Last updated: July 29, 2019
Lesson Plan
LESSON 6 - LEARNING KRÉYOL (CREOLE) THROUGH SAN MALÓ
- Grade Level:
- High School: Ninth Grade through Twelfth Grade
- Subject:
- Literacy and Language Arts,Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 90 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 8.RI.4, 9-10.RI.4, 11-12.RI.4
- State Standards:
- Louisiana:
HISTORICAL THINKING SKILLS.
US.1.5 - Additional Standards:
- National Council for the Social Studies
Ia, Ib, Ic - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts.
Essential Question
What is the benefit for an individual in speaking a foreign language?
What is the benefit for society in having members who speak more than one language?
What is the benefit for society in preserving minority languages?
How are the memories of heroes kept alive?
Objective
Further develop student understanding of the story of Juan San Maló.
Develop student ability to recognize individual words and phrases in spoken Kréyol.
Increase student knowledge of Kréyol words and phrases.
Further expose students to Zydeco music.
Have fun.
Background
Students will hear the song SAN MALÓ, sung by Kréyol speaker Sunpie Barnes. Sunpie has studied both Louisiana and Haitian Kréyol for over thirty years, so the accent is authentic. Students will review phrases learned in the previous HEY NOM lesson, and then use the lyrics of SAN MALÓ to learn additional phrases.
This lesson goes beyond the typical language lesson for this text by including activities related to the history of Juan San Maló, the leader of a group of maroon villages (free villages established by escaped slaves in inaccessible areas) who was later executed by Spanish colonial authorities. Classes focusing exclusively on language/phrase acquisition can do STEP 1, skip STEP 2, and go on to STEP 3.
Preparation
MATERIALS REQUIRED:
- TEXT Le Kér Kreyol.
- Copy of student song glossary (Available on LESSON MATERIALS).
- CD or download of the music and a method of playing the music for students.
- Method of projecting computer document.
Materials
Copy of reading from the text with indication to teacher of what notes they should instruct the students to take. The class will read the selection from the text as the teacher stops students at indicated points and instructs what notes should be taken.
Download Double Fork Teacher Guide
This is a sheet that contains only what the students will write as notes from DOUBLE FORK. The notes match what is indicated in the TEACHER GUIDE.
Download Student Notes from Double Fork
Kréyol language lyrics with translation.
Download Lyrics to SAN MALÓ with English
List of Kréyol phrases. Students are to fill in the English meanings as they work their way through the lessons.
Download KRÉYOL SONG GLOSSARY SHEET
The lyrics only in Kréyol.
Download Lyric SAN MALÓ without English
List of phrases from each song with English translation. Also includes an alphabetical list of all phrases from all songs with English translation.
Lesson Hook/Preview
- Remind students that they are learning phrases in a little known and slowly disappearing language. In this way they are gaining knowledge that few people have, and that with further study they could be an important part of the survival of an endangered language and culture that has been a part of American culture for over 250 years.
- Lesson 1 below could be used as a preview.
Procedure
1. ACTIVATION OF PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
5 MINUTES
Ask students what Kréyol language words or phrases they know.- All students should know at least some phrases from the previous lessons such as HEY NOM.
- If they have not yet been given their KRÉYOL GLOSSARY FILL IN SHEETS, distribute them now. See LESSON MATERIALS.
2. SAN MALO TEXT READING
Additional historical background. See DOUBLE FORK in text, p. 15. Reading will take 12-15 minutes if read with no note taking, or 20-25 minutes with note taking. Students are familiar with the basic story of San Maló from Lesson 1, but they will go into more depth in this lesson.
For a basic language lesson without the historical context on San Maló, this step can be eliminated and the notes retrieved from the reading can be given directly to students. See DOUBLE FORK TEACHER’S GUIDE for the student notes.
The reading should be done as an oral whole class activity.
- INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:
- Take out a sheet of paper.
- As we read the selection DOUBLE FORK together you will take some guided notes. I will tell you what you should write. If you fall behind you will be able to compare your partial notes with others. Entitle your notes KRÉYOL LANGUAGE RULES: DOUBLE FORK.
- As students read the selection, refer to the DOUBLE FORK TEACHER’S GUIDE. Using a projected computer document in which you type the notes or highlight quotations would be useful, or create a powerpoint.
- Once the reading and note taking is completed, move on to STEP 3.
3. RE-ENCOUNTERING THE SONG
5 to 10 minutes.
If you are doing only a language lesson, you may begin here.
Students are encountering this song for the second time. In Lesson 1 they analyzed the English Language lyrics. In this lesson they will learn Kréyol phrasing. Play SAN MALÓ for the students. Do not have them look at the lyrics. Tell them just to relax and listen. This will take 2:22 minutes.
