Lesson Topic:

Length of lesson 45 minutes

The subject area is secondary Spanish. The lesson topic is “Alfredo Jaar: Studies on Happiness.” Students will be continuing their unit on Art and Dictatorships in Spain. This will be a constructivist lesson where students will be asked to critically think and discuss in Spanish the current state of their national politics as if they were responding to Alfredo Jaar’s art installation “Studies on Happiness.”

Overall Goal:

Students will practice their conversational skills by using the unit vocabulary and correct conjugations in the present and future tenses. They will respond to the question in the photography by Alfredo Jaar, “¿Es usted feliz?” (Are you happy?).

Learner Background:

Throughout the year, the students have been applying new Spanish speaking and writing skills to the culture that applies to all different Spanish speaking countries. The students will be doing a subunit that concentrates on Art and Dictatorships and how art was, and still is, a way for people to express themselves about their political climate, their want for freedom, their anger, etc. In this particular lesson, the students will be studying the Chilean artists Alfredo Jaar. In the introduction of the artist I will inform the students of the type of work Jaar is known for in general, which is art expression in response to oppression, genocide, and other world terrors. He is most famous for his project that was done for the Rwanda genocides, but his “Studies on Happiness” project was one of his earlier projects done in Chile in response to the military dictatorship in his native country.

Using their knowledge of the vocabulary, and their ability to speak in the present and future tenses, the students will discuss whether or not they are happy with the world around them. They will be required to first, think critically about the world and happenings around them. They will then think about their democracy, what it means to them, and how they intend to be a part of it in order to ensure future “political happiness.”