UCCI Course Description

Spanish 3 for the Entrepreneurial Mind

Overview Course Content Course Materials
Length of Course
Full Year (2 semesters; 3 trimesters; 4 quarters)
Subject Area - Discipline
Language other than English (E) - LOTE Level 3
UC Honors Designation
Honors
CTE Sector
Marketing, Sales, and Services
CTE Pathway
Entrepreneurship / Self-Employment
Grade Level(s)
10 - 12
Prerequisites
N/A

Overview

Within the context of a third year high school Spanish class, students will explore how their interests and talents fit into the marketing, sales and service sector, come to understand, develop and implement workplace norms that meet safety and comportment standards, decide upon a product or service to sell, develop that product or service in a simulated market environment, create a marketing campaign to vend the product or service, hire a staff, and present their product or service for sale. Students will use situationally appropriate and culturally sensitive Spanish as the means of communication and instruction as they learn the concepts and principles of sales and marketing inherent in completing these tasks and in demonstrating their ability to apply them appropriately.

Course Content

Unit 1 : ¿Cómo eres y adónde vas? (Who are you and where are you going?)

Unit 1 Description

In this introductory unit students will expand and add depth to their Spanish language proficiency as they begin to explore their interests, personality traits and talents within the context of a business skills and concepts course with a focus on entrepreneurship. Additionally, they will explore how teams are created and function in the workplace. Finally, they break into teams based on their own skills and aptitudes as they apply what they have learned about the creation of effective marketing teams. Throughout the unit, students will explore the themes of marketing, sales and service and create a personal learning plan to be included as a guiding document in a course-long portfolio. This learning plan will be outlined in a cover page for the portfolio that allows the student to self-evaluate and set goals as they gain knowledge and skills.

Students will utilize a district-approved Spanish 3 textbook to review and build upon previously learned linguistic skills as they explore their own personality traits. Students will also explore career opportunities and the skills needed to succeed in business, with the goal of synthesizing these findings with their personal strengths and creating a plan for attaining their chosen occupation. Students will use the district adopted text to review and learn the appropriate vocabulary and grammar structures. Instructors may need to create a translated vocabulary list taken from the district-approved CTE Marketing, Sales and Service textbook. Online resources and other texts, (such as the Al Dia text) would be utilized to provide input for personality profiles, job announcements and career options. Successful completion of the activities in this unit will prepare students to move on to Unit 2 where they take their newly established teams into an exploration of workplace norms where they will learn how to function as a team in a emotionally and physically safe workplace.

Following a brief review of basic structures and vocabulary, students will be expected to complete the following tasks using the target language.

A. Vocabulary building: In preparation for contextualized lectures and presentations given in Spanish regarding skills, abilities and qualities in the context of teams, students will build knowledge of vocabulary essential to topic comprehension. Instructor modeling of vocabulary in context, and student practice individually and communicatively as well as other strategies are employed to boost acquisition of key vocabulary in Spanish. Students create lists of key terms in their own creative categories, such as occupations, in preparation for assessments.

B. Job descriptions: Using authentic literature written in Spanish as well as some written in translation, students will explore how effective marketing teams are created and function in the workplace. Based on this knowledge as well as additional knowledge gained from other readings, lectures, presentations and their own research, students will develop 2-4 job descriptions prepared to recruit successful marketing and sales teams. These descriptions will be written in Spanish and posted in the classroom for later reference.

C. Battery of profiles: Students participate in various personality profiles, surveys, inventories and tests that illustrate their interests, values and behavior styles. These assessment tools will be scaffolded in such a way that these tests may be taken in Spanish. Students will also acquire associated vocabulary through deduction of cognates and glossaries. For each personality profile, students reflect on their perception of the accuracy of the outcome, write a short reflection (50 words) in their journal and communicate the gist of their reflection verbally with a classmate. After completing a variety of these activities, students will use the testing results to determine the workplace roles for which they may be most suited.

D. Personal oral presentation: In order to build community and share their findings from the previous assignment, students prepare and present a personal introduction called Quien eres? based on the results of the personality profiles they have completed. Students produce a one-page visual representation (photos, clip-art, or drawings without text) of their interests, values and behavior styles and share this with a group of their peers in the target language. Visual cues help the audience comprehend the presentation and allow the presenter to be more extemporaneous. This assignment will help build vocabulary with contextualized visual cues and serve as a way to meet and get to know other members of the class. After each 2-3 minute presentation, students are encouraged to ask questions of the presenter to clarify and extend information. Students are encouraged to collaborate with the presenter to suggest additional strengths they have noted. The presenter listens to peers and takes notes for further research and consideration. Students will understand that this is a starting point, and that they will be refining ideas generated as they complete the course. The one-page poster and a written reflection (100 words) will be included in the portfolio as an artifact to be consulted for future reference and guidance. Students are now poised to move on to an in depth inquiry into the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and to further refine their personal goals in the next assignment.

