Teacher’s Guide for Iguana January/February 2014

Teacher’s guide prepared by Franziska Green, a journalist writing regularly for various magazines about health and parenting; in her free time she also writes children’s books.

Sabías que... page 1 Ask your students to come up with a list of other currencies around the world. Source the exchange rate for some of the currencies. Show them the prices for milk in some countries in the world (use this resource:https://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?dsrcid=642101) and ask them to make a chart, putting the countries in order from most expensive milk to least expensive. Ask them to consider why milk might be more expensive in one part of the world compared to another. (For example, fewer cows, less land for cows to graze on, limited machinery for milking cows, cultural preference for other beverages and foods, and so on.) (Skill set: Compare and contrast life in different cultures, Translate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text into visual form.)

Buscando la superación, page 6 Ask your students to read the article and answer these questions: Who founded the city of Granada? (Francisco Hernández de Córdoba) Where is the cathedral situated? (In the Plaza de la Independcia, in front of Parque Colón) What does Alex sell? (Crickets made out of palm leaves) How long has he been selling his crickets? (Since he was five years old) What other things can he make with palm leaves? (Flowers, trees, stars, hearts.) Who is responsible for bringing home money in his family? (Alex is) How much does he earn on a good day? (500 córdobas, or $20) Now ask your students find web pages (text or video) about life in Nicaragua (such as http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/nicaragua/day-in-life) and make notes on how life there might be different to the USA. Ask them to provide sources for information they find. (Skill set: Reading informational text, compare and contrast life in different cultures, use digital sources to take notes and categorize information, providing sources)

Extra: Ask your students to try making crickets out of paper. Here you can find origami instructions: http://www.origami-resource-center.com/origami-insects.html

Creciendo en la cocina, page 8 Ask your students to read the interview. Ask them to highlight four sentences where an opinion is put forward, and four where the information is factual. For example, Opinion: La cocina es muy divertida. Fact: Empecé a cocinar a los cuatro años de edad. (Skill set: reading informational text, distinguish among facts, reasoned judgement based on research findings)

Cotorras en peligro, page 14 Ask your students to read the text and then summarize the main point of each paragraph. For example, paragraph one: Pirates who arrived on the island of Puerto Rico took parrots as pets but the real threat to the survival of the parrots came later. (Skill set: Summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

Las laboriosas hormigas, page 20 Ask your students to identify the parts of the story which relate to the illustrations. The first illustration: Desde la llegada de la primavera, en el bosque también vivía una cigarra. Le encantaba ver cómo trabajaban las hormigas. Se ubicaba siempre en una ramita, y pasaba las horas viéndolas trabajar mientras tocaba la guitarra. The second illustration: —Pero muchachas, ¿por qué se apuran? No ven que solo se trata de mal tiempo — se burlaba la cigarra. —Nuestra reina nos dijo que ya ha llegado el otoño y pronto llegará el invierno —dijo una hormiga. The third illustration: Sus vecinas las hormigas parecían estar disfrutando de momentos maravillosos. Se les veía felices y abrigadas. (Skill set: Reading Literature, Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.)