Investigation of Pueblo History and Pottery for the Spanish Classroom

The following unit is intended for a high school level Spanish 1 class that implements TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) teaching strategies. This unit of study investigates the history and the culture of the Pueblo communities and how their interactions with the Spanish settlers lead to the Pueblo Revolt and an eventual return of the Spanish. Located in present day New Mexico, the Pueblo communities have created unique pottery pieces for centuries. This unit will investigate the pottery art form and artwork designs through several centuries in the target language. It will then culminate with students creating their own modern pottery piece infusing techniques and designs they learned about throughout the unit. To allow students to develop and practice language skills, they will work in pairs to create a video of themselves creating the piece in Spanish.