Thursday, July 12, 2012

Prohibición del refresco

        Mayor Bloomberg wants to ban the sale of soda in quantities over 16 oz., that is high in sugar, and in public areas such as sports arenas, fast food restaurants, and movie theaters.  Bloomberg wants to tackle the obesity problem by limiting the options consumers have; however, he does note that people still have the option to buy more if they choose.  So, the ban does not take away one's choice of how much pop they can drink, it just limits how much they can order for an individual drink.
       It was challenging for me to think of a lesson that incorporated this article for my Spanish class. But here is what I came up with!
      This lesson would adapt to the different levels of Spanish by increasing or decreasing the amount of discussion that occurs in Spanish.  In Spanish 1 and 2, the students can express some their thoughts in Spanish.  Whereas, in a Spanish 3 through to Spanish 5 I can discuss the content of the articles with the students in Spanish and the discussion will be all in Spanish.  I would start by giving the students an overview of the article and the issue that it targets.  We will talk about obesity, and the foods that are available in this country and how they contribute to the growing population of people considered obese.
       
I would then present some vocabulary that ties into the topic:
                    - Obese- obeso/obesa, gordo/gorda
                    - Westernization - la occidentalización
                    - Heart Disease - enfermedad cardíaca
                    - Government - el gobierno
                    - Soda - el refresco

Something along those lines.  I wanted to connect the topic of obesity to Latin America, so I found articles that discussed the increase in obesity in countries like Chile, Brazil, Colombia, etc.  Many of the researchers attributed this to the life style changes in these countries.  The new lifestyles resemble a western lifestyle; more sedentary, more processed foods, better economy, etc.  Some of these articles talk about what these governments and health organizations are doing to counter obesity.  One article I found was from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/08/AR2007030801518.html

I also have some pictures of McDonald's in Latin America:

 
Lima, Peru



                                                                 Santiago, Chile

Campinas, Brazil 


Another example of western influence is the partnership between Coca-Cola and the Peruvian soda Inca Kola.   



   This lesson could be at the tail end of unit that talks about food and help us look at modern concerns of food's impact on health.  So, these are some of the ideas that came to mind when thinking about the soda ban article.  I may even talk about ordering a burger from McDonald's when I was in Peru.

3 comments:

  1. I like your adaptations of the soda ban article to a Spanish class! I can definitely see how such a relationship could be difficult to develop. Your approach to enriching the students' vocabulary not only sparks content-specific communication but also helps incorporates text into the lesson in a novel way (at least in my opinion ;-)

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  2. Musetta - I will never make excuses for the frailties of my age, except for my eyes, which I must admit have a harder time reading small print - no jokes about phones with big numbers.

    But your blog did remind me of drinking bottled cola while traveling through certain southern Mediterranean countries some time ago, when it was best to drink only bottled beverages.

    I did spent Christmas week 1999 on Margarita Island (Venezuela), but I only drank beer then (Polar!).

    And did you know that Coke bottled in Mexico is somewhat prized in the U.S., as it is still made with pure cane sugar, and not that high fructose corn syrup that is slowing poisoning us all?

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  3. I struggled for a while to think of how to connect an English class to the soda ban, I am very impressed by your Spanish lesson plan. You really thought about everything- where in a unit this could happen, how to tailor it for different levels, and relevant vocabulary. I also like that you picked a topic that is so relevant in today's culture. Looking at obesity across in different cultures can expose students to different attitudes and reactions.

    I thought your pictures really added to the post. I think students will really like to see pictures from places they are learning about taken by someone they know. It makes the material more relatable. I would like to be in your class :) (despite my phobia of foreign languages...).

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