By Marcy Campos
On Friday, May 3rd, Salvadoran author Mario Bencastro visited Houston Elementary School to share his 2021 bilingual book, Un tren llamado Esperanza, or A Train Called Hope, illustrated by Robert Casilla.
Bruce-Monroe @ Park View Elementary School (DCPS) devotes six weeks to in-depth study of Black Lives Matter principles.
Read MoreAward-winning author and poet Roxana Mendez read her new book at DCPS Tubman Elementary School.
Read MoreAnna Lapera taught “Central America: An Introductory Lesson” in her middle school ESL and Spanish as a Heritage Language classes. The lesson prompted students to share their own family stories.
Read MoreWe were invited back to the strong-knit community at Bruce-Monroe at Parkview for their annual teach-in-style celebration of Central American history and culture.
Read MoreThis story’s title gave it away, but Sacred Heart students, and the wider community, are beaming with pride because their book, Historias y Dibujos: Students of Sacred Heart School, Washington, D.C., 2022, is now available to purchase online,and eight copies are a part of D.C. public library’s permanent collection!
Read MoreStudents learned about the Gods & Goddesses of the Nahua, Aztec, and Maya, and then made Hojalatas based on symbols and imagery from different cultures in the area, honoring the Indigenous cultures that paved the way for much of what is still celebrated and practiced in the countries of Central America through food, art, literature, music, dance, and language.
Read MoreThe third annualk Teach Central America Expo at Bruce-Monroe ES @ Park View (DCPS). remained an intentional, collaborative, and joyous expression of the importance of teaching about Central America!
Read MoreStudents at Cardozo EC — most of whom are newly arrived students from outside the United States — taught other students about the countries from which they migrated.
Read MoreHannah Halpern and Megan Burleigh welcomed Teaching Central America advisor Jeannette Noltenius and her colleague Flori Berrocal to their classes at Hearst ES (DCPS) for a reading of Mario Bencastro’s A Train Called Hope/Un Tren Llamado Esperanza.
Read MoreStudents from Roosevelt’s International Academy, which includes many students who are newcomers to the United States from Central America, kicked off Teach Central America Week 2022 with a visit from An Open Book Foundation, Shout Mouse Press, and Santos, one of the contributing authors of Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth.
Read MoreThe three D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice working groups convened a joint meeting to prepare to teach about Central America this school year, especially during the October 3–9 Teach Central America Week. Educators began with a trip to the National Museum of the American Latino’s first exhibit, ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States.
Read MoreOn August 24, 2022 Teaching for Change’s Teach Central America program specialist Jonathan Peraza Campos and Vanessa Williams, D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice’s program manager, co-facilitated a professional development for D.C. public schools entitled “Central American Literature in the Classroom.”
Read More“How many Central Americans can you name?” Caneisha Mills, 8th- grade teacher at Hardy Middle School in Washington, D.C. asked her advisory. During Teach Central America Week, Mills used the remote learning Central America mixer template to explore the lives and experiences of Central American figures with students.
Read MoreTeaching for Change hosted the second annual Teach Central America Week from October 5 – 11, 2020. Hundreds of teachers from 35 states and the District of Columbia signed up to participate and organizations across the country endorsed the week. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to sign up to pledge to Teach Central America and share your stories about how you teach about Central America all year long. Here, we share news about lessons, events, teaching stories, and resources from this year’s Teach Central America Week.
Read MoreJoin Salvadoran American journalist Roberto Lovato, author of the new book Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas, for a virtual book talk.
Read MoreTo honor Teach Central America Week, Marlena James used the Central America 101 mixer in her classes on Thursday, October 17th as an interactive activity for students to learn about significant figures in Central American history and current events.
Read MoreAs the buzzing energy of a new school year filled the gym at James K. Polk Elementary School, staff arrived for a full-day professional development on Central America. On August 27, 2019, staff engaged in descriptive and informative sessions that detailed the history of Central America to provide background context about many of the students and families they serve, as well as interactive workshops with hands-on activities and strategies to teach Central America through art and children’s literature.
Read MoreAs middle school students entered the auditorium at Sacred Heart School on May 8, they beamed when they saw Salvadoran novelist and painter, Mario Bencastro, sitting in the front row. Students diligently prepared for this momentous occasion by studying Bencastro’s work, focusing on his poem, Un Tren Llamado Esperanza. Read more >>
Read MoreCan you name a historical figure from Central America? This was one of the opening questions Teaching for Change Executive Director Deborah Menkart asked a class of graduate students in Dr. Elizabeth Langran’s Cross-cultural/International Curricula class at Marymount University. Read more >>
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