- Ask them what they thought or remember. Do not criticize or judge their responses. If you have French speaking students, ask them what the song was saying.
- Ask students if they recognized any words. Though they analyzed the English language lyrics before, they might not have picked up any Kréyol. Students who speak French may understand some words. Your goal is to acclimate them to the practice of listening to songs to find familiar words. If student interest is high, play the song again.
- Words that non-French speakers may pick up include the following. If students are slow to find words, share some of these with them in Kréyol and ask them what they might mean in English.
- CHECHE: SEARCH
- MAJIK: MAGIC
- GRAN: BIG (grand)
- MARONAJ: MAROON VILLAGE (Maroon and vilaj or village)
- LIBERE: FREE or TO LIBERATE
- ÉSLAV: SLAVES
- PASÉ: CAME or PASSED
- SOVÉ: SAVE
- ZONBI: SPIRIT (They might hear this as zombie, and think of the Hollywood invention.)
4. GLOSSARY-LYRICS
20 MINUTES
Students should now be thoroughly familiar with the story of San Maló.
The task now is to learn Kréyol phrases much as they learned them in the lesson on HEY NOM.- Students turn to the translated lyrics on p. 13, also available under LESSON MATERIALS.
- Have students refer to the Handout: Kréyol song Glossary Sheet.
- The sheet has phrases in Kréyol. Students use the lyrics to match them to English phrases by using the translated SAN MALÓ lyrics
- Students could do this as group work, or use the 5/5/10/5 system introduced in a previous lesson. In that method students work quietly on their own for five minutes, compare for 5, work on their own for 10, compare for another 5, etc.
- Teacher could elect to review the sheet with students. SEE KEY.
5. LEARNING THE PHRASES
These activities follow the same outline as the previous language lesson using HEY NOM. You may refer to that lesson for more specific directions.
- Tell students that they are now going to memorize ONE Kréyol phrase. This should be easy for them since they have already matched English to Kréyol lyrics.
- Write or project on a screen the following English phrases. (This should be prepared before the lesson.)
- You are hiding (and possibly) You hid
- In the woods
- They hunted
- You
- Very bad
- Good magic
- People are amazed
- White people
- Free (verb)
- Spirit
- Saint
- Altar
- I, Me
- They
- Over there
- The People
- But yes
- Count off the students. They are to memorize the phrase that matches their number.
- Play the song again and have the students sing along.
6. WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY:
Matching the words.
Tell students that they are only to answer when their phrase is chosen, but to use the activity to try to learn other phrases.
- As you point to a word in English a student who has that matching should say it in Kréyol. See your matching list so you can aid them.
Approach this as a game, not a test
Do several times. First in order, then mix the order of the phrases..
- Have students put away their lyrics sheet. Play the game again to see if they have learned their phrase.
- AT ANY POINT IN THE GAME YOU MAY STOP AND PLAY THE SONG AGAIN.
- Continue the game, allowing ANY student to answer when you point to any phrase, but require them to raise their hands.
- If the class is going well and you wish to continue the game, divide the room into teams.
- The object is for a student to correctly match as many words as possible. One point per correctly matched word. Choose a student to be scorekeeper so you can focus on the key.
If you wish for a closing assignment or an assessment, have students write from memory matching English and Kréyol phrases on paper.
If you wish for students to work with the words using additional activities, refer to the suggested activities at the end of the lesson section.
Vocabulary
THESE ARE THE KRÉYOL PHRASES FROM LESSON #5
- Nom: Man
- Gen por kouri: got to go
- Louvraj: Work
- Se tan: It’s time
- Levé: Get up
- Vilaj: Town
- Larjen: Money
- Fom: Woman
- Tou kek par: Everywhere
- Sé bon: It’s good
- Lwen la ba: Way over there
- Kom si kom sa: So so (as in “it’s OK”)
- Allon: Let’s go.
- Mach la ba: Get over there.
From the song SAN MALO, the students will encounter these phrases.
They should NOT be given to students at the beginning of the lesson. The lesson is written to that they encounter them in the music and lyrics.
- Tu kaché: You are hiding (and possibly) You hid
- Dan bwa: In the woods
- Yé cherché: They hunted
- Twa: You
- Plu mal: Very bad
- Bon majik: Good magic
- Léz-ot barourdi: People are amazed
- Gran: Big
- Le blon: White people
- Liberé: Free (verb)
- Zonbi: Spirit
- San: Saint
- Paterre: Altar
- Mo: I, Me
- Ye: They
- La ba: Over there
- Moun: The People
- Me wi: But yes
Assessment Materials
See key under LESSON MATERIALS
Supports for Struggling Learners
No specific resources are provided. Pairing struggling learners with other students is one strategy.