WebQuest

Welcome to your cultural assignment for Middle School Spanish! In order to ensure that your company ends with a bang, you and your partners need to create a sample product which Real World Travel will be using to advertise its services. Your group will be designing and creating a unique cultural and travel brochure by using such resources as the Internet and other resources. Within this brochure you will be including general information about the selected destination, areas of historical and recreational interest, and a choice of travel packages. In addition, you must include pictures and images to appeal to the eyes of your consumers. Remember, first impressions are always the most lasting impressions, so you'll want to create an out of this world brochure example. Hopefully this advertising will yield your group big results!

1. You and your colleagues will need to choose your first and second choices for a country you want to investigate. You can choose the group, but please choose wisely! You must choose from the following countries to research:

Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru and Spain

2.    Research: Next, your group next needs to distribute the four research areas. Below is a list of roles that need to be fulfilled, followed by a description of the job that accompanies the role. You will receive a list of websites to consult in order to complete each job effectively and efficiently. Each person is responsible for writing his/her own original text for the role that one choses. It needs to answer the questions thoroughly, but sources don't need to be cited. A one page bibliography for all of the group's sources is needed at the end of the brochure.

3.    Presentations: Next you will need to decide what sort of presentation you will work toward: a paper brochure or a PowerPoint presentation, if group members are proficient with this program. The way you collect your information will be much more efficient if all team members know whether to print great pictures or save the image files.

Finally, your group should decide how you will present your finished travel brochure to the class. Remember that the class is interested in the main points from each section of the brochure. Focus your presentation so that it is informative and interesting, but don't forget to make the presentation creative and enjoyable to watch!

Presentations will be in mid-November, either Nov. 16 or Nov. 20. Each group will be given a max of 15 minutes to present.

4.    Rough draft Due Date: Your individual portion of the presentation will be checked on the Tuesday, Nov. 13 for all groups. You will get feedback on your rough draft/presentation materials that day. Next, your group can begin finalizing the travel brochure. Your group may decide to do this in two ways. You may print your collections and cut and paste them by hand onto a piece of paper, OR you could take advantage of the technology available to you and cut and paste electronically. This is a decision that your group must make. Paper and PowerPoint presentations will be graded with the same rubric.

Remember that this is cultural study – but since we will use class time to learn Spanish- and you will be doing most of your research outside of Spanish class.

Roles include:
Ambassador of Destination:
The Ambassador will be the person who is providing a complete profile of the destination. The Ambassador should provide the following:

·    a detailed map of the destination
·    demographic, weather and environmental descriptions
·    a list of major cities, including the capital
·    language(s) spoken – please teach us at least THREE new Spanish words that are specific to your
     country's destination/culture (for example, bullfighting in Spain)
·    government style
·    cultures/religions practiced
·    the currency used

Historian/Tour Guide:
The Historian/Tour guide is responsible for providing a brief history of the destination, in addition to finding areas of historical or trivial interest within the specific country. The Historian should research and include the following:

·    a brief summary of major points in the country's history (minimum of 3)
·    specific historical locations of interest to travelers with a brief description of the significance of each
     location
·    a list of the different kinds of tours (and their costs) that offer tourists an opportunity to site see (minimum
     of two different types of tours)
·    a brief description of the religions and major holidays celebrated. Choose one major holiday that you will
    go into specific detail about the traditional costumes, food and celebrations.

Arts & Culture Director:
Everyone likes to have fun on vacation, so the Arts & Culture Director has an important job. He or she needs to find out what artists, authors or musicians hail from this country. The Director should research and include the following:

·    Visual Arts: Describe what kinds of art are representative of this country. List some of the well-known
     artists and include brief descriptions of at least TWO artists. Show at least TWO pieces of artwork from
     one of the country's artists.
·    Music: Describe what kind of music this country is known for. List some of the well-known musicians and
     include brief descriptions of at least TWO musicians/groups and any songs that students may know. You
     could play a portion of a song from one of the country's musicians.
·    Literary Arts: Describe the literature produced by writers from this country. List some of the well-known
    authors and their works. Include brief descriptions on at least TWO authors, what they have written and
    the impact that their literature has had in the world.
·    Cuisine: We would love to visually see food from this region… better yet, we would love to taste it! Please
share at least TWO common meals from this region and the ingredients.

