Join educators across the country for #TeachCentralAmerica week October 7 - 13, 2019. “How many Central Americans of note can you name? They can be in any walk of life (literature, sports, politics, etc.) and they can be from history or today?” When this question is asked to educators in a Teaching for Change workshop on Central America, only a few hands go up to respond. The question surfaces the realization that most of us know very little about Central American history or people. Workshop participants often guess “Cesar Chavez” or “Che Guevara” who are well known Latino/Latin Americans, but not from Central America. "Even in schools with large numbers of students with Central American heritage, at best the staff can name one person, usually Rigoberta Menchú who won a Nobel Peace Prize or Archbishop Oscar Romero who was in the news because of his beatification." Test your OWN knowledge with this “learn as you go” quiz: http://quiz.teachingforchange.org/central-america/ “More than four million Central Americans reside in the United States and migration from the region is headline news. However, most schools teach very little about Central America, including the long history of U.S. involvement in the region.” One reason for this is the lack of resources on Central American heritage in most schools make the rich history and literature of the region invisible. Central America is too-often portrayed as simply a strip of land on a map connecting North and South America. Students are left to imagine that their Central American heritage, or that of their peers, is insignificant. Teachers have learned little of the history themselves and there is a scarcity of literature in the school libraries. Teaching for Change has launched a campaign to help fill that gap with resources for teaching about Central America.” -Students are left to imagine that their Central American heritage, or that of their peers, is insignificant.- Not sure where to begin? You're in luck! Teaching for Change includes FREE resources for learning and teaching about Afro-Latinos, Central America, Puerto Rico, immigration, and more: www.teachingcentralamerica.org/teach-central-america-week Under the “Lessons” tab found on this link you’ll find a variety of lessons (like the two images below) In addition, there are tabs that will take you to resources for teaching about Central America specific to poetry/prose, music, book, film, history and more. “There are FREE downloadable lessons, bios, and poetry and prose from Central American writers such as Roque Dalton, Rigoberta Menchú, Claribel Alegría, and Ernesto Cardenal. These authors used literature to shine a light on key issues such as: the need for land “reform, recognition of indigenous and women’s rights, exploitative labor practices, environmental destruction, political repression and violence, and U.S. intervention. -One more idea for your classroom- The 1993 documentary If the Mango Tree Could Speak featured ten adolescents from El Salvador and Guatemala, telling their stories of growing up in the midst of war. The website When We Were Young / There Was A War continues the story of those same people today, who are now adults. This site has these lessons for your classroom: www.centralamericanstories.com/ If you are teaching or will be about Central America or Central American migration to the United States in your classroom and use lessons or other resources from TeachingCentralAmerica.org, share your teaching stories with them and in appreciation for your time, they will send you a free copy of your choice of books, A Promise to Keep by Mario Bencastro or Caribbean Connections: Moving North. (p.s. This GoogleForm is super simple to complete) Of course, any time of the year you can teach about Central America, but I wanted to be sure share that #TeachCentralAmerica week is set aside for October 7-13. Use that week, if you’re able, to set aside some time so that students can learn about Central America, which has many ties to the United States through foreign policy, immigration, commerce, and culture.
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