UC San Diego

An analysis of state and national standards demonstrates a need to integrate more meaningful, cultural content in Spanish language instruction for non native speakers. Students complete Spanish course requirements with a limited knowledge of the cultures of Latin America. The curriculum Ventanas is a resource for teachers to provide transformational lessons about culture. Ventanas helps students to broaden their definition of culture by the use of Spanish song texts from Latin America. This curriculum is based on research by Vygotsky (1962) that shows learning is social, and that thought, language and practice are interrelated. To make sense of a second language, a second language learner must first understand their own cultural frames of reference. Students are better able to comprehend new cultures and differing viewpoints by comparing new knowledge with their prior knowledge. Activities in the curriculum are structured to enrich their cultural knowledge of the second language while reading a song text or other literary texts in Spanish. Ventanas was implemented in a Spanish Four public high school foreign language class during the Spring 2009 school year. Curriculum implementation was evaluated through analysis of surveys, student work and a culminating project. The results suggest that students were able to develop awareness about the changing and complex concept of culture as they wrote journals, examined song texts, completed an exit survey and wrote song lyrics that expressed a distinct, cultural viewpoint. Students learned about the concept of culture and recognized the importance of understanding their own cultural frames of reference