Exploration of the Latin American Culture Project

Exploration of the Latin America Culture

Exploration of the Latin America is a project that will enlighten you on a Latin American culture. As it relates to this project, culture is defined as the behaviors, beliefs, and characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group (www.dictionary.com). In plain speaking culture is the reason why you do what you do, act the way you act, and believe what you believe. Learning about a different culture will allow you to become knowledgeable about another culture other than your own. It will also help you to understand others way of life.

Learning Objective: To challenge stereotypes about cultures unfamiliar to us; to expand awareness of the range of factors that help constitute a cultural identity; to research, organize, and present information about everyday life in an unfamiliar culture; to create an imaginative firsthand account of life in an unfamiliar culture.

DUE: March 22, 2010 NO EXCEPTIONS, NO LATE PROJECTS WILL BE ACCEPTED. All Presentations will be on March 22, 2010.

For this project, you will work in groups of 2. This project has 4 parts that need to be completed, submitted, and present on the Due Date. The four parts are an outline of the research paper, a full 4-page research paper on the culture of the Latin American country you have selected, a created visual media, and an oral presentation to the class.

Points

Outline of Research Paper……………………………………………………….50 pts

Research Paper……………………………………………………………...........100 pts

Visual Media……………………………………………………………………….100 pts

Presentation………………………………………………………………………..150 pts

___________

Total 400 pts

Directions

1. Select a partner
   
2. Pick a Latin America country from the list below to research
   

• Guatemala - El Salvador
  
• Honduras - Nicaragua
  
• Panama - Costa Rica
  
• Venezuela - Columbia
  
• Ecuador - Peru
  
• Bolivia - Uruguay
  
• Paraguay - Chile
  
• Argentina - Spain
  
• Puerto Rico - Dominican Republic
  
• Cuba
  

3. Conduct research on your selected country. Areas to research are but not limited to:

• Forms of government
  
• Political system
  
• National leaders
  
• Economy
  
• Historic events
  
• Family life
  
• Climate
  
• Environment
  
• Food
  
• Religion
  
• Great works of art and literature
  
• Pastimes and/or tourist highlights

Research can be conducted using the internet and your local library. Some sites that may help you are Wikipedia.com, cia.gov/library, www.google.com, scholar.google.com, and other sites that you may find on your own.

4. Organize the gathered information.

5. Write an outline for the research paper

6. Write the research paper

7. Brainstorm ideas for the visual media and create. Some examples are:

• Power point presentation
  
• Brochure
  
• Post card
  
• Flyer
  
• Drawings/pictures
  

*This media has to be an original piece. Be creative.

8. Present your research findings verbally to the class and include presentation of your visual media.

The rubric for the research paper and presentation for this project are below. Please read it carefully. This is exactly what you will be graded on.

Research Paper Rubric

CATEGORY	100	90	80	70
Amount of Information	At least 6 areas of research for the selected country is addressed.	At least 5 areas of research for the selected country is addressed.	At least 4 areas of research for the selected country is addressed.	Only 3 or less areas of research for the selected country is addressed.
Mechanics	No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.	Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors	A few grammatical spelling, or punctuation errors.	Many grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors.
Organization	Information is very organized with well-constructed paragraphs and subheadings.	Information is organized with well-constructed paragraphs.	Information is organized, but paragraphs are not well-constructed.	The information appears to be disorganized. 8)
Quality of Information	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given.	Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Paragraph Construction	All paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Most paragraphs include introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Paragraphs included related information but were typically not constructed well.	Paragraphing structure was not clear and sentences were not typically related within the paragraphs.
Page Length	The paper is 4 or more pages.	The paper is 3 pages.	The paper is 2 pages.	The paper is 1 page.

Oral Presentation Rubric

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Comprehension	Student is able to accurately answer almost all questions posed by classmates about the topic.	Student is able to accurately answer most questions posed by classmates about the topic.	Student is able to accurately answer a few questions posed by classmates about the topic.	Student is unable to accurately answer questions posed by classmates about the topic.
Stays on Topic	Stays on topic all (100%) of the time.	Stays on topic most (99-90%) of the time.	Stays on topic some (89%-75%) of the time.	It was hard to tell what the topic was.
Speaks Clearly	Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, and mispronounces no words.	Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, but mispronounces one word.	Speaks clearly and distinctly most ( 94-85%) of the time. Mispronounces no more than one word.	Often mumbles or can not be understood OR mispronounces more than one word.
Preparedness	Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed.	Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals.	The student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking.	Student does not seem at all prepared to present.
Uses Complete Sentences	Always (99-100% of time) speaks in complete sentences.	Mostly (80-98%) speaks in complete sentences.	Sometimes (70-80%) speaks in complete sentences.	Rarely speaks in complete sentences.