La exploración y el descubrimiento
by Danita Dodson
Empires of the Wind
National Endowment for Humanities Project at Maritime Museum, 2012
Length of Lesson:
three 90-minute class block (one for instruction, one for project workshop, one for class presentations) *For shorter class periods, the lesson can be divided into segments.
Subject Area: Spanish II *Note: This can easily be adapted for history classes.
Previous Learning:
Use of preterit and imperfect tenses to describe historical events
Background Notes for Teacher/Rationale
In 1542 Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo was charged with the responsibility to explore lands north of Mexico. Carrying a commission from King Carlos I of Spain to lead an expedition, he amassed a fleet of three ships: San Salvador, La Victoria, and San Miguel. An exceptional shipbuilder, he constructed these vessels in Guatemala. On September 28, 1542, he sailed into the port of San Diego, the first European to do so, and also the first to visit and chart the West Coast of what is now the United States.
Though the search for a shorter route to Asia was the primary goal of the expedition, Cabrillo also hoped to find valuable spices, cities of gold, and a land of beautiful Amazon women. What he charted, instead, was the West Coast and a “enclosed and very good” harbor that he named San Miguel, known now as San Diego Bay. It is believed that Cabrillo went ashore at Ballast Point, the location of the Naval Submarine Base today, where he claimed the land for Spain. In 1602 Sebastian Vizcaíno changed the name to San Diego.
Cabrillo’s story must not be told or taught without a recognition of the Other who had explored the lands long before. The Native Americans living in this area when Cabrillo arrived were called Kumeyaay. These indigenous people also had a history of maritime experience. They gathered many plants for food and medicine, using acorns most frequently, which were shelled, ground, leached, and cooked in baskets. According to the accounts, Cabrillo made friends with the Kumeyaay and traded with them for fresh water and other supplies. Whatever truly occurred in the encounter, it undoubtedly changed the natives’ lives forever.
Although this story of exploration should be told and studied in history classes, students of Spanish will also benefit from the information. One of the performance indicators in state/national standards is to “develop familiarity with historical moments and figures.” Also, because of the focus upon history in this lesson, it provides a good chance for students to practice and apply prior knowledge of the preterit and imperfect tenses in talking about the past.
Also, this lesson makes use of several primary documents as optional activities for instruction. For teachers who are not instructing during a 90-minute period, or who would like to strengthen the focus on any particular segments of the lesson, some activities may be omitted to allow more time.
Useful Vocabulary
el marinero: sailor
el capitán: captain
el puerto: port
la bahía: bay
el barco: ship
el buque insignia: flagship
la flotilla: fleet
el castillo de popa: poop deck
el puente: upper deck
el castillo: forecastle
El alcazár: quarter deck
el palo mayor: main mast
el palo del trinquete: foremast
la vela mayor: mainsail
la roda: stem
el timón: rudder
Textbook: Realidades 2, “Chapter 4B”
Materials, Additional Texts and Media
Smart Board and projector
Teacher-made PowerPoint of photos made of the Cabrillo National Monument, the San Salvador Build Site, the waterfront of San Diego, a sailing excursion on the Californian to help students understand better the Age of Exploration
Handout: Document 1, “Exploration Instructions” (Cabrillo National Monument)
Handout: Document 2 ,“Cabrillo’s Crew” (Cabrillo National Monument)
Handout: Document 3, “Facsimile of the Account of the Cabrillo Expedition” (Packet from Dr. Colston, NEH Workshop)
Handout: Document 4, Excerpt from An Account of the Voyage of Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo
Handout: Document 5, “The People of the Americas before Columbus” (In Search of Juan Rodríquez Cabrillo)
Handout: Document 6, “Outline Map of Americas” (In Search of Juan Rodríquez Cabrillo)
Transparency used in PowerPoint: “Maritime Museum’s of San Diego’s San Salvador by Bruce Dragoo” (found at www.sdmaritime.org/san-salvador)
Teacher Resource Materials
Linder, Bruce. San Salvador: Cabrillo’s Galleon of Discovery. San Diego: Maritime Museum, 2011.
Frank, Joshua, Kristen Hillaire Glasgow, and Wendy Gorton. In Search of Juan Rodríquez Cabrillo. Pdf. Web. National Park Service: Cabrillo National Monument.
