Spanish-Speaking Countries Webquest

This project is designed for a small group of students (2) to conduct Internet-based research on a Spanish-speaking country. You and your partner will present this information to the class in the form of your choice (check out Evaluation for details).

Part of your goal for this project is to compare and contrast cultures and traditions between your country and the United States.  What would travelers encounter that is different about your country than the US? What is similar?

This project is also a contest. Your group must convince the rest of the class that your trip was better than the rest of the groups. At the end of every set of presentations, the class will vote on the best trip/presentation. The winning groups will earn extra credit on their project and a small prize (Please don't ask me what it is...I won't tell you!).

If there is one thing you should keep in mind when doing the research and organizing your presentation, it is to try to convince your classmates that the country you're presenting is the best one. Make them want to visit that country. It is a contest!

You and your partner will be assigned a Spanish-speaking country for this project. You are to research this country and present your findings to the class. The presentation should include images of interesting places in this country, pictures of the people from that country, monuments, natural wonders, events, festivities, etc. Remember that your goal is to convince us to travel to your country, so your findings should be geared toward that goal; don't just rattle off meaningless and uninteresting facts.

1)Introduce your country with a BRIEF outline of facts and figures

2)Compare and contrast various elements of your country with the US (food, customs, traditions, etc...)

3)Sell on the country - why should we visit there? What is there to do? Why do I want to travel to your country?

You may choose how you would like to present the project. (MovieMaker, PowerPoint, Online Brochure, Video, etc) Please refer to the "Process" section for an outline of the information required for this project. There are also links to help you get started on your research.  You have been assigned a date for your presentation to take place to the class.  You MUST be present on that date; there are no makeups for this assignment unless you have received pre-approval from Mr. Cohen.  DO NOT BE ABSENT on the day of your presentation.

Make sure you read the rubrics under section "Evaluation" before you begin. This will give you an idea of what is expected from this presentation when grading.

The presentation will be graded not only on the content (information), but also on how well it is put together, choice of illustrations and images, organization of the information, the way it is presented to the class, and overall impression on the class. One of your goals is to make the students want to travel to this country. Another goal is to familiarize yourself with different cultures, governments, and economies because we live in an interconnected world, which means that in any future path you take, your knowledge of the surrounding world will not only benefit you, but also make you a leader. 

To help you get started, the following outline could be used (not required) to both conduct your research AND organize your presentation.  You are only using these ideas to gather information about your country, you are not going to present all of this information because these are facts and figures, they are not the things that sell us on your country or convince us to travel there.  Use this as a starting point only.

I.    Forms of government

• Name of president/dictator/ruling group/political party

II.   Background

• History
• Indigenous groups
• Famous explorers
• Languages spoken besides Spanish
• Famous people from the country - artists, musicians, revolutionaries, political figures, etc...

III.  Geographical makeup

• Coasts, mountains, deserts, valleys, etc.
• Population

IV.   Economy

• Major imports/exports
• Agriculture
• Tourism
• Monetary system

V.   Customs and Traditions

• Religions
• Major national holidays
• Typical foods.

VI.   Include interesting, intriguing and/or unusual findings about this country.

VII. Comparison of US and your country's cultural traditions, belief systems, and/or practices.

Reference information and introductory information on countries

hese are just some of the links you can use to help you complete your research:

This site has a map of South America where you can hover over the specific country and click on it: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/south-america

This site has links to the continents in three languages Spanish, English and Portuguese: http://www.latinworld.com/regions/index.html

This site has pictures and facts about South America : http://www.travel-amazing-southamerica.com/ 

This site contains info on culture, foods, etc.: http://www.donquijote.org/culture/ 

Spain : http://www.spain.info/ 

This site has World Facts on every country, such as population, altitude, etc.  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

More facts on countries: http://www.kidinfo.com/Geography/The_World.html

Even more facts http://lanic.utexas.edu/

Good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page   (Just remember to verify information from this site with multiple sources) 

Country reports: http://www.countryreports.org/

You and your partner will receive the same grade for this presentation.  Your grade will be determined by the following factors:

Presentation - How well did you introduce your country to the audience through your presentation?

Organization - How did you organize your materials (video, powerpoint, etc...)? 

Research - What type of information did you share with us? Did you meet the expectation of treating your audience to a guided tour of your country?

Audio-Visuals - How did you display your information and introduce your country to the audience? 

The 100 points for this presentation will be split 50% - Projects and 50% - Assessments (Objective)

Some Dos and Don'ts in your presentations:

DO rehearse your presentation and practice words that you aren't familiar with

DON'T read off of the screen - summarize and use your own words and thoughts to present to us

DO focus on tourism and travel, comparisons and contrasts

DON'T give us 1,001 facts that we aren't interested in

Make sure you include images or videos that will make your classmates want to go to the country that you have selected.  The presentation should be about 5 minutes in length, so be sure to have enough information to fill this time slot. The quality of your presentation is part of the rubric for your grade; a rehearsed and smooth presentation is expected.

Remember, you are trying to persuade your fellow students that your trip would be the best one! Your presentation should be lively and colorful to grab their attention.  Maps of the country, pictures of famous places or landscapes are all great ways to keep the class engaged. 

Feel free to use this for your own classrooms.  I have borrowed many of these ideas from other teachers and through this colalboration we improve the opportunities and education for our students.