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Prepared by Nancy Wheaton Modern
Janet E.
Dannemiller
Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, MD Abstract: The current trends in performance assessment challenge the foreign language teacher to devise tests which simulate life experiences in which the student can interact in the target language for meaningful communication. This article outlines a shopping unit project which integrates a variety of activities based on the stores or services that the students establish. This performance-oriented shopping unit, which also involves some writing, emphasizes the present subjunctive tense and formal commands, as well as culturally appropriate shopping expressions. This is a multi-dimensional unit designed to motivate all ability groups as the students become personally involved with the language while marketing products and services in the Spanish classroom. Key Words: pedagogy in secondary schools, performance assessment, marketing in Spanish class, student business establishments, shopping unit Introduction
The proficiency method of foreign language teaching has encouraged teachers to simulate real life situations in which students can use the target language in a classroom setting. One of the most authentic and functional units that is introduced in the first year and is progressively developed in our school curriculum to at least the third year of language study is a Shopping Unit. By the third level of high school, Spanish students are able to establish a specialty store or business service which simulates a culturally appropriate shopping environment in the classroom. This performance-oriented shopping unit encompasses the establishment of a business, choosing products or services to market, designing a store window, advertising with brochures and television commercials, negotiating a sale with customers, paying in foreign currency, expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product or service, returning an item, and writing a letter of complaint to the store manager. The Shopping Unit Project that follows takes approximately three weeks and integrates different aspects of student performance, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, and culture, coinciding with current trends in performance assessments. Getting Started
As an introduction to the shopping unit the teacher reviews shopping vocabulary from the previous levels. One idea to facilitate the review is to brainstorm specialty stores as a class. Then divide the students into groups of four with chart paper. Each group lists the merchandise of a specific store and describes the products or uses of the products. Another group reviews verbs related to shopping and records them on chart paper. The teacher posts the chart paper and has one student from each group review the vocabulary for the class. The students record new vocabulary in their notebooks. The teacher reviews and/or introduces the following linguistic enablers: quantifiers for quantities needed, sold or available, such as mucho(s), más, menos, poco(s), unos, cuánto(a) (s); numbers for currency exchanges; commands for advertisements; present subjunctive to express preferences, opinions, persuasion, satisfaction/dissatisfaction; and culturally appropriate shopping expressions such as ¿En qué puedo servirle?/ Quisiera probarme una talla más grande/ ¿Cómo le queda?; and comparatives and superlatives. Additional vocabulary is introduced each day before the students start working on their projects in class. The students will also be using new vocabulary for their own businesses.
Assessment of the Business
Establishment
The teacher provides students with a handout describing the task and listing all the requirements for the project. Points and due dates are assigned to each required activity in the project. The project is valued at 300 points which is the equivalent of a major test, oral performances, and writing assignments. The evaluation criteria for the oral and written products are: grammatical accuracy, including the present subjunctive, formal commands, quantifiers, comparatives, and superlatives (25%); use of specialized and culturally appropriate vocabulary and shopping expressions (25%); quality of marketing and communication including neatness, creativity, and appropriate visuals (25%); fluency of expression including culturally appropriate communication between shopkeepers and clients during all activities (25%). The handout given to the students with the directions for each activity is outlined below. Establishing the Business
Students will establish a specialty store or business service from the following list or by teacher approval. Students will work in pairs.
Mueblería Juguetería Modas formales Tintorería Agencias de viajes Salones de belleza Pastelería/panadería Farmacia/perfumería El taller de reparaciones de coches/coches usados Servicios-médicos/ dentales/ legales Animales domésticos Florería Fiestas Computadoras Comida a domicilio (caterers) Tienda de regalos Ferretería Tienda de disfraces Exterminadores Joyería Tienda de música Mercados de alimentos especializados Resources such as Spanish language newspapers, magazines, advertisement brochures, merchandise catalogues and Spanish telephone book yellow pages will be available in the classroom. 1) Name the store and 12-15 products and/ or services in Spanish such as Fiestas Estupendas, Reino Animal, El Globo Rojo. 10 points 2) Describe in detail the characteristics of the products or services and the prices in a culturally appropriate currency. 10 points Marketing Strategies
1) Create a marketing slogan for your business such as «Si no es fresco, no es nuestro» or «Compre nuestros juguetes y dé una sonrisa a sus niños». 10 points 2) Create and design a marketing folleto with visuals to persuade clientes to come to your store, using formal commands and the subjunctive tenses. Summarize the characteristics of your products/ services with comparatives and superlatives. Prices will be in a culturally appropriate currency. Include your marketing slogan. Write a minimum of 20 sentences. A rough draft is required for the folleto. 100 points 3) Create and design an escaparate including the store name, slogan, and visuals of the products/ services including their prices in a culturally appropriate currency. Include ofertas, rebajas, and gangas for the escaparate. Hang your escaparates on the classroom walls. 40 points 4) Create an ad for a TV commercial, which will be videotaped, summarizing the characteristics of the products/services using your marketing slogan, props, commands and the subjunctive tense. 40 points Shopping Day
1) Invite clientes (classmates or students from other Spanish classes) to your store, ask how you can help them, negotiate a sale, and close the sale with payment in the foreign currency. Students will bring products to the classroom to use as props. One student from each business can be the shopkeeper and one the shopper, with roles reversed on the following day. 10 points 2) Report on the items sold to the class using the preterite tense; clientes will describe the items/services purchased and the vendedores will tell what they sold. 10 points
Dissatisfied Customers
1) A dissatisfied customer returns a product or is unhappy with the service rendered. Accept the return and solve the problem. 10 points 2) Write a business style letter of complaint about a service or product you purchased. Include the following:
Accountability
Keep all the notes and worksheets collected during the oral activities as a record of what was done when other students were reporting to the class. Staple in a packet with the dates of each activity. 10 points Materials Needed
Tips for Success
A successful way to approach the performance-oriented assessments described in this project is to provide a model for each activity, such as a conversation for shopping day and a business letter format for the complaint letter. These models facilitate authentic context in the target language, but the content reflects the students' personalized business establishments. It is essential to introduce the culturally appropriate shopping expressions, including currencies, and to teach the linguistic structures required in a shopping context. The teacher should proofread the students' written work for each activity, circling the errors that they should be able to correct and providing the correct form for more advanced language. Most of the work can be done in class, as the students will need to work together. Some of the activities are homework assignments, while others serve as prompts for writing tests. It is necessary to give the students due dates for each activity, and they should bring prepared sketches and rough drafts of their work to class every day. During the oral activities, when the students are reporting on the items purchased and returned, the students must keep records for accountability! Conclusion
This is a highly successful multi-dimensional unit for all ability groups due to the meaningful student input into each business establishment. This unit motivates students to become involved with the language. They have the excitement of creating their own business establishments, and they enjoy designing, drawing, and selling the products. Teachers will see the students on the classroom floor drawing their escaparates; they decide on the prices, slogans, and advertising gimmicks. Furthermore, they actually enjoy learning the subjunctive with the shopping context examples. 
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