Latin America and North Carolina

Jonathan Hartlyn, Professor, Political Science, UNC-Chapel Hill

Remedios Gómez Arnau, Consul General of Mexico in Raleigh, Consulate General of Mexico in Raleigh

Nadia Theodore, Consul General of Canada

John Loyack, Vice President, Global Business Services, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina

Moderator: Michael W. Cotter, Ambassador (ret.)

Sessions highlight Latin American countries, issues, resources for teaching about Latin America and strategies for success with Latinx students.

Krista M. Perreira, Professor, Social Medicine, School of Medicine, UNC-Chapel Hill

Sessions highlight Latin American countries, issues, resources for teaching about Latin America and strategies for success with Latinx students.

Sessions highlight Latin American countries, issues, resources for teaching about Latin America and strategies for success with Latinx students.

Angela Stuesse, Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Global Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill

MariaRosa Rangel, Director, Office of Equity Affairs, Wake County Public School System

Moderator: Jakelin Bonilla, Social Innovation Initiative Coordinator, Campus Y, UNC-Chapel Hill

This session focuses on Vance County School’s summer pre-K program Mi Centro, a summer program for three and four-year-old English Learners who will attend pre-K in the fall. It will provide a general overview of the program Mi Centro, what it’s all about and how other school systems can use this model to help prepare and give a “head start” to English Learners entering Pre-K.

Over the past two years, a team of five faculty members have been given the opportunity to create our own program that seeks to serve our Hispanic/Latino students, approximately 25 percent of our student population. In the first year, we began by developing relationships with students, analyzing data and hosting family nights to better determine our students’ and families’ needs. Now in our second year, we have developed a tiered system of support based on students’ needs. Come find out about our processes, successes and areas of growth so that you can implement a similar plan in your school.

In this session educators will understand the challenges that immigrant populations face in the K-12 system and the challenges gaining access to the college enrollment process. The presenters will identify best practices in supporting immigrant populations through the college enrollment process with a focus on financial aid and residency determination. Participants will leave with tools and resources to better support students in their schools and their communities.

In this session K-12 educators will learn about the resources and workshops available through the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, which works to promote the study of Latin America and the Caribbean. Educators will discuss the benefits of incorporating Latin American studies into their classrooms and learn how the Consortium can support efforts in the classroom and beyond.

Digital storytelling is emerging as an engaging way to connect students’ identities with classroom learning. This session introduces educators to foundational digital storytelling techniques and a variety of applications in which teachers can develop their students’ content understanding, academic language proficiency and research and communication skills, while connecting with knowledge that students bring from their out-of-school lives. Content areas discussed include science, social studies, English language arts and math. Examples also include themes of cross-cultural understanding and environmental conservation.Participants will be able to explain the importance of connecting the knowledge students bring from their out-of-school lives with the content being learned in their classroom; share at least one way in which students’ funds of knowledge can be connected to their content area; identify the basic components of a digital story; list a variety of digital storytelling platform options; and list several benefits of using digital storytelling in their classroom.

This session focuses on the personal experience of the speaker and that of her compatriots during the passing of Hurricane María over Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017 and the days that followed as they faced in shock and impotence a devastated country and the lack of resources to recover. It argues that notwithstanding its enormity, the catastrophe owed much to more than a century-old colonial practices of both the federal and the local governments since the US takeover of the island in 1898. The effects of various restructuring actions to conform to the needs of US capital have impaired the island from identifying effective solutions to its problems. The neoliberal economic strategies being put in place since María have worsened recovery by speeding restructuring efforts that were being implemented before the disaster. “Disaster capitalism” has served to push through the privatization of state assets in which the dismantling of the public education system is but one example. It is hoped that the session will stimulate reflection and debate.

Generally, as educators, we like to think that ALL of our students trust us. We self-identify as open and welcoming in class and have our doors open during office hours, but it is not always enough, especially in an age of increasing fear and distrust of the government. As fears of deportation and crushed dreams of obtaining DACA status increase, Latinx students often have questions about their academic futures that go unasked because they are unsure of who they can trust. At a minimum, students fear they will be judged for their status, or at worst reported for their status or lack thereof. In the session, through examining our current beliefs and practices, we will explore best practices for building trust with Latinx students (similar techniques can be applied to other often-marginalized groups). Additionally, we will cover some important information to be aware of when advising students who are children of immigrants, immigrants with DACA status and undocumented students as they navigate financial aid and residency status (RDS), scholarships and career choice. From stickers to organizations to school-wide events, we will discuss a path to establishing and building trust with our Latinx students on an individual level and campus-wide.

The New Roots/Nuevas Raíces Oral Histories are a bilingual online resource that consists of more than 200 audio-recorded and transcribed interviews with North Carolinians with Latin American heritage as well as professionals who work with immigrants and refugees. New Roots informs public history and creates resources that teachers in social studies, history, language arts, Spanish, literature and other fields can use. Learn how to become a storyteller or use this resource for your family heritage, research or teaching.

Why films? How can films help us to understand our realities and differences? In what ways does the moving image bring to the classroom images that are not available in the mainstream media. How can we tell better stories to our students through films? In this session, we are going to discuss the potentials and dangers of using films in the classroom as well as the notions and importance of representation, history, and contexts in order to understand the diversity of our students. We are going to discuss, mostly, films from Latin America and the United States, but the strategies are applicable to films from other regions of the world. Our present time, and our context require of us (teachers) to go beyond our taken from granted ideas about the world. Films and documentaries can help us understand our students´ needs and challenges whether they were born here or abroad. This session is intended to raise questions about the way we can improve as educators, and how we can use better tools (in this case films) to understand our ever-changing classrooms.

Daily life in the twenty-first century urges citizens to consider not just the health and well-being of one’s immediate community and family, but of the entire planet. Worldwide disparities in education, healthcare and trade, however, often challenge consumer choices. Costa Rica serves as a leading nation in Central America with a GDP more than 50 percent higher than the rest of its neighbors, but how did it rise to such economic stability? This session discusses Costa Rica’s role in the global economy and conflicting trends to support local community markets and family-run small businesses in the face of rising mega industries.

Is your school faced with a growing Mexican student population? If so, this is the workshop for you. In this workshop, you will learn about the Mexican educational system, cultural norms, values, traditions, and the challenges students faced immigrating to the United States. Participants will walk away with specific culturally relevant strategies to increase student engagement and academic achievement.

Food is essential to human survival but its functionality is far more complex. Food serves as a window into societal values, attitudes, perceptions of self, economics, history and more. This session explores the foodways, traditions and culinary history of Latin America, specifically the Caribbean and Mexico. We will also examine the impact storytelling has on tying immigrant populations to their food choices and culinary identity long after migration. The session will offer tools for teaching about Latino food culture in the classroom.

This session will provide information about the educational services and programs offered by the Mexican government in the United States, including resources in English and Spanish that support Mexican families navigating the US education system and support for those who want to continue their higher education. This information is useful for all educators who support the academic success of and path toward higher education for students and families from Mexico.

The tropics are currently inhabited by 40% of the world’s population and 55% of the world’s children under the age of five, yet by 2050 those proportions will increase to 50% and 60%, respectively. This projected growth makes the tropics of particular interest to address global sustainability questions, as tropical regions will inevitably experience climbing pressures and demands for essential ecosystem services. The Galapagos Islands offer a unique example of this global conundrum: a tropical environment with distinct, sharp microclimate zonations imposed by topography combined with an exceptional demand for freshwater due to population growth, tourism, land use change, and contamination. Learn more and join the discuss in this session with Professor Riveros-Iregui.