Professional Development: Latin American Studies Educators' Workshop: Latin American Populations and Culture
This summer, I participated in teacher workshop titled, "Latin American Studies Educators' Workshop: Latin American Populations and Culture" that took place at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I decided to attend for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was visiting family in my home state of Indiana for the summer and the campus was not too far. In addition, the topic was relevant, as I am always interested in learning about cultures and languages. It ran from June 6 - 10 from 9 am - 2 pm. For those of from out of town, they offered on-campus dormitory room accommodations. The dormitory rooms were offered at $29.95 per night for a shared room or $46.11 per night for a single room. I found that to be very reasonably priced. For those of us driving to campus, we had to purchase a temporary parking pass for visitors which was $13.00 a day or $55.00 for the week. The registration for the workshop was $75.00 for a full-week of training. It is a great deal if you ask me!
It was a wonderful program and reminded me so much of this course I took as part of my master's in Interdisciplinary Studies from in the department of Bilingual Education from Western New Mexico State University called Indo-Chicano Cultures and Pedagogy taught by Professor Manuel Bustamante. What an awesome class! It really dug deep into the conflict of identity in Mexico, the legacy of literacy in Mexico and of course US/Mexico relations. The class was an in-depth study of multiculturality in Mexico. Somehow the idea of Mexico gets translated across the border as this land of unified Spanish speakers (it's not) and backwardness (it's definitely not). Mexico is my favorite Latin American country, perhaps because I know it the most. I take it for granted. There are so many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the US, the cultures that make up this vast country is everywhere, but yet and still there is so much more to learn. This class is offered online, so if it sounds interesting, or the whole program sounds interesting, please look into it. It is definitely a cheap degree even for out-of-state students. I paid for my entire degree out of pocket while working full-time. I found out about it on the Degree Info Distance Learning Forum. So much information offered there. It's worth a look.
For me, this workshop was like an extension of that class. We first learned about literacies and the idea that students coming from Latin America, specifically Mexico, have a long history of literacy, so much so that the Spainards came and destroyed it. That's how powerful their literacies were. Wow. I know that the majority of Mexican-American children in the United States were not taught this in school. I have taught Mexican-American children and I didn't teach it, only at the time because I didn't know. Had I known, it would have lead my lessons. Children, especially ethnic children, need schools to empower them and offer a curriculum that reaffirms them. They quickly learn that America will not protect them, as they are not viewed as part of mainstream society. On the other hand, this is the same type of treatment the indigenous in Mexico receive, as many of them are stigmatized, told that their native languages and cultures are not on the same page as mestizo Mexican culture and the Spanish language. Let's not even start on the Afro-Mexican experience, only recently has it come to mainstream society that Africans were enslaved in Mexico. But, that's another story for another day. The bottom line is, let's empower each other because it empowerment should be a basic human right.
It was a wonderful program and reminded me so much of this course I took as part of my master's in Interdisciplinary Studies from in the department of Bilingual Education from Western New Mexico State University called Indo-Chicano Cultures and Pedagogy taught by Professor Manuel Bustamante. What an awesome class! It really dug deep into the conflict of identity in Mexico, the legacy of literacy in Mexico and of course US/Mexico relations. The class was an in-depth study of multiculturality in Mexico. Somehow the idea of Mexico gets translated across the border as this land of unified Spanish speakers (it's not) and backwardness (it's definitely not). Mexico is my favorite Latin American country, perhaps because I know it the most. I take it for granted. There are so many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the US, the cultures that make up this vast country is everywhere, but yet and still there is so much more to learn. This class is offered online, so if it sounds interesting, or the whole program sounds interesting, please look into it. It is definitely a cheap degree even for out-of-state students. I paid for my entire degree out of pocket while working full-time. I found out about it on the Degree Info Distance Learning Forum. So much information offered there. It's worth a look.
For me, this workshop was like an extension of that class. We first learned about literacies and the idea that students coming from Latin America, specifically Mexico, have a long history of literacy, so much so that the Spainards came and destroyed it. That's how powerful their literacies were. Wow. I know that the majority of Mexican-American children in the United States were not taught this in school. I have taught Mexican-American children and I didn't teach it, only at the time because I didn't know. Had I known, it would have lead my lessons. Children, especially ethnic children, need schools to empower them and offer a curriculum that reaffirms them. They quickly learn that America will not protect them, as they are not viewed as part of mainstream society. On the other hand, this is the same type of treatment the indigenous in Mexico receive, as many of them are stigmatized, told that their native languages and cultures are not on the same page as mestizo Mexican culture and the Spanish language. Let's not even start on the Afro-Mexican experience, only recently has it come to mainstream society that Africans were enslaved in Mexico. But, that's another story for another day. The bottom line is, let's empower each other because it empowerment should be a basic human right.
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