Latin America in Your Classroom: Resources for K-12 Educators

Newsletter of the Outreach Services of the African, Asian, Latin American, and Russian Studies Centers
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign, Illinois 61820
Number 80, January 2000
by Nan Volinsky, Outreach Coordinator

LANIC (Latin American Network Information) (http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/) is still a most powerful metasite for K-12 resources. Click on the K-12 link to access materials for Primary and Secondary Education in Latin American Studies. This site has many links for information on Countries, Children's Literature in Spanish or Portuguese, and International Resources.

The Outreach Programs of Centers for Latin American Studies at a number of US universities are an excellent source of K-12 information and materials. To access these various Outreach Programs, go to CLASP (The Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs) at http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/clasp/. CLASP promotes all facets of Latin American Studies throughout the US. ts specific programs range from the stimulation of research activities and the funding of professional workshops, to the encouragement of citizen outreach programs and the development of teaching aids for the classroom.

The following five universities have National Resource Centers for Latin American Studies with significant resources for K-12 outreach.

The Outreach Program of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (http://www.clacs.uiuc.edu) has web pages devoted to outreach for K-12 and community college educators. You will find links to LANIC, CLASP, and back issues of Update Newsletters. Soon this web site will have all the links described here. The program has developed three publications to serve the needs of educators at a reasonable cost. This Outreach Publication Series is a collection of handbooks for teachers at all levels designed to introduce Latin American and Caribbean resources into any course of study. The Krannert Museum Resource Center services area teachers in East Central Illinois, with a focus on Champaign County. They have around 200 outreach products featuring the arts, history, and culture of Latin America. Contact Virginia Erickson (verickso@uiuc.edu, 217-333-8218 or 217-333-1861) for questions.

The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida (http://www.latam.ufl.edu/outreach.html) is another excellent resource for K-12 educators. Educators nation-wide have access to materials in the Outreach Resource Library and to the free newsletters, Diálogo and the Latinamericanist. The Latinamericanist is the general newsletter of the Center for Latin American Studies, and includes articles by graduate students. Diálogo is an outreach newsletter for teachers in elementary, middle/junior high and high schools. The CLAS has a lending library with more than 500 resources of Latin American and Caribbean subjects, including videos, filmstrips, curriculum guides and books. The Outreach personnel at the University of Florida are working on a new, user-friendly Outreach Catalog that will include materials acquired during 1999, including books, curriculum guides, CD-ROMs, and videos. Go to http://www.latam.ufl.edu/outreach/catalog/catalog.asp. If you are interested in borrowing any of these materials, or would like to receive the new catalog, please contact Amanda Wolfe. Up to five items at a time may be borrowed for two weeks. An Outreach Resource Library Catalog is available upon request. Recent acquisitions emphasize multicultural education and the environment. Traveling Suitcases are a collection of books, toys, music, currency, posters, and other items which have been collected by the Center faculty and others while traveling in Latin America. Students can handle items and discuss their uses. Suitcases are available on Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, the Caribbean, Central America, and the Southern Cone. A teacher's guide is included with each suitcase. They may be borrowed for two weeks. Special summer institutes and programs for teachers are offered on an irregular basis pending grant funding. Contact the Coordinator of Outreach in early Spring to find out if a program will be offered. The Center pays shipping in both directions and will supply you with a prepaid label for returning suitcases and materials. The contact person is Amanda Wolfe (akwolfe@latam.ufl.edu), Outreach Coordinator, University of Florida, Center for Latin American Studies, 319 Grinter Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. Phone: (352) 392-0375. Fax 352-392-7682.

The Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) at the University of Texas at Austin (http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/ilas/outreach/) offers a number of materials for use in K-12 classrooms. The Outreach Resource Library contains a variety of topic-specific material for classroom use (http://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/llilas/outreach/library/). This collection of books, videos, maps, exhibits, and other resources is available for loan to educators free of charge. For information on borrowing these materials, contact the Outreach Coordinator, below. The conference World 2000: Teaching World History and World Geography will be held on February 11-12, 2000 (see http://www.dla.utexas.edu/world2000/). ILAS will also offer a Summer 2000 Institute for Teachers from June 5-9, 2000 on Religion, Politics, and Identity. The contact person is Kate Bennett, Outreach Coordinator, Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Sid W. Richardson Hall 1.310, Austin, Texas 78712-1284, Phone (512) 232-2404 or 471-5551, Fax (512) 471-3090.