E. Role models: Beginning with written vignettes in the CTE and Spanish language textbooks and/or provided by the instructor, students read about and then view or listen to professionals who use Spanish language skills in a variety of business roles, including entrepreneurs. After students are familiar with the format, structures and vocabulary inherent in a presentation of this type, guest speakers (professionals) may be connected with students through a teleconference or brought in to share in person. Based on previous readings, students prepare several questions in advance and then write clarification questions during the presentation. They are encouraged to ask them directly to the guest speaker. Examples should be presented by the professionals to highlight the use of language skills and cultural awareness necessary to interact successfully within their profession in Spanish. Based on notes taken during the presentations and answers to student questions, students write an 80 word reflection in their journal, focused on what they have learned and can apply to their plans.

F. Outlining personal skills: Following several presentations, students collaborate with their peers in Spanish to create a word-web, Venn diagram or other graphic organizer to illustrate skills used by the professionals they have observed in person, in readings and in their personal lives. In small groups, they then discuss those skills that most frequently appear and are appropriate to multiple contexts. Students analyze the group-created list of the core business and linguistic skills and compare and contrast how their own identified personal strengths parallel or diverge from the group's list. In their journal, each student creates a short list of the key skills that they hope to gain, how they can gain them and a brief rationale for each. Students will write a brief (150 word) reflective summary detailing how they feel they might best fit into a sales and marketing team. This short essay will be included in the portfolio to be consulted when needed.

G. Checklist for portfolio: After analyzing the results of multiple personality profiles and insights gained from the reading and hearing of the experiences of professionals, students will evaluate their personal strengths, skills and interests. They then reflect on how their basket of skills fits into the workplace. In pairs or groups, students share their personal traits and refine these in order to prepare a simple plan which may include additional skills to be acquired and the resources to be utilized in the form of a checklist. This document, called Adonde vas?, will be attached to the inside cover of the portfolio and updated periodically.

H. Creation of student teams: The final assignments of the unit are a written one-page personal profile prepared by the student and to be used in the cooperative creation of company groups, and a reflective essay. Each profile page is formatted as a chart of key personality traits, skills, interests, and weakness with bullet points for each. It will be submitted to the teacher and then resubmitted to the class without the name of the individual student. The goal is the creation of balanced and viable business teams to be called empresas that will be anonymously created by the class with the direction of the instructor. These are the teams that will work together to create a business around a product that they will eventually market. The class will be tasked with creating each empresa based on the typical structure of a business (CE0, CIO, CFO, Chief Designer, etc.) and finding anonymous students with the requisite skills and personality for each role. Once the class generally agrees on the composition of the empresas, names are revealed and students meet with their peers to begin working on creating a successful business. After this initial meeting, students reflect on the nature of their team: in a 150 word reflective essay in their journal, including the balance of personalities, interests and skills that their team now possesses.

Suggested pieces for addition to the portfolio:

  • Copies of team-created job descriptions
  • Reflections on personality profiles and aptitude tests
  • One-page visual personal profile and written reflection
  • Reflection on role model presentations
  • Reflective summary of personal skills
  • Checklist for portfolio cover page
  • One-page written personal profile and reflection

Unit 2 : ¡Cuídese!: Normas y responsabilidades en el entorno laboral (Workplace Norms and Responsibilities)

In unit 1 students strengthened their abilities to express in Spanish their knowledge of their talents, their interests and their career goals in relation to the Marketing, Sales and Service sector in Spanish. Having identified their talents and strengths, students will apply this knowledge to the workplace. In Unit 2, students now set out to acquire some of the background knowledge they will need to create a workplace that is emotionally and physically safe, that has norms which encourage cooperation and collaboration, and that values cultural sensitivity and respect for the rights and dignity of all as the most efficacious means of turning a profit (profitability) and building loyalty while simultaneously complying with federal, state and local workplace regulations and laws related to product safety.

Using websites such as the Promonegocios website and OSHA students will be able to research a variety of workplace safety and organizational issues and their respective solutions that are used in various Spanish-speaking communities. Students will create posters for the classroom/ work site and write a manual for the classroom business climate. They will investigate organizational practices and governmental regulations, by researching on the web and interviewing small business owners. Students will work in their teams / businesses to explain why they chose the organizational structure they did. The final oral presentation to the class will summarize what each group has found to be most important.

Inevitably, a study of regulations and organizational practices will influence one's willingness to market a certain product or offer a given service. Therefore, teams will be asked to create a list of potential products/services they may wish to vend so that teams begin to zero in on the single product or service that they will develop in unit 3.

This unit lends itself to the study and or review of the impersonal se, commands as they relate to signs and directives, reflexive verbs as expressions of required routines, adverbs (e.g. con cuidado) past participles used as adjectives, subjunctive triggers that express necessity and vocabulary related to personal hygiene and workplace sanitation. Successful completion of the activities in this unit will prepare students to move on to unit 3 where they will develop their product or service for market because they will have now developed both team and personal work ethics needed to sustain a supportive and safe work environment that is conducive to successful product development.

