How youth deal with trauma

Last year there was an increase in unaccompanied minors (also called undocumented youth), and some even came to Pittsburgh.

In this blog post there are two different audio stories. One about the lives of girls who stay in Central America, and another about the lives of youth who make it to the United States

Hot Tamale Activities

Select one of the stories and answer the questions related to it in a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio.

Listen or read about how unaccompanied minors are doing in the United States public school systems.

• What are some issues that the youth who have come to the United States face?
• What is a difficult issues that the school system faces in order to service the youth?
• What makes learning English easier for Victor?

Listen or read about what life is like for 15 year olds girls in El Salvador. Trigger warning - this report deals with difficult issues of violence. The prior article might be a better choice for some students.

• Summarize this story in your own words.
• If you were living in El Salvador, how would you have to change what you normally do now?
• What are some reasons girls face danger?

More about refugees and immigration

In some of our classes we have compared and contrasted the three following issues:

• The Syrian Refugee Crisis
• What people in the United States thought of Jewish refugees on the eve of World War II
• Central American youth trying to cross the border into the United States to escape violence in their home country

Here are a few additional resources to explore these issues a bit more.

• Article Refugees: That Time Everyone Said 'No' And Bolivia Said 'Yes' 
• This article is about how Bolivia, a country in Latin America, was one of the only countries to consistently accept Jewish refugees in the Americas before and during WW2
• Twitter How a refugee gets to America, explained by an actual refugee
• This article is a collection of tweets that show the process of becoming a legal refugee in the United States.
• Video Immigrant or Refugee
• When we discuss immigration reform it's important to recognize there is a difference between these two terms.
• Related article 4,600 Central American Kids Have Applied for Refugee Status. 11 Have Gotten It. Here's Why.
• Audio Report Terrorized by Violence: Mexico's Refugees
• This audio piece provides details about what happens to people who try not to leave the country but survive by becoming refugees in their own country.

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio and complete one of the following tasks.

• Summarize what you read in your own words. What new information have you learned?
• What do you think the process should be to allow become to come to the United States? 
• Explain in your own words what is the difference between being a immigrant/migrant and a refugee. Do you think the explanation of refugees applies to the undocumented youth fleeing Central America? Explain your answer
• Explain in your own words what the chart above shows. What new information have you learned from this chart?

DREAMers

In Spanish class we touch on immigration. There are many different aspects of this issues, and one of them is the youth that are brought over with their parents illegally when they are young, and how that event can effect their future opportunities.

The Dream 9

In 2013 nine people who were young when their parents brought them over decided to challenge the system to hopefully improve their future by not suffering from the affects of being "undocumented". You can listen to their story here or below.

After you listen, you can read about where they are now by clicking here.

Here is another article about how undocumented youth have to live in the United States.

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio and complete 2 of the following tasks.

• Summarize the radio story The Dream 9 in your own words. 
• Read about where the Dream 9 are now by clicking here. Are any of them now considered legal residents of the U.S? What is your reaction to how life is for them now? What questions does this raise for you about the United States immigration system?
• What would you do if your parents moved you to another country when you were very young and then as you become and adult and try to get post-secondary education or a job you find it difficult/impossible? Would you return to the country that you haven't been to since you were a little child? Would you try to find a way (wether "legal" or not) to try to stay in the country you've been in most your life? Explain your answer.
• Read Living the DREAM article and make a list of things people who are labeled as undocumented cannot due that others can. 

Keep Practicing Spanish!

Over the trimester break, there are lots of things you can do to help maintain all the hard work and effort you put into learning Spanish this trimester. Click here to see a list.

Sí Allen, es muy importante!

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a new blog post and answer the following question.

• Select 2 or 3 of the suggestions that you are most likely to do. Describe your plan on how your will actually complete these activities.

Limón & ...???

If the word in Spanish for lemon is limón, then what is the word for lime? This question has stumped me for years, and apparently I'm not the only one. 

 

Click here to read/listen to story about the difference ways to say lemon and lime in Spanish.

Hot Tamale Activity

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio and complete the following tasks.

• Describe 3 different ways people in Spanish speaking countries say lemon or lime and detail which country says it which way.
• Where did the fruit come from? How did limes come to Latin America?

History of Migration

I've already seen some amazing resources for learning about immigrants in Pittsburgh, now let's go global! 

Check out this cool map that shows you where people migrate from all around the world!

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio and complete the following tasks.

• Summarize in your own words where people who live in the United States are from.
• Select at least 2 other countries besides the United States (one should be a Spanish speaking country) and summarize where people who live in those countries are from. Include screen shots of the countries (like the one pictured above).
• In the top left of the map click the "IN" to "OUT" - select a Spanish speaking country and describe where people from that country go (migrate/move to). Include a screen shot of the country (like the one pictured above).

LatinoBurgh

The latino community in Pittsburgh is growing, and they are starting to have an increased voice on social media as well! This is great for students who want to expose themselves to different cultures.

Hot Tamale Activities 

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio and complete one of the following activities

• Click here to read about the growing Latino contributions to culture and society in the Pittsburgh region.
• Check out the Best of Latinoburgh winners!
• Select 3 winners you'd want to visit and explain why.
• If you have Twitter you can follow Latinoburgh and CafeLechePGH
• Scroll through their tweets and share 3 new things you learned based on the their tweets.

Immigrants in Pittsburgh

Immigrants from all over the world live in Pittsburgh!

Click here to explore a map showing the where immigrants come from. (This link used to work but lately it hasn't been showing data.)

Also, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has made an amazing interactive website where you can see and hear the stories of different people from all around the world who have made Pittsburgh their home. Click here to check it out.

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a new blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio, title it "Immigrants in Pittsburgh" and complete one of the following tasks.

