Outreach

CLACS staff are available to visit schools and public events. We combine information about our resources with fun, interactive activities like making Latin American arts and crafts or playing Latin American musical instruments. To schedule a visit to your class or event, contact clacs@iu.edu.

CLACS has over 140 affiliate faculty and dozens of graduate students with wide-ranging expertise in practically every country in the region. Need someone to talk to your class, organization, or event about immigration to the United States, the Amazon rainforest, the Inca civilization, Argentine tango, US-Cuba relations, or anything else? Contact clacs@iu.edu to be placed in touch with an expert on your topic.

In collaboration with the other area studies centers in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, CLACS offers summer workshops for teachers, principals, and administrators with a variety of tools for internationalizing the classroom and curriculum. For information on recent and future workshops, contact Vesna Dimitrieska at vdimitri@iu.edu. For a summary of a recent workshop, check out this article.

Dual Language Immersion Summer Institute

CLACS and its fellow area studies centers in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies have developed and continue to create a variety of curricular materials.

• Internationalizing the Academic Standards: Indiana (IASI). The Internationalizing the Academic Standards: Indiana project has come up with ways for educators at all levels, from kindergarten through high school, to incorporate international content into courses across the curriculum, from English to mathematics to science and social science. Within each of the five booklets are suggestions for how to integrate international content when teaching about selected Indiana academic standards of the core subject areas (English/language arts, mathematics, science, social studies). Parts of booklets (in PDF format) can be downloaded from the links below, or click on the image to access the entire booklet.
• Globally Ready Digital Toolbox. This website, projected to go live in Fall 2022, is a joint initiative of CLACS, the African Studies Program, and the Institute for European Studies. It will offer 2D, 3D, audio, and video versions of items from Indiana University and Library of Congress collections, displayed on an interactive world map, with accompanying object narratives and lesson plans, enabling teachers to bring the world to their students through a medium that excites them.

• Stanford University Library of Children's Literature by and about Latinx and Hispanic Americans
• BRYCS Bridging Refugee Youth & Children's Services - This site features stories about immigration and refugees globally, including stories about Latin American immigrants.
• The Américas Award is given annually to a book that represents an accurate portrayal of Latin America, the Caribbean, or Latinos in the U.S. for children and young adults.
• Jean Sutherland provides information on how to use Latino children’s books in the classroom and lists several suggested children’s books about Latino people and subcultures.

Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies Curricular Materials. Lesson plans for a variety of grade levels on topics like food and the Columbian Exchange, the Latino farm workers’ labor movement, Brazil, Cuba, Latin American films, and much more. Particularly useful to elementary school teachers might be the lesson plans developed to accompany children’s books.

Vanderbilt University Center for Latin American Studies Curricular Materials. A vast array of lesson plans is sorted by country, subject area, grade level, and topic.

PBS/WTIU - This website hosted by PBS/WTIU has lesson plans and other resources focused on Latino-American content designed for middle and high school students.

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration - This site includes several resources, from military records to educator resources, including Latin American and Hispanic content.

World View: An International Program for Educators, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Latin American resources for educators, general area resources, and links to information on cultural traditions and history.

California Language Teachers Association (CLTA) – This site has many examples of excellent internet activities for foreign language classes.

National Latino Children's Institute – Activity ideas and suggestions for Latino literacy and culture.

Dígame un cuento/Tell Me A Story: Bilingual Library Programs for Children and Families – Created by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, this useful online manual suggests bilingual story hour programs for Latino children and their families.

El dia de los Niños/El dia de los libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book) Toolkit – A 100 page online document describing booktalks, author visits, storytelling, and other programming ideas that can be used to celebrate El dia de los Niños/El dia de los libros on April 30th.

What Works For Latino Youth (2000) – A 62-page document published by the U.S. Department of Education that details over 60 successful programs for Latino youth across the nation, noting the effectiveness of each one.

Connections and Commitments: A Latino-based Framework for Early Childhood Educators (2002) – There are four values in the Latino culture: familia (family), pertenencia (belonging), educación (education), and compromiso (commitment). This framework, which can be modified for libraries, discusses each of these values and how they relate to an early childcare program.

PBS Independent Lens Series Presents 'Latinos in America' – The United States is the hub for a large Latino community, with an increasing number of Latino immigrants arriving each year. A closer look at immigration rates and data that reflect Latino immigrant status in America gives a broader perspective on this growing population. Visit this site for a prepared lesson plan on 'Latinos in America.'

PBS LearningMedia – Use keywords Latino, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Central America for a variety of lesson plans in the areas of art & literature, social studies, etc. Sample Lesson Plan: Soldados: Soldiers' Stories. Conduct an oral history interview to gain insight into what it is like to be a soldier, to gain knowledge about the Vietnam War, and to understand the Chicano experience in the United States.

Zona Latina – Latin American Newpapers organized by region found here.

Maps

Library of Congress Maps

University of Texas Perry-Castañeda Map Collection

Materials Available for Borrowing

University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies Traveling Suitcases. 
Traveling Suitcases are artifact collections reflecting thematic areas of the cultures, traditions, and economies of Latin America. Educators may borrow these suitcases at no charge (except for return shipping). These unique collections of books, toys, music, product packaging, currency, national symbols, and other items have been collected by Florida faculty, students, and friends while traveling in Latin America.

Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies Lending Library. This library maintains the most comprehensive lending collection of educational materials about Latin American topics available for classroom use. The library holds over 4,000 films, culture kits, curriculum units, games, and miscellaneous print items. New items are added on a regular basis. Items may be requested online.

Vanderbilt University Center for Latin American Studies Culture Boxes. Each Culture Box consists of materials and curriculum from a country in Latin America to create a stimulating, hands-on experience for students. Countries available include Peru, Guatemala, Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Costa Rica.

Contemporary News and Events

The sites below were chosen both for the quality of their reporting and for the fact that they do not include paywalls to restrict access to subscribers.

Al-Jazeera English. Although it may come as a surprise to some, the Qatari network Al-Jazeera’s English edition does excellent, in-depth, textured reporting on a wide variety of Latin American and Caribbean issues.

CNN: Americas. Mainstream reporting not only on politics, but also the environment, culture, sports, and a variety of other relevant contemporary issues.

Guardian: The Americas. This U.K. newspaper produces a vast amount of news coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean.

North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). This is a left-leaning site that has offered progressive reporting on Latin America since 1967, with particular attention to U.S. interventions in the region’s politics.