A. In preparation for presentations given in Spanish regarding ethics and legal responsibilities, students will use pre-reading and reading strategies such as the completion of graphic organizers to acquire vocabulary in Spanish. Students will also use these and similar strategies to understand information available in print and electronic media such as that found on websites and in government issued manuals and brochures. Students will submit completed graphic organizers and classroom notes to the instructor.

B. Students will read materials, view videos and access other pertinent resources available in Spanish from OSHA and other agencies related to the Marketing, Sales and Service sector regarding safety, ethical and legal issues as well as matters of quality assurance, confidentiality, intellectual property and personal integrity. Students will take notes, complete graphic organizers and/or record this information in other ways for use at a later date. Students will submit completed graphic organizers and classroom notes to the instructor.

C. Students will create signs in Spanish to reflect the knowledge they have acquired from the activities listed above. These signs will be designed to follow a student-created rubric that evaluates both the linguistic competencies under review as well as the degree to which the student(s) have comprehended safety procedures and integrated them into the signs. These workplace signs may be posted throughout the classroom. Students will employ appropriate grammar structures, such as impersonal hay que, and tiene que as they create their signs. As students complete their signs they will apply knowledge gained from a study of as well as an application of the grammar concepts such as hay que and tener que and past participle verb conjugations found in unit 1 of the Al dia textbook or of any textbook that covers these grammar points and similar themes. A case study of an "empresa responsable" found in this unit will provide students the opportunity to practice these skills in a marketing context that reflects the need to adopt responsible workplace and company norms. Written activities will be submitted to the instructor for evaluation.

D. Each team/business group will create at least one page for an employee handbook using their previous research. The pages will relate to such topics as providing an emotionally supportive environment that values such traits as integrity, cultural sensitivity and respect for the rights and dignity of all. Students will employ proper Spanish writing conventions and appropriate grammar as they develop these pages. It is also expected that these pages will contain appropriate graphics. These pages must meet the standards set out in a rubric by the teacher. These pages will be collated into a workplace handbook.

E. Working in their teams students will brainstorm a list of potential products / services they might wish to bring to market. All communication will be done in Spanish. The document will be written in Spanish. It will be ungraded as it is simply an organizational document.

F. Students will research which agencies would oversee and regulate the types of businesses and products they have been discussing as possible marketplace ventures. Students will contact (phone, email, Skype, visit, etc.) a small business owner or vendor who carries or might carry their potential product in order to see how that business or vendor interacts with regulatory agencies and complies with regulations. Participants will also discuss how regulations encourage or hinder sales. Students will write a brief report (150 words) on their findings in Spanish. They will also reflect on how the interview has helped them modify the product or service they hope to create.

G. Students will investigate and analyze the various organizational cultures and practices of the various types of businesses/services they are considering developing . Based on this research students will determine how they wish to be organized. They will also refine the list of products/services they are considering offering based on what they have learned in unit 2. Team members will work collaboratively to develop a memo to the instructor written in appropriate business Spanish that details why and how they reached the decision to organize themselves as they decided to do. and why certain products /services are no longer under consideration. Collaborative communications will be conducted in Spanish.

H. Students will run a copyright/patent searches regarding the types of products and services they may wish to produce. While these searches will not be used to stop the development of any products or services under consideration because these products are not intended to reach the real world market, they are intended to make students aware of the types of modifications they might need to make to their potential products to make them truly marketable. These searches will also include an investigation of the company names under which the students are considering doing business. As a result of this search, students will select provisional names for their teams / companies. Students will write a brief (100 words) report on their findings in Spanish. They will also reflect on how the search has helped them modify the types of products or services they are considering bringing to market.

I. Working in their teams, students will create a 3 minute video, skit, role play or other oral presentation that employs appropriate written audiovisual aids with pertinent information written in Spanish on a topic included in this unit. Teams will present their work in Spanish to the class. These presentations must adhere to a teacher provided rubric.

Unit 3 : ¿Cuál es el producto? (What is the Product?)

Once students have established the norms of their business environment, they are prepared to consider the choice of an appropriate product or service to market. As an introduction to the the key business concepts, students explore and discuss the meaning of entrepreneurship (5 P's: Product, Promotion, Price, Place & People). Through the use of culturally-authentic materials in Spanish such as newspapers and magazines, television ads, and finally radio, students evaluate and analyze promotional material in order to understand community issues and current events in terms of product creation and customer receptivity. Students access newspapers, magazines, radio, and television from local media in California and internet sources, such as in order to compare Spanish in the United States with other countries. This analysis provides students with an understanding of the variety of Spanish -speaking cultures and allows them to come to conclusions about regional and universal characteristics. By focusing on real-world language, students will have models of the grammar and vocabulary that they will use in their productions and on which they will be quizzed. The analysis also guides students to think of goods or services that will be of interest to their target market audience. Students will then decide on a specific product that they will begin to prepare for marketing. They will develop a prototype and a questionnaire about others?' reactions to it, including the respondents previous experience with similar products and the likelihood of their using this one. The questionnaires will be presented to the other students and if possible outside Spanish speakers for feedback on their product's viability. After making adjustments to their products in this unit, they are then ready to begin the the final stages of product development and marketing found in the final units of the course.

