The history, culture and practices of Central America are inadequately addressed in teacher preparation and professional development across the United States, and especially in California based on the author's analysis of teacher preparation. Information about the histories, cultures and practices add to the linguistic and pedagogic knowledge-base…

This resource manual provides ideas, lesson plans, course outlines, arts and crafts projects, games, and other materials for teaching K-12 students about Latin America. A major objective is to help students understand and appreciate the diverse Latin American culture. There are six chapters in this volume. Chapter one discusses key ideas that can…

Because of Florida's rapidly growing ethnic populations, public school teachers of music and other disciplines in the humanities and fine arts in Florida must assess and adjust their curricula to include Latin American and Caribbean music and cultures in their programs. This will give curricular representation to a large percentage of Florida's…

The articles on culture in the Northeast Conference Report are intended especially for those teaching French, German, Italian, or Spanish. Generally they provide an update in the target language about current concerns including the family, education, economics, politics, and other matters of interest to second language learners. The following…

Children communicated with a boy in Peru and learned to improve their language arts skills, to speak Spanish, and to understand the life of one not so furtunate as themselves. (RK)

Offers brief descriptions of 16 books in English (published in 1997 and 1998) about Latino people and cultures. Arranges these noteworthy books into five broad areas: fiction, history, literature, poetry, and sociology. (SR)

Describes household visits by teachers to identify and document the knowledge that exists in students' homes and that can be used to aid in teaching. The article summarizes the teachers' insights, gained from their research, in teacher development and teacher relationships with families, and it redefines households as important social and…

Adaptation to a new culture creates acculturative stress. This article defines and describes aspects of the pervasive, intense, and lifelong stressors among Hispanic emigres in the United States. Counselors should learn Hispanic immigrants' realities and the psychological impact of acculturation so as to help immigrants adapt to these stressors.…

This essay presents background information and suggests teaching stragegies to aid community and junior college classroom teachers of history and civilization as they develop and implement educational programs on Latin American music. It is based on the premise that Latin American music can best be understood as a reflection of other historical…

Reports on the first national conference of REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library Services to the Spanish Speaking. Discusses REFORMA's activist history and describes conference programs geared toward promoting cultural awareness to help libraries build relationships with Hispanic and Latino communities. Attendees shared concerns…

This article examines common areas of misunderstanding between professionals and low-income Latino families concerning issues of physical abuse. It argues that low-income immigrant children deserve the same protection from harsh physical punishment as all other children. (Contains 57 references.) (GCP)

This paper examines ways that Hispanic culture can be dealt with in Spanish as a foreign language for business. First, rationales for teaching culture are offered, ranging from the abstract observation that knowledge of culture is a required part of a humanistic education, to the more pragmatic need of businesses for representatives who are fluent…

A course in Spanish-American Folklore and the Arts is offered in English at Purdue. It aims to acquaint students with development of folklore and arts in Latin America and to increase awareness of and receptivity to Latin America and its people. Procedures, instructional materials, student evaluation and results are discussed. (CHK)

Integrates the epistemology of cultural syncretism or "mestizaje" into multicultural thinking, instructional materials, and teaching about Latin America. Discusses the origins of white and black myths of the conquest; the centrality of "mestizaje" in Latin American culture; "mestizaje's" origins from the 16th-century…

FOR AMERICA TO ACHIEVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEMS OF MODERN SOCIETY, IN A WORLD WHERE ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEPRIVATION ARE THE NORM, THE SPANISH LANGUAGE MUST BE RECOGNIZED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT, AND POTENTIALLY THE MOST REWARDING, PART OF THE MODERN LANGUAGE CURRICULUM. LANGUAGE PREFERENCES IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE GENERALLY FOLLOWED THE…