Haitian Culture Curriculum Guide

Teacher Resources:
• Slides – Paintings and Photographs of Haiti – in Supplementary Materials section of Haitian
Culture Curriculum Guide Grades K-5
• Teacher-created color chart with color words in Haitian Creole
• Teacher-created cassette tape with color words in Haitian Creole
• Chart paper
• Haitian Creole Color Words Worksheet – in Supplementary Materials section of Haitian
Culture Curriculum Guide Grades K-5
• Tap-Tap pattern – in Supplementary Materials section of Haitian Culture Curriculum Guide
Grades K-5
Background:
Haiti is a land of colors. Public buildings, schools, and houses are all painted with beautiful, bright
colors. Functional household objects and furniture may be painted with animal, flower, and fruit
designs. Real vegetables and fruits, sold in the open-air markets, add to the colorful atmosphere.
Flowering plants are always in bloom.
In Port-au-Prince, and the countryside, Tap-Tap transport people around the city. Their wildly
original decorations are limited only by the imagination of their owners.
Haiti is renowned for its great paintings and sculpture. Vivid paintings, metal sculpture, and other
art forms sell in abundance. Famous artists exhibit in museums, public buildings, arts centers, and
galleries.
Artists without established reputations show and sell their art outdoors from street stalls. Tourists
from cruise ships are their best customers.
Procedures/Activities:
1. Discuss the importance of color in Haitian culture. Use the background notes in for this
lesson and show the slides of paintings and photographs of Haiti to inform your discussion.
Ask students to name some of the colors that they see on the slides. Inform students that in
today’s lesson, they will learn how to say colors in Haitian Creole and they will make a model
of a Tap-Tap. Define a Tap-Tap for students.
2. Play a cassette tape and listen to the colors in Haitian Creole once. Display the color list below
on the board or on overhead transparency. Play the tape again; this time students repeat the
words. Ask the students if they notice any sounds similar to those in the English language.
COLORS
English Haitian Creole and Pronunciation
red - wouj (wouge, “j” sounds like “ge” in rouge)
pink - wòz (was)
orange - zoranj (zo-runge, “j” sounds like “ge” in rouge)
yellow - jòn (jun, “j” sounds like “ge” in rouge)
green - vèt (pronounced like “vet” in veteran)
blue - ble (blay)
purple - mòv/vyolèt (mauve/veeyolet)
black - nwa (noua)
brown - mawon (“a” as in cat, “wo” sounds like “wa” want, n is soft)
white - blan (“a” sounds like “u” in hut, n is soft)
gray - gri (gree)
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