A. Students read, view, and listen to advertisements in Spanish from a variety of sources, focusing on the kinds of products and services offered, assumptions about lifestyles that are implicit in the advertising, and what consumers need/want. Students will have clear rubrics for analyses of the advertisements. The initial advertisements will be in the print media, so that reading and visual clues predominate. Here the material can come from magazines and newspapers both from the United States and other countries Two useful websites are http://www.acu-adsum.org/jib.periodicos.esp.html and www.prensaescrita.com. Los Angeles’ La Opinion and Miami's El Nuevo Herald are good U.S. sources. In the second section, students will be exposed to TV advertisements so that there are visual clues that go along with the spoken language. Spy Rabbit has captured a variety of TV commercials, mostly from Spain. Teachers can also access Univision and other Spanish language stations. In the last segment, students will listen to radio announcements. These advertisements can also be "captured" or recorded from radio on the internet, at sites such as www.radioshaker.com or tunein.com/radio/latino.

For each step (print, TV, radio) students will be given a rubric for evaluation that asks them to consider how the five (English) P's are addressed as well as the Spanish issues of the register (formal vs. familiar), the referents, the use of comparisons and other grammatical features, and the cultural references made, as well as the use of humor. The assessments of the print ads and commercials will build student comprehension in reading and listening, and the practice of analyzing the grammar will support understanding of Spanish structures as commonly used. The analyses of the commercials in terms of the cultural artifacts will also deepen their understanding of and connection to Spanish-speaking cultures.

B. Students present an oral critique of two of their favorite commercials in pairs as a conversational discussion.  The discussion will be about three -five minutes total for each pair. In the critique, the students will present what they perceive as highly successful marketing strategies.  This activity will promote fluency in speaking and build confidence for future public-speaking in Spanish. It also focuses on the issue central to entrepreneurial spirit, which is the effective sales pitch.  It is a high interest activity, and also leads to the next step of written evaluation.

To prepare for this work, as students fill out the rubrics for the first they should be encouraged to engage in discussion to promote oral fluency, as students will have already thought and written about what they think about the commercials.  Discussion will encourage an exchange of ideas and allow students to bring in their outside experiences so that they can question and learn more about the cultural contexts and historical background. Some topics of discussion will include imagining what a typical day is like in different countries, what the familial and societal expectations and norms are, and what roles class, religion and politics play in their lives.  This discussion can also be supported by readings from Al Dia: Español para negocios. Unidad 3 deals with the difference between Spanish and foreign (Latin American) markets, which is also covered in Unidad 4, on businesses and globalization or chapters from a similar text that covers similar themes.

C.  Students write a comparative evaluation of the marketing strategies and cultural assumptions of at least two Spanish-speaking advertisements from different groups,  building on the rubrics that they have used for analysis, citing the three media they have studied. By writing, students are practicing the application of the language skills they focused on in the earlier section.  This is a typed one page (double-spaced) assignment.

D. Working in their teams, students now select a single product or service to market. Students  will use their evaluation and analyses to inform their design of  a product or service to develop to market in a particular area and present a visual presentation (mock-up) of their product.  They may also refer to Unidad 6 of Al Día, which is about the new consumer and the best product for the new consumer, or Unidad 7 which explains about leading brands in Latin America, or chapters from a similar text that covers similar themes.  The presentation (poster board or powerpoint) will identify the segment of society to which the student has chosen to market, what the uses of the product are, and the cultural value that the product addresses.

E. Since focus groups are a crucial part of evaluating the viability of a product, the teacher will try to create a similar environment.   Students will create questionnaires for the focus groups asking about their interest and the likelihood of their buying/using the products and their past experience with similar products or how they have dealt with the problem the new product is designed to address.  The basic questionnaire is about one page. Students will take the role of the target audience to be the focus groups for each others products with the aim of trying to improve the final product/service. If possible, other Spanish speakers (school staff, parents, Spanish 4 classes, etc.) can be included in the focus groups.  Students use a rubric to guide them in the specific areas of register, grammar, and cultural appropriateness while filling out the questionnaire. Their comments will be communicated both orally and in writing, by giving the evaluatee- the student developing the product - the answered questionnaire.

F. Students will amend their mock-up of a product or service that they will attempt to market according to the feedback that they have received from the other student evaluations. This final version will be the basis for the marketing campaign in Unit 4.