Travel Agent:
The travel agent also has an important job. Without this help, people would not be able to get to their destination. The travel agent needs to shop around and find the best prices for the following:

·        transportation to the country from Seattle, WA
·        transportation within the country (car rental, subway, bus, etc.) -- describe how easy or difficult the
         various options are
·        lodging accommodations -- give an idea of the various options and prices by offering at least THREE
         possibilities that range from the cheapest to the most expensive
·        dining accommodations -- give an idea of the various options and prices by offering at least THREE
         possibilities that range from the cheapest to the most expensive
·        health and safety advisories (any shots needed before traveling to this country?)
·        briefly describe the current political situation and crime rate in terms of traveler safety

In addition, the travel agent needs to offer a variety of packages for the various wallet sizes. The travel agent must keep in mind that people of all incomes and interests enjoy to travel. Some like to travel with class; some just like to get to their desired destination, even if it means driving long hours in a bus which may allow them to experience the country is a more realistic sense.

At this point in the WebQuest you have undoubtedly skimmed and read many web pages, some that offered valuable information and some that contained little of value. By doing so, you have strengthed your researching skills and gained a more finely tuned approach for searching out the information you need to fulfull a job. You have also had exposure to a lot of information -- such as images, music, multiple perspectives, etc... -- that no single textbook could do justice. Even though you had some guidelines to follow, you chose what to focus on and decided how much information to find. In that way WebQuests put you in charge of your own learning.

Cooperating with your peers to obtain knowledge, your group members have gathered more information about a single country than any of you knew before. More importantly, your group will share that knowledge with the rest of the class while also learning from them about the countries they researched. As you know, Spanish-speaking countries are composed of many countries that have different histories, peoples and cultures. By learning information about various Spanish-speaking countries from the other groups, you have multiplied the amount of knowledge you could have accumulated on your own within the same time frame. Thank you for doing your part. Bravo!

Introduction		Your Task		The Process
Resources		Conclusion		Evaluation

Lonely Planet-Destinations provides specific information about specific destinations.	LANIC is Music of Latin America, a site developed at the University of Texas. It has a lot of information on each country's traditional music and downloadable samples.
Yahoo-Travel provides general information, maps, histories, travel packages, entertainment, and site seeing guides for the destination of your choice.	Britannica Encyclopedia Searching this site will yield good information on any country.
Excite-Travel provides general information, maps, histories, travel packages, entertainment, and site seeing guides for the destination of your choice.	Planeta.com: Eco travels in Latin America This site has lots of general information on ecotourism in all North, Central and South American countries. There is a link to a Kid's Page with kid-friendly information.
Bureau of Consular Affairs The Bureau of Consular Affairs advises and supports American Embassies around the world in such matters as deaths, arrests, robberies, citizenship and nationality... They also provide assistance to travelers with Information Sheets, Travel Warnings and Public Announcements.	Expedia.com This site will give you a listing of airfares to your destination starting with the cheapest and increasing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is an agency of the Depart of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, injury and disability.	WorldAtlas.com provides maps, country info and free clip art (such as the fine flags used on this website!)
Spanish/Portugese-English Online Translator Translate phrases or text from English to many languages with the help of this online translator.	Human Right's Watch - the Americas look up your country's human rights record.
Museum of the AmericasAiming to inform about the rich culture and history of the Americas, this sitecontains a variety of lesson plans; a searchable database of Internet resources, which can be searched by country, subject, or historical period; and online exhibitions.	ArtsEdge has a great site that highlights Latin American arts: performing, visual, literary and people/places.


Argentina	Chile	Colombia	Cuba	Mexico	Peru	Spain