En Búsqueda de los Taínos

Introduction

In October of 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on a small island in the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. There he was greeted by a civilization of people that he described as friendly. He continued on his journey to a larger island and there set up a settlement on what is now Haiti and upon returning in his second voyage, founded the city of Santo Domingo on what is now the Dominican Republic. This island, named Hispaniola by the Spanish, was also inhabited by a "friendly" people who had presented themselves as Taínos, which means "good and noble". Who were these people? What is their situation today? You and your team have been hired to produce a documentary about the history of the Taíno people and an aspect of their culture. Many people are curious about this pre-Columbian civilization. Your documentary will help others understand the people who existed in the islands of the Caribbean long before Columbus ever arrived.

The Task

Your class has been split into two groups in order to work on different aspects of the Taíno culture. Each group must produce a slide show presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint that will teach about the history of the Taíno civilization. In addition to an overview of the history, each group will focus on one pre-determined cultural aspect. The Enriquillo Group must focus on the FOOD and include present the story of Enriquillo. The Anacaona Group must focus on MUSIC and present the story of Anacaona. Your entire presentation must be in Spanish. You have two class days in which to work in the computer lab to complete this project.

The Process

Each member of your group has a specific responsibility for completing this project:

Executive Producer/Researcher: This person oversees the project. He/She must organize the documentary and help decide the areas of research. This person must also assist in the research.

Director/Researcher: This person maintains the schedule for the group in order to complete project on-time. He/She must also assist in the research.

Graphics Analyst/Researcher: This person collects and saves pictures or animations that may be used in the presentation.

Sound Technician/Researcher: This person collects and saves any sound files that may be included in the presentation.

Step 1. Print the Research Questions. Meet and discuss topics that should be covered in the documentary and who will be responsible for researching those topics.

Step 2. Using the websites provided in Resources, research your specific areas. Make sure to maintain notes and websites used in a Microsoft Word document. Each member should have a computer disk especially for this purpose.

Step 3. Once information has been collected, it is time to organize. The group decides in what order the information will be presented. A storyboard should be created. (For help with this go to Storyboard.)

Step 4. Begin the PowerPoint presentation. Each student is an assistant producer responsible for creating a part of the documentary that covers the areas he/she researched.

PowerPoint Presentation

All slide shows should contain:

	Title slide which contains the name of the slideshow and authors’ names.
	Appropriate backgrounds, graphics, and readable, edited text.
	No less than 9 slides and no more than 25 slides.
	Bibliography slide that properly lists the resources used.

Notes:

REMEMBER that the slides are to be used as CUES for your oral presentation and everyone in the group must speak.

Resources

	Research Questions
	Go to the resources page for your group.

Group Enriquillo

Group Anacaona

Evaluation Criteria

You will be given a copy of the rubric that will be used to evaluate your project by your teacher.

Credits

The WebQuest Page http://webquest.sdsu.edu/

Discovering the Taino, A WebQuest for 5^th and 6^th Grade Students by Mrs. Deborah Schelmay dschelmay@trschools.com

This page written by Ms. Yamil Gómez and Ms. Betsy Archibald
Last updated date 01/12/04

Back to Spanish 4 Page

This page was adapted from Bernie Dodge 's WebQuest_Template1.html by Tom March