Proposed portfolio submissions:

  • Copies of completed rubrics that analyze promotional materials
  • Evaluation of the oral presentation
  • Written comparative evaluation
  • Mock-up of product
  • Copies of focus group questionnaires

Unit 4 : ¡Se vende!: Preparándose para el exito (Preparing for Success in Sales)

In the previous unit students gained a better understanding of their target market(s) and customer profiles through the use of focus groups, surveys and other market research strategies, and acted on that knowledge by modifying their product(s) / service(s) and target market(s). Through the key concepts taught in this unit students now focus on creating an effective promotional and marketing plan including current social media, virtual media, traditional print media, radio and television and other technologies used to support effective communication with members of the target market. These campaigns may, for example, include the development of websites, social media pages, commercials, cold call scripts, media presentations and videos. Students will apply this knowledge in written and oral formats as they interact with prospective Spanish-speaking clients. Key concepts taught in this unit include how to select and implement effective marketing strategies, how to develop and distribute promotional products related to these strategies as well as how to interact with clients with cultural and linguistic sensitivity, proficiency and respect. The development of promotional and marketing campaigns in and through the use of Spanish will afford the students the opportunity to improve their abilities to communicate in Spanish, both orally and in writing. Students will use newly-acquired product related vocabulary and modifiers, employ imperatives, express relationships of inequality by comparing and contrasting products/services, which may necessitate the use of subjunctive expressions to urge clients to take action. The promotional and marketing materials developed by the students will demonstrate the developers' cultural sensitivity to issues, themes, colors, language registers, gestures, time frames, holy days, holidays, religious norms, and preferred entertainment.

A. Having acquired the appropriate vocabulary in the target language, read marketing literature, listened to lectures on the topic and researched the topic using resources such as the internet, the students and teacher, (or the teacher alone at his/her discretion) will collaborate in the creation of a rubric by which they will judge the effectiveness of various marketing campaigns targeted on their prospective markets. The communication related to the creation of this rubric will be carried out in Spanish and the final written rubric will be in Spanish.

B. Students will evaluate samples of print, electronic, and radio marketing campaigns targeted at their prospective clientele using the rubric they have developed. Rubrics will be filled out in Spanish. Having completed this task, students will use Spanish to reach consensus regarding the nature of the multi-faceted promotional and marketing campaign they will now develop. As students develop and employ these rubrics they will have the opportunity to use context appropriate structures in Spanish such as comparative language and some subjunctive triggers related to the need to take action, the expression of an opinion (I think) or the probability that something may or may not be true. Students will submit completed rubrics and a short  (75 word) paragraph delineating the decisions they reached regarding their marketing campaign and their rationale to the instructor. These communications will be in Spanish.

Activities from unit 2 of the Al día textbook or from any textbook that covers similar themes will aid students in the acquisition of the grammar concepts mentioned above. The case study of the launching of “un producto Bio” included in this unit of Al día will provide students with a context in which they can practice these grammar skills in a marketing context. Completed written activities will be submitted to the instructor for evaluation.

C. The culminating activity for this unit will be presentation of the marketing campaigns that have been developed. Presentations and promotional materials will be in the target language. Presenters may dress in culturally-appropriate business attire.  All members of each presentation group will contribute a written piece as well as an oral presentation to the campaign. Presentations will be 5 -7 minutes in length. As students plan their campaigns, they may make use of such literature in their primary language as Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands, Sales and Marketing: The Essential Cultural Guide --From Presentations and Promotions to Communicating and Closing to provide them with deeper insights into the cultural aspects that must be considered when developing a successful marketing campaign.  Students’ abilities to apply this knowledge in the target language and to target markets will be evidenced in the campaigns they develop. The website Cultural Interviews: Latin America provides similar information in the target language. Websites such as the 123 Teach Me Website and Syvum may also be used to reinforce the acquisition of  business-related/customer service related vocabulary.

D. All members of the class who are not presenting a particular marketing  campaign will complete a copy of the teacher and/or student generated evaluation form concerning the other presentations. The evaluation form will be printed and completed in Spanish.

Optional: As an extension activity, groups may also present their campaigns to  other Spanish classes in order to receive feedback from “the general public”  in preparation for the trade show/convention presentation developed and brought to fruition in unit 6.

E. Students will read and discuss in Spanish the evaluations that they receive. Each student will then write a reflective essay in Spanish of approximately 200 words detailing what they learned from developing and presenting a marketing campaign. They will explain what modification should be made before the simulated trade show/convention airing of the campaign takes place.  

F. Using Spanish students will create a KWL chart or other written product, delineating what they believe they now know about the types of employees they may wish to hire based on the type of marketing campaign they developed. This chart will be submitted to the instructor.