Dr. Ray Ashley’s notes about Cabrillo (NEH Workshop, 25 June 2012)
Lesson Objectives: After the lesson, students will be able to:
Write and speak about discovery and exploration
Learn about the significance of Cabrillo’s exploration
View and comprehend a PowerPoint about Cabrillo written in the preterite and imperfect tenses to narrate and describe the past
Consider the importance of recognizing and understanding people of other languages, customs, and cultures, using Cabrillo’s story to simulate a First Contact scenario
Apply correctly the use of the indicative present, preterite, and imperfect tenses in a research project about a Spanish explorer
Standards:
1.1 In the target language, engage in conversations, provide/obtain information, express feelings/emotions, and exchange opinions.
1.2 Understand and interpret both written and spoken forms of the target language on a variety of topics.
1.3 Present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.
2.1 Demonstrate an understanding of relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied.
3.1 Reinforce and acquire further knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.
4.2 Recognize that cultures use different patterns of interaction and apply this knowledge to one’s own culture.
Warm-Up/Hook: Guiding Question
To help students explore the concept of exploration, ask students to consider briefly what the term exploración (exploration) mean to them. Write “explorar” on the board and have students define the word. ¿Por qué quiere explorer una persona? [possible answers: travel for the purposes of discovery; investigate something unknown] ¿Cual es la significa de las palabra exploración? Must exploration involve travel? How? What modes? Have them brainstorm a list of terms in Spanish for travel: el avion, la barca, el coche, el viaje, etc. What things are important aspects of exploration: ¿Qué necesita una persona quien participa en una exploración?
Procedures/Activities
1. From warm-up activity, move students into a discussion about why someone would want to travel somewhere completely unknown. Write “discover” (descubrir) next to “explore” (explorar) on the board and ask them to define it. ¿Cual es la significa del verbo descubrir? Other than finding a new place, what are some other types of discoveries? What types of new discoveries could we still make? Would they involve travel? What new frontiers? Possible answers: Se podría descubrir:
something about the past (through artifacts, documents, photos, old journals, etc.)
something in the microscopic world
something about or in space
some scientific fact, such as a cure for a disease
Ask students to consider what personal discoveries they would like to make, or explorations they would like to experience. Ask: “If you were exploring a new land, what might you be looking for?” Something unexplored is sometimes referred to as a new frontier. What do you want to explore? What do you hope to discover?
Have students write sentences and then illustrate with drawings, using colored markers, colored papers, magazine clippings, etc. They should begin each illustration of their exploration/discovery with Yo quisiera descubrir . . . Yo quisiera explorar . . . Then have them share their ideas with partners.
2. Next have students to consider the kind of person who would be willing to travel to unknown lands. Direct them to look carefully at the following word list of Spanish adjectives and choose four characteristics that should help a person be a good explorer:
trabajador(a) hardworking
decidido (a) determined
atrevido (a) daring
aventurero adventurous
bravo brave
sano (a) healthy
intrepido (a) fearless
inteligente intelligent
gerencial administrative, good at leadership
Ask students to choose the characteristics they have from this list of four and then write a couple of sentences telling how these characteristics would make them good explorers. Have them share with a partner. Example: Yo será un explorador bueno porque soy . . .
3. Exploration motives. Then take them to the past to bring it alive by showing how the early Spanish explorers had a vision and then had to use a mode of transportation to enact the discovery/exploration. Which explorers have they already studied? What were they looking for? What reasons did explorers cross the oceans to find new lands? Students may offer the following from prior knowledge: Explorers sought to seek land (for themselves or the king), riches, spices, adventure, trade opportunities, native people to convert them. Lead students next to consider how new discoveries and explorations could benefit a community or nation? Tell students that they are going to learn more today about an explorer named Juan Rodríquez Cabrillo. Give students Document 1, “Exploration Instructions.” Cabrillo, as an agent of the Spanish Crown, was like other explorers who were given detailed instructions to carry out on their voyage. Although there seems to be no surviving copy of Cabrillo’s actual instructions, other examples exist that were used by his contemporaries. The document provided here is a modern adaptation of actual instructions given by the Viceroy Antonio Mendoza. Review the document with students as a class reading to make sure they understand the purpose of the voyage from the point of view of Viceroy Mendoza and the Spanish Crown.
