Lesson Plan 1 – Mission Nuestra Senora de la Conception
Teacher Name: Sotskaya Eugenia
Art Work:
Artist: N/a
Title: Mission Nuestra Senora de la Conception
Date: 1755
Theme: Arts & Culture. Visual Arts
Lesson Plan Title: Development of America through religion
Skills Covered:

• analyzing written information,
• expressing opinion on the written and visual information,
• working with dictionary,
• comparing the objects in historical and cultural retrospective.

General Goal(s): analysis of a certain work of Art using an integrated method.
Specific Objectives:

• Discuss the hardships the new settlers face while developing American lands. 
• Compare similar objects and analyze how these objects reflect cultural differences.
• Enrich students’ vocabulary by introducing and reinforcing arts related terms.

Materials/ Visual Aids:
http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/tx/tx40.htm
http://www.nps.gov/saan/planyourvisit/concepcion.htm
http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/hispanic/2005/park.HTM
http://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/2sanantonio/2sanantonio.htm
http://www.de-viz.ru/articles_pixview.php?articles_pix_id=1722
http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/
http://foto.mail.ru/mail/mnsamoilov/639/
http://www.temples.ru/panorama.php
http://www.fotokritik.ru/search/?s_text=%F6%E5%F0%EA%E2%E8+%D0%EE%F1%F1%E8%E8
http://ezodigest.livejournal.com/35319.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipka_Memorial_Church

Instructional Procedures:

• Warm-up (5 minutes):

(The teacher presents the pictures and divides the class into several groups. The task to all the groups is to answer the questions and to feel in the table. (http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)

• What type of building is it? Why do you think so?
• When was it built? Who was it built by?
• What country is the building situated in? Specify the part of the country?
• What was the function of the building?

The teacher helps the groups with developing their ideas. When the students discuss the questions in groups they should make notes and while listening to other groups they should fill in the table with the other groups’ answers. Appendix A.
Step-by-step procedure:

• Activity 1 (5 minutes). Single out the key words which are commonly used in the students’ answers (the teacher writes them on the board while the students answer the questions). Discuss them and add some more. For example: church, mission, worship, religious, incursion. (The students look the words up in the Dictionary of Contemporary

English (Longman), if they don’t know the meanings.)

• church is a place where people come if they believe in God;
• mission is a place where people live and teach the basics of their religion, generally Christians. Missioners usually come to foreign countries where their ideas are not widely spread;
• worship is some activity or rules connected with people’s belief in something (God);
• religious means something associated with one’s belief;
• incursion is a sudden attack or arrival into some other land.

 (http://www.nps.gov/saan/historyculture/conc_history1.htm)

• Activity 3 (3 minutes). Answer the questions on the text.

(http://www.nps.gov/saan/historyculture/conc_history1.htm)

• Who was the mission named after?
• Why was it transferred to San Antonio River area?
• Why does it remain the least restored churches nowadays?
• What did the mission look like at that time?

The students answer the questions individually. Some of them can add to the answers.

• Activity 4 (5 minutes). Look through the text “Transfer of the Mission” and match the words in the first column with the definitions in the second one. Appendix B.

(http://www.nps.gov/saan/historyculture/conc_history1.htm)

• Activity 5 (10 minutes). Read one more text about the Mission. And later we shall make some analysis.

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)

• Activity 6 (3 minutes). (The teacher writes the main ideas on the blackboard while the students are reading)

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)
There are main points in the text.

• The outer view of the Mission;
• The goals of its building;
• The reasons why the Natives come to the Mission;
• The interior of the Mission;
• The frescos in the building;
• The Mission nowadays;

Do you agree with them? Can you add any other ideas? Are any of them odd? There are some phrases that can help you express your opinion, agree or disagree. Appendix C.

• Activity 7 (7 minutes). Choose one paragraph in the text and study it in pairs.

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)
What words and phrases does the author of the text use to describe the Mission and to clarify the whole historical situation? Be ready to explain what these words and phrases mean (Students can use a dictionary, if they need to find out the meaning of certain words).

• Activity 8 (5 minutes). Tell in details about the point you have discussed.

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)
All the students should listen attentively, underline the meaningful words and phrases in the text, and be ready to ask additional questions.

• Activity 9 (3 minutes). Look at the pictures on the site. Try to compare the building of the Mission in the past and nowadays

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)
e.g. In the eighteenth century the Mission was a centre of culture where people could live and work more or less safely. Nowadays the Mission is just a historical monument that tells the story of developing of the region by Spaniards.                 

• Activity 10 (1 minute). The Mission was built in Spanish Baroque style. Why was this style predominant in their churches? 

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)

• Activity 11 (3 minutes). Find examples how this church design symbolizes Christian beliefs. Find design elements that suggest the number three.

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)

• Activity 12 (2 minutes). If we return back to the interior of the Mission. What colours were used in the design of the church? What can you still see on the interior walls of the Mission?

(http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/)

• Activity 13 (1 minute). Read a short paragraph about the frescos in the church.

• Activity 17 (5 minutes). What are your impressions of the photos? Describe them.  Use  the  table  with expressions to help you. Justify your opinion. Appendix D.
• Closure

The works of Art we have analyzed are the landmarks in the history of different countries. And all of them can be associated with certain periods in their history. And in order to understand our background and history better we should think of the events that took place many years ago.

• Extra-Class Work (Homework)

In small groups find additional material and the pictures of the most famous frescos. Surf the Internet and other resources. Tell about the location, the historical background, the author(s), and try to analyze these works of Art.

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D