Cuzco (1), El señor de Sipán (2); indigenous people in Peru - SP Intermediate 1

I was born in Peru, so when I was a child, going to the Andes was an annual event. I have a wonderful picture of myself in a cuzqueña costume at age eight or nine. My parents must have bought it there and I must have been trying it on. My childhood memories of going up to the Andes are not as happy because I always got soroche, altitude sickness. Apparently children suffer a lot from it. It went away after one or two days, but it always colored my views of going up to Cusco.

When I was a child the spelling was always Cuzco but it has now been changed to Cusco. I was told that all the spelling changes were to make the word sound more like the original quechua, but in the case of this word, there really is no good reason as far as I can see.

Here are brief descriptions of the two units. I always start with a reading because my students needed to read as much as possible. Please preview.

Unit 1. El Cusco

Fiestas! Celebrations! The Incas had great gatherings in their capital, Cusco, to celebrate the winter solstice. Today Peruvians celebrate the same day in the same place. Learn all about Peruvian fiestas, combining Inca and Peruvian, past and present, new and old.

Unit includes:

1. Subject matter - Reading: celebrations

2. Vocabulary: celebrations; body

3. Grammar: preterit

4. Oral practice: Neruda poem

5. Homework: visit Machu Picchu

6. Internet: key words for research on topic and additional topics

7. Model tests

8. Teacher’s guide

9. Answer key

Unit 2. El señor de Sipán

An archaeological dig is a huge challenge! The archaeologists want to save the artifacts for posterity; the police are desperate to keep the peace; the local people would like to make some money (some legally, others illegally) from the excavation. Delve into the mysteries of one specific dig, the Señor de Sipán, considered as important as the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt. As always, my content based units include some grammar, in this case the preterit and adverbs of place. It is completely contextualized.

Of the many units I have written, over a twenty year period, the story of the dig at Sipán is one of my personal favorites. It combines intrigue, excitement and discovery. I hope you and your students will like it.

All Miraflores resources are in the target language only.

If you have taken students to Cusco, please share in the Comments section below. I also have written a unit about Machu Picchu, so you can also comment there. I believe visiting another country is an unforgettable experience.