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?