Objectives:

As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:

1. Identify, describe & compare typical Nicaraguan foods.
   
2. Construct a portrait of select Nicaraguan cities.
   

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Materials:

1. Computer lab
   
2. Student Handout: Getting Started
   
3. Map of Nicaragua (for reference)
   
4. Construction paper, scissors, markers, glue etc.… (for creating a poster)
   
5. Teacher Handout: Food Description for the Teacher
   
6. Teacher Handout: Tres Leches Recipe
   

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Activities:

1. Divide the students into pairs.
   
   a. Distribute a copy of the student handout entitled Getting Started to each student.
   b. Explain that in this exercise the students will learn about local foods and drinks in selected Nicaraguan cities by using web search engines. (Note: Google was the search engine used in creating this lesson.)
   c. Each pair will decide, according to the information they find, what they will eat and where in Nicaragua they will go for lunch.
   
   
2. Once each pair has made its decision, instruct them to then create a poster and present their decision and where they are going to the class. Each pair must have a basic description of every food, their choices, being much more elaborate, but they will only have to describe one city. (The main course in each case is tied to a particular city, typical for the food specified.)
   
   
3. Concluding Activity (optional).
   
   a. Create one or many of the recipes. (The recipe for Tres Leches is included.)
   b. Yucca for the vigoron is available at Latin markets and is sometimes found in the freezer section of larger grocery stores.
   

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Notes to the Teacher:

1. This lesson lends itself to the inclusion of many levels of Spanish and there are also many opportunities to focus on particular grammar points. It has been used with 7th graders with a focus on "Me gusta" and "me gusta."
   
2. Information on these foods was found in approximately 20 minutes using Google as the search engine. It took the 7th graders mentioned above two days to find all the material they needed and record it. All of the sites were found easily in English or Spanish. (If you use Google as a search engine you have the ability to translate pages from Spanish to English.) The only food that it was difficult to find a description of is Quesillo. That site has been included in case you or your students have a hard time finding it.
   

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