High School

In this lesson, students will be introduced to causes of the Mexican Revolution and key revolutionary figures. They will gain an understanding of a particular Mexican song form, the corrido, and its role as a vehicle for communicating the news and other important events. Students will be introduced to the causes and outcomes of the Mexican Revolution by learning about key figures. This lesson will culminate in the students creation of original corridos based on current events.

Through this set of lesson segments, students will engage with the mariachi music of Mexico through discussing audio and video clips, listening to individual instruments within ensemble and imitating them by ear, and through playing an arranged mariachi piece. Note: Music will need to be purchased from Smithsonian Folkways website to accompany the lessons.

Students will learn about the traditional Mexican musical form of corridos by analyzing traditional corridos, their themes and finally writing their own original corrido.

In this lesson, students will be able to identify characteristics of subjective and objective accounts and be able to write about and discuss how issues in relation to Borderland issues in Arizona.

In this lesson, students will be able to identify some aspects of Mexican culture through the evolving genre of the corridos and recognize grammatical forms though an analysis of the lyrics.

In this lesson, students will understand the political, social and economic conditions that the United States and Mexico faced in events leading up to the fight for Texas and the Mexican-American war. They will understand the importance of nationalism and its connection to conflict.

In this lesson, students will learn about the Bracero Program and its goal of resolving a labor shortage in the U.S. Students will examine the theme of cooperation in the establishment of the Bracero program and evaluate multiple perspectives on the controversial event. This lesson will prompt students to consider the interdependence of Mexico and the United States in the context of labor migration. Note: Photos aren't included in materials but can be easily searched online.

In this lesson, students will engage in meaningful conversations about their knowledge, experience and opinion of Nortec music. Students will interpret the meaning and history of Nortec music along with their knowledge of border issues. A final product will be created based on the fusion of old and new elements in the borderlands.

This lesson is a prep lesson to set up a larger lesson on the economies of Mexico and the United States. Students will be able to compare the economies of the U.S. and Mexico based on the relative values of the money system over a period of 50 years. They will understand the peso and dollar relationship.

This unit examines the work of Cesar Chavez and his role as an organic intellectual. In addition it emphasizes the importance of the creation of organic intellectuals.