Proposed portfolio submissions:

  • Marketing Campaign Rubric
  • Tabulated  results of evaluative presentation rubrics
  • Essay on selected marketing strategies
  • Copy of final reflective essay
  • Copies of formative assessments as required by instructor
  • DVD of marketing campaigns presented to the class

Unit 5 : ¡Vamos a Trabajar! (Hiring)

After students have developed a product and corresponding marketing plan, they will employ previously acquired grammar and vocabulary such as that related to personal interests and experiences to the hiring process in order to launch the business associated with said product. Students will read authentic job postings and may work with Como conseguir trabajo en los Estados Unidos. They will then design job postings for their companies after assessing what their group needs. Students will investigate where the best place to advertise their job would be. Students will post their job openings in the classroom and then develop two resumes and cover letters, one for the United States and the other for Spanish speaking countries. They will apply for each others jobs, and develop questions for the interviews they give each other. Students will fill out a rubric to justify why they hired the people they did. They will also write two short final reflections of being interviewed and interviewing. They will strengthen their abilities to use more recently acquired grammatical structures. Structures such as the perfect tenses may be employed to discuss accomplishments while the conditional tenses may be utilized to detail career goals. These skills will improve as students research and engage in the hiring process from both the perspective of the employer and the employee. This research will include a study of cultural variations and acceptable etiquette when applying for work where the target market population is predominantly Spanish speaking.

A. Using Spanish as the means of communication, team members will discuss the job functions for which they will need to write job descriptions. At the end of the discussions, each team member will write a 150 word memo to the instructor detailing what positions are needed and how the team reached those conclusions. Websites such as Trabajos may also be used to reinforce the acquisition of business-related vocabulary and familiarity with authentic job postings in Spanish. Students will show completed graphic organizers and classroom notes to the instructor as requested.

B. Having identified these job openings, students will divide up the task of writing job descriptions (50 words each) for each position as listed in C11.5 of the MSS Standards. Students will use standard business Spanish. Copies of these descriptions will be submitted to the instructor as well as posted on an in class jobs board and / or class website for later reference and selection. All communications and written materials will be in Spanish.

C. Students will research how to publish these ads via traditional TV, radio and print media as well as on various websites. This research will include submission formats and deadlines, market coverage and cost effectiveness. Based on this research, students will prioritize the methods they would use to advertise the jobs, and modify the ads based on publication parameters. All communications and written materials will be in Spanish. Each student will submit an individually developed memo of 100 words to the instructor that provides a copy of the prioritized list as well as justification for these decisions.

D. Using the research from the first assignment, students will develop a written list of  10 questions in Spanish for each job opening. These questions will form the basis for the oral interview of each candidate, as listed in C11.1 of the MSS Standards. Students will submit this list of questions to the instructor before using it in an interview setting.

E. Students will fill out a standardized job application (that has been translated into Spanish) for at least one job opening from the jobs board. They will also fill out a Spanish language application for a similar position in a Spanish-speaking country to allow students to compare and contrast the various cultural and legal norms that are inherent in job applications. Atando Cabos can be consulted. These applications will submitted to the appropriate hiring panels as well as to the instructor.

F. Students will develop basic résumés and cover letters. One résumé and cover letter responding to one of the class job postings will be written in Spanish and will be appropriate for an American business environment. A second résumé and cover letter appropriate for an Hispanic or Spanish business environment will also be created. The creation of dual résumés and cover letters will allow students to compare and contrast the various cultural and legal norms that are inherent in the preparation of job application documents. Atando Cabos can be consulted. These resumés and cover letters will be submitted to the hiring panel and to the instructor.  Resumés should be a page long. Cover letters should be at least 100 words long.

G. Students will participate as members of hiring panels to hire employees. Students will develop rating rubrics from the job descriptions they have already created to be used in the hiring process, as noted in A1.2 of the MSS Standards. Each panel member will complete a rubric for each candidate. These completed rubrics will be submitted to the instructor for review before being passed on to the student candidates. All communications and written materials will be in Spanish.

H. Students will write a two part (100 words per part) reflective essay detailing what they learned from being interviewed as well as from receiving the completed rubrics. They will also detail what they might do differently and / or what skills they might acquire or strengthen before participating in an actual interview, complying with section C2 of the MSS Standards. The second reflective essay will detail what the student learned from the experience of being on a hiring panel, how this might affect his/her preparation for an actual interview and how he/she might change the job descriptions or interview questions that his/her team had written previously. These essays might make use of subjunctive triggers, perfect tenses and the conditional tense.

In completing this assignment, students will make use of the instructional material and activities contained in unit 5 of the Al día textbook  or from any textbook that covers similar material to strengthen the students’ ability to use the conditional and perfect tenses. Written activities will be submitted to the instructor for evaluation.

J. As a culminating activity, students take a fresh look at their portfolios to make sure that they are clean, well-organized, complete, and representative of themselves and their work.

