El Cid18. The article will be divided into four parts and students in groups will become the “experts” of each part of the article. Then, using the cooperative learning strategy jigsaw, students will be assigned a number and will become part of a different group with experts of the other parts of the article. Then, they will have to listen to their classmates explain their parts and complete the worksheet with the headings of the four parts of the article they were given at the beginning of the activity. The four parts of the article and the headings to be completed in their worksheets are:
- Fiel servidor de Sancho II (loyal servant of Sancho II)
- Vasallo del rey Alfonso (Vassal of king Alfonso)
- El primer destierro (the first exile)
- La segunda expulsión (the second expulsion)
Students will be assessed upon completion of the worksheet and their participation in the jigsaw activity.
Session 5
Students will read the poem “Castilla” by Andalusian poet Manuel Machado19. The poem focuses on the first moments when El Cid is exiled and denied help. Students will read the poem in pairs and discuss its meaning. To do so, they will be shown some questions on the Whiteboard to make them think:
- ¿Por qué nadie le ayuda a El Cid? (Why can’t people help El Cid?)
- ¿Qué quiere decir el verso ¡En nuestro mal, oh Cid, no ganáis nada!? (What does ¡En nuestro mal, oh Cid, no ganáis nada! mean?)
After having analysed the poem with the whole group, students will start the reading of the first part of the poem, “Cantar Primero” that deals with the first moments the hero is in exile. They will be given the choice of reading it individually or with a partner.
Adaptation: for students whose reading level is not high enough, they will listen to the audiobook version20.
Session 6
Students will be given time to finish reading “Cantar Primero”. They will be given again the choice of reading individually or with a partner. Then, they will be given fragments of the original poem and match them with the modernized translation in order to compare the evolution of the language.
Session 7
Students will read the second part of the poem, “Cantar Segundo”. Once again, they will be given the choice of reading individually or with a partner.
Adaptation: for students whose reading level is not high enough, they will listen to the audiobook version21.
Session 8
With the cooperative strategy of think-pair-share, students will brainstorm what they remember about the poem so far, the highlights and the details. Then, the class will be divided into several groups to start a debate on some controversial questions related to the poem:
- ¿Qué ocurriría si un amigo te traicionara? ¿Le perdonarías? (What would happen if a friend betrayed you? Would you forgive them?)
- ¿Le negarías la ayuda a alguien que lo necesite incluso aunque ayudarle suponga un castigo para ti? (Would you deny help to someone who is in need even if helping them means a punishment for you?)
- Si alguien hiciera daño a un ser querido, ¿cuál sería tu reacción? (if someone hurt a loved-one, what would your reaction be like?)
- ¿Qué opinas de la coexistencia de distintas culturas en New Haven? ¿Cómo crees que era la coexistencia de diferentes culturas en la Península Ibérica entre los siglos VIII y XV? (What do you think of the coexistence of different cultures in New Haven? How do you think it used to be like in the Iberian Peninsula between the 8th and 15th centuries?)
In addition, students will be given expressions to enrich their debating skills as well as key vocabulary words they might not use on a regular basis, such as liderazgo, agravio, promesa, conspiración, injuria, escrúpulos, traición, sospecha, etc. (leadership, grievance, promise, conspiracy, insult, scruple, treason, suspicion, etc.)
Adaptation: some students may work on a glossary with these expressions included a sentence related to the poem for context.
Students will practice these questions in groups and will be assessed on their participation and the use of relevant vocabulary learnt throughout the lesson.
Session 9
Students will read “Cantar Tercero”. They will be given the choice of reading individually or with a partner.
Adaptation: for students whose reading level is not high enough, they will listen to the audiobook version22.
Session 10
In this lesson, students will be asked to go on a gallery walk around the classroom. Scenes of the poem23 will be posted around the classroom and students in groups will have to guess in which Cantar this picture could be represented and describe what scene the pictures portray.
The gallery walk will be the warming-up activity for the next activity focused on writing and which will be done on Padlet. Students will have to search on the web and find some interesting facts about El Cid and the legacy of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula -in terms of language, expressions, traditions, architecture, etc-. Then, they will share it with the rest of the class on a Padlet. They will be asked to include pictures and the sources where they found the information, so as to show students the importance of quotes and bibliography. The aim of this activity is to foster curiosity and incidental learning.
Finally, students will review the contents of the poem by answering flashcards questions on Quizlet24. Their results will determine whether further review (and therefore extra sessions) is necessary.
Session 11
Students will be shown the graphic novel version of El Cantar del Mio Cid25 to obtain some ideas for their next assignment: Students will choose one of the three “cantares” of El Cid and design a comic with the most interesting part of the story. In addition, they will be shown some examples of Storyboard That26. The assignment will be posted on Google Classroom.
Session 12
This unit will focus on dramatization. Students will represent the scenes portrayed in the comics in front of the class.
Adaptation: for those students with a different learning style, a presentation of their comic and the explanation of their work will be required instead.
Session 13
In this session there will be some personal thinking about the legend and the history around El Cid. Students will watch the statements by emeritus professor of Medieval History of the University of Burgos, Javier Peña Pérez27. Then, they will write a 200-word essay summarizing the professor’s statements and giving their opinion on the question:
El Cid: ¿mito y leyenda o historia? (El Cid: Myth and legend or history?)
Adaptation: some students might need further scaffolding, a different question for their essay and/or a lower word count. Example of an alternative question: “¿Qué cantar te ha gustado más? Justifica tu respuesta” (Which cantar did you like the most? Justify your answer).
Students will be assessed with a rubric that will highlight the linguistic skills as well as the knowledge acquired throughout the unit on the epic poem.