• Explore the neighborhood you live in on the Mapping Immigrant America map. Take a screen shot of your neighborhood and summarize where people are from in your neighborhood.
• Compare Pittsburgh immigrant data with another city on the Mapping Immigrant America map. Which city has more Mexican/Latin American immigrants? Which city has more immigrants in general? How do you think this effects the other city? Insert a screen shot of both of the maps (like the one above).
• On the Odysseys website, click to learn more about at least 3 people who are from Spanish speaking countries. Summarize their stories in your own words. Why did they come here? What do they do in Pittsburgh? What do they like about Pittsburgh?

Winning the United States Immigration Lottery

When we talk about immigration in class, sometimes we talk about how hard it is for just "anyone" to be able to come live in the United States legally.

Abdi

Read or listen to Abdi's story. It's a true story of the fear, sacrifices and struggles some people face trying to become U.S. citizens.

Hot Tamale Activities

After reading/listening to the story answer at least four of the following questions in a blog post on your Spanish Blog Portfolio.

• Summarize Abdi's story in your own words.
• What part grabbed your attention the most?
• After listening/reading this story, what do you think about our immigration system?
• If you were in Abdi's position how might you have done something differently?
• If you could talk to Abdi, what would you ask him? What would you say to him?

Música de Juarez, México

National Public Radio recently covered a rapper from Juarez, Mexico, and his new song.  Watch the video and click here to listen to the radio piece.

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a new blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio. Embed the video and answer the following questions.

• What's the name of the song? What is the song about?
• Provide three details about the artist. 
• In the song there is a woman who lost her sons to violence in Juarez, Mexico, talking to the then President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon. In your opinion, what do you think a President of a country is responsible for doing to decrease violence in their country?
• What is your opinion of the song?
• As you watch the video, what do you notice? What does the song or video make your wonder?

Latinos on the Reservation

Mexican-American and Yakama students at White Swan High School. In the past, there was a lot of hatred between the two groups. But the next generation is learning to get along.

In CultLit class in 9th grade you read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and learned about the history of the indigenous people in the United States.

Over Thanksgiving weekend I listened to a story about a reservation where there are more people who live on the reservation that are Latinos (people from Latin America) than Yakama (the indigenous population).

 Click here (or here) or below to listen to the story (you can download it on your smart phone by subscribing to LatinoUSA podcast).

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a blog post on your Spanish blog and include answers to at least 5 of the questions below

• Summarize the situation in your own words. 
• What brought Latinos to the reservations?
• Who owns most of the land on the reservation? How were they able to acquire it?
• Describe in your own words what a blood quantum is and why it's important in the context of this issue.
• Think 10-25 years into the future and describe what you think will happen on the reservation.
• Why are "tensions high" between the Latinos and the Yakama people?
• Do you think that the people you get to know in this story are treated fairly? Explain your answer.
• In what ways are the Yakama people and the Latinos who move to the reservation similar?
• What new information did you learn while listening to this story?  

Arabic and Spanish

We have a few students who speak Arabic. Ever wonder how the two languages compare?

Check out the video below!

Click here to listen to a podcast about Spanish and Arabic similarities

Hot Tamale Activities

Create a blog post in your Spanish Blog Portfolio and include the following

• Explain in your own words why Arabic and Spanish are so similar. 
• Create a list of 10 cognates in Arabic and Spanish. Include an image for each word.

el día de los muertos - más videos

Feliz Día de los Muertos! Here are some videos/activities to learn more about Day of the Dead. You can also click here to visit previous posts about Day of the Dead on this blog.

A quick 60 second summary of Day of the Dead from Al Jazeera news.

A 3min. animation about a girl celebrating Day of the Dead

How Day of the Dead is celebrated in Guatemala

An explanation in Spanish about how Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico

Here is the Google Doodle for Day of the Dead, el 2 de noviembre 2015.

Click here to read more about Day of the Dead

Hot Tamale Activities

• Create a blog post on your Spanish blog and include at least 2 of the following
• A summary in your own words what Day of the Dead celebrates, where is it celebrated, and how it is celebrated.
• Who would you honor on Day of the Dead? What would you put on an altar for this person? What is their favorite food? Passtime? Include a photo of this person and explain why they are important to you.
• How do you remember friends and family that are no longer living?
• Include images that you have found of Day of the Dead and explain what is happening.
• Include a video that explains/shows something about Day of the Dead and summarize the video in your own words.
• Compare Day of the Dead and Halloween. How are they similar? How are they different?

The Pros and Cons of Being Bilingual

It turns out that research has proven that being bilingual means you are smarter than others who only speak one language! But wait - there's more! Watch the video below.

Write a blog post in your Spanish blog answering the following questions and link/embed the video.

• What are some benefits of being bilingual?
• When they say that people who are bilingual are "smarter" - what do they mean?
• What are some difficulties that people who are bilingual face?

Hispanic Heritage Month

Hola! We are currently in Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States so I wanted to post some resources related to the month.

Here is another video about some basic facts about Hispanic Heritage Month

After watching the two videos above, write a blog post in your Spanish blog summarizing what you learned about Hispanic Heritage month and Hispanics in the United States.

Facts about Spanish Language

Which fact is most interesting to you and why?

Confusing Words Explained

As a non-native-Spanish-language-learner, many vocab words are confusing. Below are two videos explaining commonly confused words.

Hot Tamale Activities - Complete one or more of these activities as an advanced/Hot Tamale blog post. Title your post the title of this blog post.

• Create and explain a way to help us learn the meaning and pronunciation of these words (like a mnemonic device or song/poem).
• Create a table/ chart or infographic using one of these websites and explain the word in Spanish, the translation to English, and an image.
• Think of examples of words like this in English and create a table/ chart or infographic using one of these websites and explain the word in Spanish, the translation to English, and an image.