Arts, music, dance, and literature of Peru

General

In this lesson, students will explore Peruvian culture by looking at photographs pertaining to the different Peruvian art forms, analyzing song lyrics and Peruvian dances, and learning about traditional Peruvian folklore.

Learning objective

Students will be able to describe the art, music, dance, and literature of Peru.

Introduction

Students will analyze a photograph of a Peruvian woman dressed in traditional clothing in the mountains with animals. They will be asked to make an inference about what they see in the photograph. Students will learn Peru is made up of many different ethnic groups and cultures. Students will look at a map and learn about where Peru is located in the world.

Instruction

The lesson will go over Peruvian culture. It will explain the types of art including weaving, gourd carving, and mask making After learning about the different art forms, students will learn about traditional Peruvian musical instruments such as the charango and the cajón. They will listen to the sounds of Inca wind instruments and learn about how the use of instruments varies depending on the tribe and location in Peru. Students will sing along to a children’s song in Spanish, the most popular language of Peru, and analyze the song lyrics. Students will learn about Peru’s National Dance, the marinara. Students will learn about how traditional Peruvian stories were told and passed down through generations. Then, they will read an overview of a Peruvian legend about how foxes came to have large mouths.

Quiz

Students will respond to 10 questions including 5 true/false, 3 multiple choice, and 2 short answer.

Closing

Students will list three things they learned about Peruvian culture (art, music, dance literature)and discuss how Peruvian culture is similar to and/or different from their culture. Lastly, they will use what they learned about Peruvian gourd carving to create their own gourd artwork that tells a story.