Rites of Passage in the WL Classroom

Students explore their own rites of passage and those in the target culture through exposure to one rite of passage in the target culture and reflection and comparison of rites of passage they will go through or have already gone through.

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Level: Novice

Languages: Spanish, German

ICC Can-Do Statements:

Investigate: In my culture and others I can identify common rites of passage.

Interact: I can appropriately greet/congratulate at a rite of passage event from target culture.

Overview of Lesson

Rites of Passage Slides

Students are shown pictures and vocabulary of different rites of passage that are common in their culture. As we go through these slides with pictures and target language. Students are asked if they have been to these events or if they have been through any of these rites of passage. Students are asked how they congratulate/what they would say in L1 for those events. You can see an example of these slides here. The rites of passage we chose to introduce were an end of school dance/prom, getting a driver’s license, voting, graduating, and religious ceremonies.

Next, the students share briefly in small groups in both L1 and L2 about which rites of passage are important to them, and can brainstorm other rites of passage in their own cultures.

Students think, pair, share about what the important rites of passage are for them and why using this Think Pair Share Guide. They are given a few minutes to think and process on their own, writing in the ‘me’ row, then a few to pair and discuss with a partner. During this time they can share ideas and write down what things are important to their partner in the ‘my partner’ row.

Note: You can adapt the Think Pair Share Guide to be written in the target language as well. We kept it in English for adaptability purposes and because this lesson was made with multiple languages in mind. Students share out in full group after small group discussion.

Then, using images, introduce students to an important rite of passage in target culture. See examples in these slides for both Spanish (a quinceañera) and German (first day of school.)

Spanish Rite of Passage: La quinceañera

Introduction

We start out the lesson by showing pictures of different quinceañeras, including multiple elements that different quinceañeras might include. The students are asked, “What do you see?”,  “What is this?”, and told to write down their ideas. The students are encouraged to use the Spanish they know, but depending on the time of year and level, they might not have had clothing vocabulary or other units that would supply them with the language they need to complete this in Spanish. They are encouraged to use English if they need to.

Traditions

Students are shown key vocabulary for the traditions that are common at quinceañeras. They are also introduced to the meaning behind a quinceañera and some of the elements of the quince.

Changes/Adaptations

Students are exposed to some differing perspectives of quinceañeras and differences between the original traditions and how the quinces are evolving with time and the merging of cultures. The court, dresses, and dances are just some areas that could have changed. Some choose not to have a quinceañera and travel instead. Some boys now have a quinceañero.

One reasoning for exposing the students to more than simply the traditional quinceañera is to give them multiple examples of what happens in the target culture. This can help prevent stereotypes made about the target culture. 

German Rite of Passage: die Einschulung

Introduction & Traditions

We start out by sharing how important the first day of school is in Germany. The students receive a school bag that often has sweets and school supplies. Next, students watch a video of Philipp and his family on his first day of school. The students are shown a list of sentences in English that happen in the video, and are asked to put them in the order that they happen in the video.

Analyzing the Tradition

Students see key terms and use them to talk aobut he Einschulung in Germany/creaete sentences. They also talk about what Germans do, vs. their own first day of school.

Students are shown a graph of how much it costs and what items are common to receive in their school bag. Students have to decide if they think that a “Schultüte” is expensive or not, decide if they would have liked to have a Schultüte and give examples of things that belong to some of the categories of items that are usually in one. Then, students will create/design a Schultüte that represents their identity and talk about what they would put inside of it. Students could audio record themselves talking about their slides or share in class, depending on the time given and the teacher’s preferred mode. In addition, students could write comparison statements. Greeting/Congratulating Students practice greeting and congratulating in the target language using the phrases provided on the slides. You can have your students pretend they are at their first day of school, or at their quinceañera/o and get congratulated by their classmates. Students could also write a short card that congratulates a classmate for their special occasion.

Reflection:

Students reflect on their own rites of passage and make comparisons with rites of passage in target cultures using these general reflection questions. You can create more specific reflection questions for the rite of passage that you choose to learn about with your specific class as well!

Reflection Questions:

Do you have a rite of passage similar to the rite of passage from the target culture that we learned about?

Do you have similar ways of celebrating different rites of passage to how we saw they celebrate in the target culture?

What do you celebrate? What are some rites of passage in your life you will go through or have gone through? 

You can prompt students with these ideas: 100th day of school, 1st day of school, Sweet 16, driver’s license, etc.

Why do you think these events/rites of passage that we learned about are important to the people who celebrate them?

Extension Ideas:

Add additional aspects to the Interact Goal: I can appropriately gift and know what to say when giving gifts at rite of passage events in the target culture.

You can dig into a specific event with students or have them investigate different events and what to gift at them and share with the class to continue the conversation into more rites of passage, or do small group activities with presentations, or jigsaw activities.