Intermediate Lesson

Title: Tango Bingo

Arizona State Standards

  • Reading: Strand 2-Concept 1 (identify main ideas, author’s purpose) Strand 3-Concpet 1(analyze non-fiction) Strand 3-Concept 2 (Compare and contrast historical and cultural perspectives)
  • Writing: Strand 2- Concept 1 (Grades 4 & 5), Strand 3-Concept 2 (Grades 5-8) Strand 3- Concept 2 (Grades 5-8) Concept 6 (Grades 6-8) (Summarize info) Strand 2-Concept 1 (Grades 4 & 5) Strand 3-Concepts 2 & 6 (Grades 4-8) (Research Skills)
  • Listening and Speaking: LS-E1, LS-E2, LS-E4(shares, presents, responds) VP-E1-E3 (analyze, plan, develop, compare and contrast)
  • History: 1SS-E8(research tools)
  • Geography: 3SS-E4 (using geographic tools) 3SS-E5 (regions) 3SS-E6 (social interaction, migration) 3SS-E8 (applying skills)
  • Arts: 1AM-E3/E4 (musical performance) 2AV-E3/E4/3AV-E3 (cultural & historical expression) 2AV-E2 (art careers) 3AV-E1 (purpose of art) 1AD-E4 (identify dance)

Goals & Objectives:

  1. Students investigate the meaning of a tango vocabulary word and relate it to the other words shared in the class.
  2. Students become familiar with Argentina and South America history and geography.
  3. Students practice research skills, specifically filtering through unneeded information.

Length of lesson: 3 one-hour periods

Materials & Preparation:

  1. list of tango vocabulary (see below)
  2. internet access for each group of students
  3. materials to create posters world map/globe
  4. tango music and video research sources

NOTE:
**The sequence of this lesson is “backwards,” meaning that students begin with an unknown piece of information and create meaning by building upon separate seemingly unrelated parts until together students create larger understandings and become familiar with South America and Argentina geography, history and culture. **

Lesson

First Period

  1. Before class begins, write the word tango on the board and cover it up with a piece of paper.
  2. Explain that the class is going to solve a puzzle, or rather guess what the hidden word is on the board.
  3. Have kids randomly guess before you begin the research portion of the lesson. Some might ask, “What kind of word?” or “Give us a clue!”
  4. Divide students into groups and give each group a “clue,” a word associated with tango (see below). Have students attempt to guess the unknown word again.
  5. Most students will be disappointed since they will not understand the clue. Explain that each group has to find out what the meaning of their clue is.
  6. Have students use the internet to find the meaning of their clue. (If you have access to creating an intranet, where you can direct your students to certain web sites, this portion of the lesson maybe more productive.)
  7. Remind students that each group has a clue, and all the clues have something to do with the hidden word. After they learn what their clue means, they will listen to the other groups explain the meaning of their clues, and then everyone will have a chance to guess what the hidden word is.
  8. Play tango music in the background while students are working, making no mention or reference to what kind of music it is.
  9. Have them create a poster showing (with pictures and words) the meaning of their word.

Second Period

  1. Have each group share their posters and then have the class guess what the hidden word is. (You may want to award a prize to the individual or the team that guesses correctly.)
  2. If the class has not guessed that the answer to the puzzle is tango help them by giving more clues or repeating significant information from each presentation.
  3. After students have guessed, ask the class what the word tango means. Accept all of their comments and keep a list of their questions.
  4. Have tango music playing during this portion of the lesson, or begin to play the music at this point. If students have not guessed by now, call their attention to the music playing and see if anyone knows what kind of music this is.
  5. Do students know what tango dancing looks like? Have a student or students demonstrate what tango dancing looks like. If no one knows, have all students improvise. How would they move their bodies to this music?

Third

  1. Use the map/globe to point out Argentina and South America. What does Argentina have to do with tango?
  2. Show a video to demonstrate tango music and tango dance to the students. Show a video (maybe related to tourism) about Argentina.
  3. Display three posters labeled geography, history and culture. Allow students time to individually walk around and write information they have learned about South America and Argentina under each of these categories.
  4. Discuss the posters, reviewing what the group learned about Argentina and South America through researching tango.

Closure

  1. Using the provided tango vocabulary (or other words generated by the class) have students create their own tango bingo card.
  2. Play tango bingo using the clues and other related tango words.

Evaluation

  1. Have students write a paragraph telling what they learned about tango, Argentina and/or South America.

Extensions

  1. Have a dance instructor or a physical education teacher come and instruct how to dance to tango music.
  2. Have students write a poem about the word they were given that includes information about tango and Argentina.
  3. Investigate artistic expressions that are inspired by tango, such as film, painting, sculpture.

Tango Vocabulary

Bandoneon –musical instrument similar to the accordion

Lunfardo—“street talk” found in tango lyrics during the end of the 19th century

Milonga – where people dance tango, derived from an African term meaning mess,
problem or tangle

El Choclo – famous tango song

Carlos Gardel –famous tango singer

Astor Piazzolla – famous tango composer and musician

Horacio Salgan – famous tango composer and musician


Optional vocabulary—may not be as specific to tango and/or may contain
inappropriate information on internet.

Tugurios –places of negative connotations (dirty, dangerous, suspicious)

Compadrito –a male tango dancer, with a negative connotation, not respected, an
arrogant conqueror of women

Cafishio – a male tango figure, supplied women for men to dance with

Rioplatense –someone from the area of Rio de la Palata (including parts of Argentina,
Brazil, Paraguay and Uraguay.)

La habanera –a slow Cuban dance

Calzado de pulsera – female high-heel shoe used for tango dancing

Porteño –someone from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Varieté –places for entertainment in Buenos Aires (theatres,cabarets, bars,brothels,etc.)

Lupanares –brothels

**To find related websites, enter each word into a ‘googlesearch’ (www.google.com)