The Fight Over Bullfighting

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question to guide discussion: Should animals be used in sports?

2. List Vocabulary
Share with students some of the challenging vocabulary words in this article. Encourage them to use context to infer meanings as they read. 

• detrimental (p. 7)
• merits (p. 7)
• intransigent (p. 8)
• imposition (p. 8)
• anachronistic (p. 8)
• raucously (p. 8)
  

3. Engage
Have students suggest examples of sports that involve animals (horse racing, dog racing, rodeo, etc.) Ask: Is this sport cruel to animals? Why or why not? What might people who participate in these sports say?

4. Read 
Have students read the article, marking the text to note key ideas or questions.

5. Discuss
Distribute or project Up Close: The Fight Over Bullfighting, a close-reading activity for students to work on in small groups. (Note: The questions on the PDF also appear on the following page of this lesson, with possible responses.) Follow up with a class discussion. If you’re short on time, have each group tackle one or two of the questions. Collect students’ work or have each group report its findings to the class.

• What is the author’s main purpose in writing the article? How does the information in the “By the Numbers” box help you understand the author’s purpose? Explain. (Author’s purpose, text structure) (The author’s main purpose is to present two sides in the debate over whether bullfighting should be banned. The information in the box helps the reader understand the author’s purpose because, by providing the number of people who support a ban on bullfighting along with the amount of money per year that it generates for the Mexican economy, the author is giving a piece of information that supports each side.

• What are the arguments against bullfighting? What are the arguments in support of it? (Central ideas, compare & contrast)(The arguments against bullfighting are that it’s cruel, anachronistic, or a relic of the past, and unpopular. The arguments in support of it are that it’s tradition, it helps the economy and provides jobs, and that banning it infringes on people’s liberties.)

• The author notes in multiple places that “[bullfighting is] allowed in Portugal and the United States, provided no animals are killed.” What inferences can you make about bullfighting from that information? (Make inferences) (From this statement, one can infer that there’s a way to stage a bullfight that doesn’t involve killing an animal. One can also infer that it might be possible that other countries could do the same thing as a compromise.)

• In the section “A Steady Decline,” José Saborit says, “If we want a world of prohibitions and moral imposition, then bullfighting is at risk.” What does he mean? What argument is he making about bullfighting with his statement? (Word meaning, integrate information) (Saborit is asking whether we want to live in a world where many of our liberties are restricted and where others can impose their ideas of morality on everyone else. He is arguing that bullfighting is a symbol of personal freedom and that banning it means people are losing their ability to make their own decision.) 

• In the section “An Uncertain Future,” the author notes that Erik Reyes’s grandfather took Erik to his first bullfight. Why do you think the author included this detail in the article? (Make inferences, author’s purpose)(The author included this detail to suggest one reason why Reyes might support bullfighting—it’s part of his family’s history. This detail supports the article’s central idea that, to some people, bullfighting has cultural and traditional meaning.) 

• Based on the article, whose arguments do you find more persuasive, those of people who want to ban bullfighting or those of people who do not? Explain. (Evaluate arguments) (Students’ responses will vary, but they should support their ideas with text details and reasoning.)

6. Writing Prompt
Research bullfighting in the U.S. How is it different from bullfighting as described in the article? Would you consider it animal cruelty? Why or why not?

7. Video
Watch the video about bullfighting in Mexico City. What does it add to your understanding?

8. Classroom Debate
Should bullfighting be banned?

9. Quiz & Skills
Use the quiz to assess comprehension and the Analyze the Photo and Analyze the Graph skill sheets to practice visual and data analysis.