Los productos de Puerto Rico
I have been holding a fruit tasting party with classes for the past 12 years and feel that it is such a meaningful experience for students, that I will always make sure I include it as part of our Puerto Rico unit! I am very passionate about food and believe it is a great way to experience any culture.
Learning about las frutas:
We start by learning the name of the products as they are called in Puerto Rico (for example: orange in Puerto Rico is "la china"). This year I tried something different to introduce the products. After students predicted the types of fruits that would grow in Puerto Rico's hot and humid climate, they were given 8 numbered brown bags, each with a real fruit inside. They were then asked to name each fruit by touch, smell and sound only!
This year I also had students choose one product that they wanted to learn more about and use iPads to research how their product grows, what it looks like on the inside and how it is used in Puerto Rican cooking. Students were placed in groups with other fruits and taught one another what they had learned.
Bargaining Skits:
After talking about why Puerto Rico uses American dollars, students begin learning how to say prices in Spanish. We review numbers to 100 and I have students guess what I really paid for the products in a "Price is Right" kind of game. I then teach students about bargaining and have them create a skit in pairs where they have to ask
for a product and bargain for it!
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| "Bargaining" for Puerto Rican products! |
Finally...the fiesta!
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| Enjoying many different fruits and juices! |
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| Sampling authentic foods! |
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| Star fruit, sugarcane, pineapple and homemade guacamole |
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| Plantains, Rosita cookies, yuca and more! |
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| Serving up arroz con leche! |
I ask for volunteers to send in fruit, and the phenomenal families in my school always come through! I used to do everything myself, but realized it would be more meaningful for students to bring in the products themselves (and I was really bad at opening coconuts)! Of course, students ask every year ask if they can bring in coffee (No!) and sugarcane (Yes!) In several classes I had students bring in small sticks of sugarcane and everyone enjoyed seeing how they felt and tasted! I also invite parents to come in and help, as it is a fun experience and it is always great to have extra hands.
The day of the fiesta: I think I get as excited as the kids, as I know that students will get to sample some fruits and foods for the first time. Some lucky classes have parents who are able to make some Caribbean dishes. I have had parents make natilla (a custard) and arroz con leche (rice pudding), and the kids usually go crazy for it. I also have students list the fruits they will be trying and then check off if they like it. At the end we always debrief about what students liked, what was their favorite, and if anyone tried anything new!