Proposed Portfolio Submissions:

  • Copies of rubrics created in this unit
  • Copies of job ads created by the team
  • Copies of résumés and cover letters
  • Copies of interview questions
  • Copies of completed(or tabulated) interview rubrics related to student’s interview performance
  • Copy of reflective two part essay.

Unit 6 : Desarrollo y la presentación del proyecto (Project Development and Presentation)

With product in hand, marketing campaigns in place, staff hired, and workplace norms and roles defined, students are now ready to display their Spanish linguistic and cultural competencies, and marketing, sales and service knowledge gained throughout the year. To do this, they will create a functional and appealing simulated trade show sales space as a backdrop for presenting their marketing campaigns. Students will reference Proyecto 2: La feria in the textbook Al dia or a similar text for direction in the development of a trade fair. In creating this trade show sales space for their marketing, they will demonstrate the degree to which they are able to apply entrepreneurial skills as well as employ entrepreneurial practices and appropriate behaviors to a marketing context. As students complete these tasks, they will demonstrate proficiency in the use of such grammatical concepts as indirect commands, the subjunctive triggers, polite commands and the conditional.

A. Having acquired an understanding of marketing and sales concepts via lectures, readings, presentations, power points, other instructional methodologies  and the textbook Al dia from the section Proyecto 2: La feria or a similar text students now apply this knowledge to the design of a sales booth. The selected space must appeal to a Spanish speaking clientele, fit the product being marketed and function well despite any limitations imposed by the physical size of  the booth. Resources may include face to face, telephonic, Skype, video chat or e-mail exchanges, interviewing persons involved in trade shows, online sources, narratives, magazine articles and instructional literature. In addition speakers may be invited to the class to present various sales booth/space designs and their purposes or give a step-by-step lesson in their creation.

After determining which design layout will be most effective, students will write a brief (200 words) informational document describing the design selected and defending the choice by citing marketing principles and practices. This report provides an opportunity to integrate and practice grammatical concepts such as the subjunctive and conditional tenses in Spanish.

B. Based on their booth/space design, students will determine what aspects of the booth/space they have already created and what must be added to create a marketing space that is both culturally appropriate and functional. Students write an email (100 to 150 words) to their employer detailing what aspects of the space/booth are already completed and what needs to be created including the materials to do so. This may necessitate the need for integration of grammatical concepts such as the subjunctive, conditional, indirect and polite commands as well as register in Spanish.

C. Based on their research findings students will design plans for the assembly of the booth/space. Students will develop step-by-step instructions, identify individual tasks and responsibilities, and create a written overall time frame in which the assembly must be completed. Students present this information in writing in chart form using the target language. All final copies of planning documents will be submitted in Spanish. Planning includes specifying where each piece of the marketing campaign is to be laid out, displayed, or stored for easy access thus demonstrating the students’ abilities to implement the safety standards and skills acquired in Unit 2.

D. Students create a practice dialogue in written format (200-250 words) of potential sales interactions using grammatical concepts needed for persuasion. Additionally, students will identify and defend the cultural appropriateness of their dialogue at the end of the dialogue by writing a brief expository paragraph in Spanish. In preparation for their dialogue students may make use of websites such as Cultural Interviews: Latin America. This site offers dozens of interviews of professionals in Spanish speaking countries focusing on a wide array of culturally appropriate business practices.

E. Students use these dialogues to participate in a variety of role-plays that simulate actual trade show scenarios. The dialogues will be evaluated with a rubric focused on linguistic ability, cultural literacy and marketing and sales principles. The role plays will be from 3 to 7 minutes in duration.

F. At the conclusion of the trade show marketing experience, students reflect in both oral and written Spanish on the what the journey through this course has meant for them both in terms of the CTE competencies gained and the ability to use oral and written Spanish more easily and confidently. Students present their reflections in small groups. They then write a reflective essay (200 - 250 words) based on feedback from their team in order to organize their thoughts in preparation for a final assessment activity. The essay will be placed in the portfolio.

G. Students organize their portfolio pieces from the entire course to show how they acquired skills and knowledge in both Spanish and marketing/sales. The portfolio will showcase student writing skills in Spanish as well as each student’s understanding of business concepts and organizational skills. Students will use rubric for organizing their portfolio.  The rubric will be used at a later point to evaluate the portfolio.

As an extension activity:

Whenever possible, students will carry out marketing activities for their product or service with Spanish speaking members of the community as well as the faculty, staff and/or students of the high school. These individuals will assume the roles of potential clients.

Proposed portfolio submissions:

  • informational document describing the sales booth/space format
  • an e-mail, note or other communicative document to their employer
  • step by step instructions,  calendar of execution and time frame
  • practice dialogue in written format
  • rubric evaluation from oral practice

Course Materials

"Al dia" at the intermediate B1 level published by SGEL ( ISBN 9788497783170)c. 2009 ( or other textbook that covers similar themes.) This Spanish language text will be used throughout the course to interweave grammar study with the study of marketing concepts. http://www.sgel.es/libros/

1.Como eres y adonde vas? (Who are you and where are you going?)

