Teachers Praise New Latin America Course

On Thursday, January 24th, Primary Source began a new chapter in its mission to prepare educators to teach students about the world. In response to overwhelming requests from educators and districts to present a fuller picture of Latin America - both to the increasing Latino student population in the region and to their classmates - Thursday's seminar was the first of a 5-day course on Latin America. This course brings together over forty K-12 teachers and curriculum coordinators from across eastern Massachusetts.

Day one was hosted by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University and opened with a presentation by John Bezis-Selfa, Associate Professor of History and Coordinator of Latin American and Latino/a Studies at Wheaton College. His talk, Latin American Geography: Regional and Cultural Diversity, set the stage for this in-depth and expansive course.

Over the next four months, participants will be exposed to case studies on diverse Latin American regions - dictatorships in Chile and Argentina; food and culture in the Caribbean; social movements in Brazil; and immigration and migration in Mexico, Central America, and the United States.

History, humanities, and world language teachers from across grade levels arrived on Thursday curious and eager to learn. As evidenced by participant responses from the first day, this series promises to deliver a packed schedule of top-notch content and classroom-tested ideas, prompting more teachers to echo, "Great day! I can't wait until the next session."