The Center for Latin America University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CLA/outreach_currmat.html) has published a 400-page collection of hands-on activities, Latin America: Curriculum Materials for the Middle Grades (1985; revised 1989), which is available for $19.50 plus $2.50 postage and handling. Their audio-visual collection of 450 items includes videos, slides, music, and curriculum aids. The material is available on a free-loan basis. Catalog available upon request. Boots, Bananas and Biodiversity: Interdisciplinary Environmental Activities about Costa Rica for Grades 6-9. Written by teachers for teachers, the activities can be used individually or as part of a larger thematic unit. This collection of 28 classroom activities is designed to encourage an understanding of environmental issues and tropical forests in general. The curriculum will also stimulate recognition that the Costa Rican case may offer points of departure in considering environmental education, community participation, resource use and development within our own local environments. You can click on a link for a sample activity. The cost is $17.50 each, plus $4.50 shipping and handling. Please make all checks out to: The UWM Foundation. Payment with order is not required; if you are ordering from an institution a purchase order or requisition is acceptable. The Center's street address for mailing requests is: UW-Milwaukee, Center for Latin America, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201. The Center will ship all orders via UPS.

The Duke-UNC Program in Latin American Studies (http://www.duke.edu/web/las/outreach.html) has its own special resources on Latin America for the K-12 community. The Duke-UNC Program offers a variety of teaching materials on Latin America that may be borrowed or in some cases purchased at cost. These materials include slide packets, teaching resource manuals and language textbooks, and are housed in the Program's Outreach Office.

I also recommend the following excellent resources for K-12 teachers and their students:

  1. An on-line catalogue from the Resource Center Lending Library of the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies, University of Tulane, is found at http://www.tulane.edu/~clas/CRCCatalogue.html
  2. The Resource Center of the Americas (RCA) (http://www.americas.org) creates innovative and challenging curricula, and provides educational tools that build bridges between people throughout the Americas. Their web site has excellent links for their curriculum publications, their latest catalog, and the extensive video lending list. Another link takes you to a vast array of web-based Educator Resources, categorized into the themes of Drug War, Liberation Theology, Fair Trade Products, Human Rights and Democracy, Indigenous Rights, Labor and the Global Economy, Debt and the Global Economy, News and Resource Services, Sexual Minorities (GLBT), Study and Language Instruction Abroad, and Women’s Rights. At http://www.americas.org/News/ you will find in-depth coverage and analysis of current Latin American news. An example of their links is http://www.la.mvla.net/LC/CubaPoli/cuba_ndx.htm. This is a comprehensive web site on US Foreign Policy in the Americas with a focus on Cuba that is designed for use in high schools. The contact information for RCA is 3019 Minnehaha Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55406-1931; Phone 1-800-452-8382. For electronic updates on new resources for educators, send your email address to bookstore@americas.org.
  3. The Latin American Video Archives' Database (http://www.lavavideo.org/) lists more than 4000 Latin American film and video titles. Contact LAVA at 124 Washington Place, New York, NY 10024; Tel: 212/463-0101; Fax: 212/243-2007.
  4. Global Graphics and Resource Catalog lists books at all levels of teaching and learning, maps, stamps, globes, and some other geographic resources. Contact: Global Graphics and Resources, 1260 La Cubre Road, Hillsborough, CA 94101; Tel: 415/579-4624; Fax: 415/579-2812.
  5. Caught Between Two Worlds: Mexico at the Crossroads is a new instructional unit from the Choices for the 21st Century Education Project. Write to the address for a complete list of instructional units: Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Box 1948, Providence, RI 02912; Tel: 410/863-3155; Fax: 401/863-1247.
  6. The goals of Other Worlds: The Voyage of Columbus (http://edsitement.neh.fed.us/guides/g3_a1.htm) is to gain an understanding of the forces within European society that found expression in the voyage of Christopher Columbus; to examine the cultures of those whom Columbus and his successors encountered in the New World; to analyze the degree to which cultural expectations shaped the encounter experience for Columbus; and to reconstruct the encounter experience for those who saw Columbus sail into their world. This site integrates excellent web pages dedicated to Columbus and related subjects. The web site increases historical comprehension, historical analysis and interpretation, historical research, and internet research skills. Suggested grade levels are 9 through 12.
  7. SPICE (Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education) (http://www.stanford.edu/group/las/Spice.htm) has a catalog of Curriculum Material where you will find links to the SPICE catalog, a catalog specifically for K-8, newsletter, and free lesson plans. SPICE offers over 60 titles that include curriculum units, resource guides, and research reports. Write to SPICE for a free catalog or to preview available bilingual units that relate to Latin America. Whether you teach world history, world cultures, economics, environmental sciences, international relations, contemporary world issues, psychology, or US history, you will find something at SPICE for you. As an outreach program of the Institute for International Studies (IIS) at Stanford University, SPICE continues a proud 23-year tradition of providing up-to-date curriculum materials on international topics for grades 6-14. Its current curriculum development efforts focus on contemporary issues and their historic, geographic, and cultural context.
    An example of publications available from SPICE is Mapping Latin America for Grades: Middle School-Secondary (61 pp. for $19.95). The model for its Mapping the World Series, this curriculum unit uses cooperative activities and games to introduce your students to the physical and political geography of Latin America. In one lesson, your students will examine different world maps to help them understand that maps are created for specific purposes and convey different information based on their perspective and design.
  8. Casa Xelajú in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (http://www.casaxelaju.com/) has a High School Spanish Program (http://www.casaxelaju.com/yumkax/index.htm) called Yum Kax. Yum Kax is the oldest and most established high school language program in Guatemala. The program is fully accredited by the Ministry of Education and the Guatemalan Tourist Institute. The program caters to the special needs of high school students studying Spanish and learning about Latin American culture and society. The unique location of Quetzaltenango not only provides a mestizo perspective but also an intense indigenous exposure. All teachers in the Yum Kax division have a degree in secondary education and extensive experience teaching Spanish as a second language. They are dedicated to providing an atmosphere where the spirit of the city and surrounding villages becomes the classroom of the students.
    Casa Xelajú has been organizing and leading educational, academic and recreational tours since 1994 (http://www.casaxelaju.com/tours/index.htm). The ultimate goal of our tours is to expose our customers to the social, cultural and political reality of Guatemala. Our trips focus on issues relating to human rights, indigenous culture, Spanish colonialism, peace, women’s rights, rainforest and environmental problems.

