Unit 3: Rivers and Water Diversion

Unit 3 activities support the module goals of being able to articulate the principles of environmental justice as they relate to the potential impacts of planned hydroelectric dams on the Marañón River in Peru. The specific learning objectives for this unit align with the World Readiness Standards for Learning Languages as follows:

• Communication:
  • Interpersonal Communication: Spanish language learners interact and negotiate meaning in spoken conversations to share information, reactions, and opinions about the possible social and environmental impacts of hydroelectric projects.
  • Interpretive Communication: Spanish language learners understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed regarding proposed hydroelectric dams on the Ene and Marañón Rivers.
• Connections:
  • Making Connections: Spanish language learners build, reinforce, and expand their knowledge of other disciplines while using Spanish to develop critical thinking. As part of this, learners will be able to:
    • define watershed terms in Spanish;
    • employ definitions of topography, surface flow, watersheds, and drainage divides to identify potential environmental consequences of hydroelectric dams;
    • interpret digital imagery from Google Earth to investigate relationships between surface water diversion and environmental justice.
  • Acquiring Information and Diverse Perspectives: Spanish language learners access and evaluate information from Asháninka spokespersons interviewed in a Peruvian regional news program.

Unit 3 is designed to function as one day of instruction in an intermediate-level Spanish class. The materials are especially appropriate for a Spanish course that focuses on environmental studies, human rights, contemporary issues, conversation, and/or global change. Students do not need any prior knowledge of scientific concepts. The plan is for a 50-minute class, but it can be modified to fit various schedules. Although the instructions below include both Spanish and English, the lesson is designed to be conducted entirely in Spanish. Students will need to be familiar with concepts of environmental justice and the water cycle prior to this lesson.

PRE-CLASS ACTIVITY

This homework assignment should be completed before class La cuenca hidrográfica -- actividad (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 85kB May18 16). The homework assignment introduces students to watershed terms, how they work, and possible consequences of hydroelectric projects through questions that direct students in online investigations and critical thinking, a visual image for which they apply the terms, and a link to a short video. The homework assignment is referred to throughout the lesson and informs several of its activities.

Answer key to "La cuenca hidrográfica -- actividad" (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 45kB Jul15 24)

IN-CLASS ACTIVITY

Introduction to the Marañón River and its hydroelectric projects (10 min)

The interactive PowerPoint materials ask students to compare images of the Marañón River with images of the Grand Canyon to provide a sense of the grandeur of the physical landscape of these two regions. These images are used to then ask questions that contrast environmental justice arguments with those used to prevent dams from being built in the Grand Canyon. To provide a point of comparison, ask students to guess which slides show the Marañón River and which ones show the Grand Canyon (slides 1–6). Continue with slide 7, which includes a question for think-pair-share discussion of the implicit arguments used to resist the construction of dams in the Grand Canyon. Show students slides 8 and 9 which introduce an overview of planned construction of dams in the Amazon. El río Marañón (PowerPoint 12MB Jul15 24)

What is a watershed? ¿Qué es una cuenca hidrográfica? (10 min)

Ask students to take out their homework assignment. To provide oral practice and to clarify watershed terms, ask pairs of students to take turns describing the vocabulary from part 1 to their partner, who must guess which part of the illustration is being described. Return to the large group and ask individual students to describe these terms to the class using PowerPoint slide 10 for reference.

A gallery walk to discuss river flow, watersheds, and dams (15 min)

Divide students into small groups of three or four. Student groups circulate around the room in a gallery walk based on questions 2, 3, and 4 of the homework. (¿Qué factores pueden influir el caudal de un río? ¿Cuál es un buen sitio para construir una represa? ¿Cuáles son algunas consecuencias de construir una represa en un río como el de la imagen?) They choose one person as a reporter for the group and then discuss and compare their answers as part of this gallery walk. After the groups have visited all three stations, the instructor facilitates a full class discussion of the outcomes for each station calling on reporters to start the conversation.

Why do some dams cause more flooding than others? ¿Por qué algunas represas pueden provocar mayores inundaciones en comparación con otras? (10 min)

Open the Google Earth image files which show estimates of the potential reservoirs that would result from 22 proposed Marañón River dams. Embalses del río Marañón (Zip Archive 816kB Nov15 14) Click on various dams, zoom in and out to compare. For a stark contrast, click on the Chadin II and the Manseriche dams. Ask students why certain dams would cause more flooding than others. Ask them what other consequences might result.

El pueblo asháninka and Ruth Buendía (5 min)

Review questions 5 and 6 from the homework assignment. As a think-pair-share activity or as a homework assignment, ask students to identify the arguments used to resist the dams on the Ene River and compare them with the Grand Canyon ad from the beginning of the class. Ask if they see arguments based on environmental justice.

Gallery Walk — One of the central activities in this lesson is a gallery walk in which students work in groups to answer three questions stationed throughout the room. The instructor should be prepared to organize these stations so that students can freely circulate in their groups.

Since many of the words in this unit may be new for Spanish language students, when working in groups, encourage student partners to start with what they know, identify cognates, use context clues from drawings, employ a process of elimination, and make connections with the class discussion. Students should be encouraged to talk entirely in Spanish in their groups using words they know, gestures, and the drawing to get their ideas across.

As a possible extension, students could investigate a river of their own choosing to apply the concepts learned in this unit.

Assessment (homework) — Share with students the Marañón River basins either by sending or making available the Google Earth kmz files Las cuencas del río Marañón (KMZ File 2MB Nov15 14) or with PowerPoint slides 11 and 12. Then share with them images of the Amazon river basin on PowerPoint slides 13 and 14. These images show how the Marañón River and its tributaries flow directly into the Amazon River. Slide 15 asks students to interpret the Google Earth images and respond to the following in writing:

• Identify at least three possible environmental and/or social consequences for the Amazon River and its basin if the development of major hydroelectric projects on the Marañón River proceeds.
• Do any of these possible consequences connect to the idea of environmental justice? Explain.
• What additional research would you recommend to be better able to predict these consequences? Unit 3 Assessment Rubric (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 28kB May18 16)

¿Qué piensas? ¿Cuáles serán las consecuencias para el río Amazonas y la cuenca Amazónica si se desarrollan los proyectos hidroeléctricos planificados para el río Marañón?

• Identifica por lo menos 3 posibles consecuencias sociales y/o ambientales.
• ¿Hay alguna conexión entre estas consecuencias y la justicia ambiental? Explica.
• ¿Qué investigaciones recomendarías para poder predecir de mejor manera las consecuencias de estos proyectos hidroeléctricos?

In addition to the above assessment, the pre-class activity can be collected and/or the instructor can note through class participation if students can articulate watershed terms and the relationship between topography, surface flow, watersheds, and drainage divides.

• Google Earth files for Rio Marañón (KMZ File 29.3MB Jun25 14)
• ¿Por qué las grandes represas no son fuente de energía limpia?, from la Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente (AIDA), a nongovernmental international environmental law organization http://www.aida-americas.org/es/represasNOenergialimpia
• Finer M. & Jenkins, C. N. (2012). Proliferation of Hydroelectric Dams in the Andean Amazon and Implications for Andes-Amazon Connectivity. PLoS ONE 7(4): e35126. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0035126
• Save the Río Marañón — map with Google Earth shots, from Sierra Rios, a nonprofit organization
• International Rivers: Amazonía peruana from International Rivers, a nonprofit organization
• Good and Bad Dams, from the World Bank