4. Tell them that we are now all going to sail with Cabrillo into the past. Review briefly the prior learning of the usage of preterit vs. imperfect to discuss specific historical events in the past. Then proceed to display on the SmartBoard a PowerPoint about Cabrillo, the Ships at the Maritime Museum, and experiential excursion on the Californian. One of the slides is Bruce Dragoo’s rendering of the San Salvador, which the teacher has labeled with Spanish maritime terms to give students a sense of the reality of the exploration experience. This teacher-made, NEH-inspired PowerPoint will employ the preterit and imperfect tense in writing about history to give students practice with reading a narrative in Spanish. (See Cabrillo PowerPoint)
5. Distribute “Cabrillo’s Crew” (Document 2) as prepared by the staff of the Cabrillo National Monument. Explain to students that this is the result of examining contextual evidence. After looking at documents which show the general orders by the Spanish Crown (Reglamento, 1522) and other evidence about Cabrillo’s journey, the authors have come up with a possible list of who would be on the ship, including their duties, as well as the ordnance the ships might have carried.
6. Distribute an excerpt from Cabrillo’s journal (Document 3), a facsimile of a primary document in Spanish and have students look briefly to see what words they can discern. Then distribute the translation (Document 4) and have them look at the paragraph beginning, “On the following Thursday . . .” Have them note the part about the explorers’ contact with the natives.
7. Then lead students to consider how their goals, explorations, discoveries in life affect others around them. Show students the map Document 5, “The People in the Americas before Columbus.” Discuss whether the explorers were “discovering” the New World or not. Be sure to discuss both points of view—to them, it was a new land, but to the natives it had long been discovered. Discuss Cabrillo’s first contact with the Kumeyaay.
8. Role play: Have students to play a game-like First Encounter activity to simulate the conquest that Cabrillo made along the California coast, instructing them to use no verbal communication. This will help illustrate the importance of communication and lead them better to understand what happens when two groups of people meet, not only speaking a different language that the other one doesn’t understand but also having cultural traditions that are diverse . Divide the class into two groups, one the indigenous group and the other the explorers. In the explorer group, assign a captain, a first mate, a second mate, and a nun; the other members will be the crew. In the native group, assign a leader, a second in command, etc. Give each group a separate set of gestures that will define their communication, which will be unknown to the other group. Ask them to think carefully about how they would show the other group that they are friendly, and what friendly really means. Among the things that they will try to discern about the Other could be: Are they friendly? Can we find a way to talk to them, or communicate/teach them a word? Are they dangerous, and will we be safe? What do they eat? What are their customs?
9. Reflection-- Lead students to these questions: Does exploration involve an understanding of the Other? Is language the only obstacle to good relationships? What is the role of understanding, learning and respecting the culture and tradition?
Wrap-up/Closure
Ask students to reflect upon today’s lesson about exploration. ¿Qué han aprendido hoy de exploración y el descubrimiento? Students will then record a response on an exit ticket and share their reflections.
Writing/Project Extension
Students will work in assigned teams to create a project based upon research of a Spanish explorer to the New World. They will have the following class period to work on this project, and then they will present to the class on the day immediately after the workshop. They will begin by researching one of the explorers listed below, using the class period to “discover” facts about him. They will make note of these facts, distinguishing between the use of the preterite and imperfect tenses. Then they will write a short character sketch of the explorer: Él es muy bravo. After research is done, one of the students in each research team will prepare to role play the explorer-character, using costume and/or prop setting that is connected. This will be a type of living history in which the “explorer” will return to the future as a historical figure, using the present tense Spanish to speak about his present realities, such as “Soy un marinero muy importante. Soy importante porque descrubí . . . but remembering to use the preterite to discuss the specific actions of his explorations that have occurred. Also, the explorer in question must describe his particular vessel of exploration. Other members of the group can be part of the exploration party and can help introduce the explorer. Have other students in the class who are not a part of the team ask him questions in the form of an interview. In the group research, also require that students search and discuss the particular natives that were affected by the given explorer’s arrival; then have one or more of the students on the research team portray that voice in the re-enactment. A list of possible explorers to discover:
Cristóbal Colon
Juan Días de Solis
Pedro Álvares Cabral
Rodrigo de Bastidas
Juan de la Cosa
Vasco Nuñez de Balboa
Francisco Hernández de Córdoba
Juan de Grijalva
Hernán Cortes
Juan de Oñate
Pedro de Alvarado
Francisco Metejo
Pánfilo de Narváez
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca
Francisco Pizarro
Francisco de Ulloa
Sebastián Vizcaíno
Ponce de León
Pedro de Mendoza
Francisco de Orellana
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado
Alvarez de Pineda
Hernando de Soto* (explorer who came into East Tennessee)
Juan Pardo* (explorer who came into East Tennessee)
Summative Assessment:
El proyecto (Project): The teacher will assess all students in a rubric-based project that employs the vocabulary and grammar taught in today’s lesson. This involves holistic assessment.