Web Resources and Bibliography for Understanding Hemispheric Trade Negotiations involving Latin America
AmericasNet (http://americas.fiu.edu/) includes "Customs Guide to the Americas" and “AmericasTrade.” AmericasNet is a one-stop source for the latest information on the hemispheric integration process. The 1994 Summit of the Americas in Miami, Florida, and the 1998 Summit of the Americas in Santiago, Chile, brought together all of the Western Hemisphere's democratically elected heads of state to open negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and launch new initiatives to promote education, reduce poverty, and strengthen democratic institutions throughout the Americas. Through an innovative partnership between top educational institutions and leading technology corporations, this unique site links the leadership of the Americas to a hemispheric network of expertise on major Summit issues. Access to late-breaking updates, commentary and analysis allows virtually anyone to become an insider to the Summit process. Search their repository for official and unofficial Summit documents, calendars, position papers, and interviews with recognized authorities Friday, February 16, 2007 14:37 Agreement" lang="en">NAFTA, Mercosur, the FTAA and trade policy in the Americas from InsideWashington Publishers. This is a selection of articles from a recent edition of AmericasTrade, a biweekly newsletter based in the Washington, DC area.

Below is a bibliography on trade from several leading journals for Latin American Studies:

Bissember, Enid E. World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Caribbean Financial Service Sector. Social and Economic Studies, 46:2-3, Special issue (1997), 271-292.

Tussie de Federman, Diana A. Trade Policy within the Context of the World Trade Organization. CEPAL Review, 62 (Aug 1997), 121-137.

Araújo Júnior, José Tavares de. The Political Economy of Protection after the Uruguay Round. CEPAL Review, 55 (Apr 1995), 55-64.

Hoffman, Helga. Trade and Environment: Green Light or Red Light?. CEPAL Review, 62 (Aug 1997), 139-152. (Addresses foreign trade regulation and the environment in Latin America.).

Bacon, David .Testing NAFTA's Labor Side Agreement. NACLA Report on the Americas, 31:6 (May-June 1998), 6-9. Il.

Hansen-Kuhn, Karen. Clinton, NAFTA, and the Politics of U.S. Trade. NACLA Report on the Americas, 31:2 (Sept-Oct 1997), 22-26+.

Heredia, Carlos A. Downward Mobility: Mexican Workers after NAFTA. NACLA Report on the Americas, 30:3 (Nov-Dec 1996), 34-40+.

Henwood, Doug. Impeccable Logic: Trade, Development, and Free Markets in the Clinton Era. NACLA Report on the Americas, 26:5 (May 1993), 23-28+.

Axline, W. Andrew. NAFTA, ALADI, and the Proliferation of Bilateralism in the Americas. Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 22:44 (1997), 101-126.

Joyce, Elizabeth and Carlos Daniel Malamud Rikles (eds.). <<Latin America and the Multinational Drug Trade>> reviewed by Roberto Steiner. Journal of Latin American Studies, 30:3 (Oct 1998), 646-647.

Pilcher, Jeffrey M. Mad Cowmen, Foreign Investors, and the Mexican Revolution. JILAS: Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies (Australia), 4:1 (July 1998), 1-15.