* Additional resources:

Online personality profiles in Spanish.

Work and business related websites in Spanish.

2. Cuidese!: Normas y responsabilidades en el entorno laboral (Workplace Norms and Responsibilities)

From School to Work J.J. Littrell (text)

OSHA.gov (espanol)

Employee handbooks from Local Businesses

The aforementioned text provide a point of reference for appropriate norms, behaviors and attitude.

3. Cual es el producto? (What is the Product?

Textbook:

District adopted textbook, such as Realidades 3, Prentice Hall

(Chapter 4 deals with personality traits, Chap. 5 and 6 are about the job search and career focus.)

Al dia: Espanol para negocios. Unidades 3 and 4, and part of Unidad 6 (el nuevo consumidor y el mejor producto) as well as part of Unidad 7 (marcas lideres en America Latina) or chapters from a similar text that covers similar themes.

Print Media:

La Opinion, Los Angeles, CA  The web site also gives access to the print version, with all the ads so they can be printed out for class.

El Nuevo Herald is the Spanish language version of the Miami Herald which focuses on U.S, Cuba and Venezuela.

People en espanol  covers the same type of news as People, but with different celebrities. Extremely inexpensive subscriptions are available in print version, full of ads.

Barcelona daily

Prensa Escrita includes newspapers throughout all of Mexico, organized state by state.

Hola is a daily magazine of fashion and celebrities, in 13 countries. The different versions show the varieties of vocabulary and register, as hola.com.ar uses the vos form instead of t.

Television:

Spanish TV commercials: Spy Rabbit, available through Teachers' Discovery. There are five DVD's including food and holiday commercials, exciting commercials, "spectacular" commercials. They can be captioned (in Spanish) and also have a feature so that they can be slowed down slightly. Very usable in the classroom. There are also workbooks that go with the videos/DVD (available in both formats.)

 

 

4. Se vende!: Preparandose para el exito (Preparing for Success in Sales)

Textbook:

Any district-approved textbook(s)

Supplemental Materials:

Como ganar amigos y influir sobre las personas, (How to Win Friends and Influence People) 
(Dale Carnegie,Vintage: Rev Tra edition (March 9, 2010

This book, properly scaffolded, might be used as a source of information regarding how to make a good first impression, how to gain over a customer and how to overcome objections and sell a product.

Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands, Sales and Marketing:The Essential Cultural Guide--From Presentations and Promotions to Communicating and Closing ( McGraw-Hill, October 25, 2011) This book, properly scaffolded, might be used as a source of information regarding how to sell a product. It will consider cultural aspects of selling that are not covered in Como ganar amigos y influir sobre las personas, (How to Win Friends and Influence People)

Digame: Telephone Spanish (Barron's 1998) = will help students acquire the skills they need to close sales over the phone.

Gerza is a Spanish-language resource that explains the formation and use of focus groups.

Program on Negotiation A website to obtain multilingual paired-partner negotiation simulated activities (paid site)

 

5.Vamos a Trabajar! (Hiring)

Como Conseguir Trabajo en los Estados Unidos by Mariela Dabbah is assigned reading. The book is written in Spanish and describes correct formatting and etiquette for developing a cover letter, resume, thank you/follow up letter, interviewing process.

Supplemental Materials:

Atando Cabos By Marta Gonzalez-Aguilar, Marta Rosso-O'Laughlin is consulted, as Chapter 7 discusses the process of acquiring a job.

Trabajos is a website that lists job postings in Spanish.

6. Desarrollo y presentacion del proyecto (Project Development and Presentation)

Most of the information used in this unit comes from the student's portfolio and any documents or resources gathered throughout the first five units. Students and teacher may refer to appropriate sources to clarify or support their key assignments.

Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands, Sales and Marketing:The Essential Cultural Guide--From Presentations and Promotions to Communicating and Closing ( McGraw-Hill, October 25, 2011) This book, properly scaffolded, might be used as a source of information regarding how to sell a product. It will consider cultural aspects of selling that are not covered in Como ganar amigos y influir sobre las personas, (How to Win Friends and Influence People)

Students and teachers with technology access may consider using the following websites to provide Spanish language and cultural support as needed.

Websites

Cultural Interviews: Latin America for examples of business negotiations in Spanish speaking cultures. The University of Texas at Austin provides ample business settings in Spanish focused on cultural competence.

Syvum provides a large repository of Spanish vocabulary crucial for use in business related contexts. The site provides vocabulary practice exercises

123 Teach Me website provides a large repository of Spanish vocabulary for use in business related contexts. the site provides vocabulary practice exercises.

Supplemental Instructional Materials: Please describe. If using online text or non-standard material, please provide the title of the material or webpage and the URL link.

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