Hello colleagues, I'm sure many of you know that Hispanic Heritage Month takes place from September 15 to October 15. While this time period is certainly not the only time we should acknowledge the many contributions of the Hispanic culture to our country, some teachers may choose to highlight persons and events during this special month.
A recent Edutopia article by Rachel Fuhrman offers some valuable suggestions focused on the activism of important Hispanic leaders.
Among the leaders featured in the article are Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. I have done a series of lessons in my IELCE class with advanced learners on these two heroic leaders. We read an article in CommonLit on Chavez. Here's an Anticipation Guide we used prior to reading the article. Please feel free to use this Anticipation Guide and/or edit it as you see fit.
ANTICIPATION GUIDE: Events in Cesar Chavez's life
Directions: With your partner, decide if the following statements about Cesar Chavez are true or false.
Use these conversation starters: TO INFER OR PREDICT We can infer that … is true/false because … TO AFFIRM Your idea resonates with me because …
TO DISAGREE POLITELY – That’s a valid point, but I think …
- Cesar Chavez was born in California in 1927.
- Chavez’s family lost their farm in the Great Depression in the 1930s.
- As a boy, Chavez worked in the farm fields along with his family.
- As a boy, Chavez attended more than 30 schools.
- Cesar Chavez started working for the Community Service Organization (CSO) to register farm workers to vote.
- Chavez studied labor law and became a lawyer.
- Farmers paid the farm workers less than minimum wage.
- Chavez started the National Farm Workers Association union.
- With farm workers, Chavez led a 300-mile march through California’s farmland to the state capitol in San Francisco.
- Cesar Chavez fasted for 20 days to protest the violence of some farm workers in California.
LESSON ON DOLORES HUERTA
Here's a link to a YouTube video entitled "Still an Activist at 82," we used in class in which Dolores is interviewed after receiving the Medal of Freedom in 2012. For those who may be interested, here's a link to a Google Doc with the video transcript and a set of questions students were asked to answer while viewing the video first and then reading the transcript. If you access the Google Doc, you'll be asked to make a copy. You can then edit the document if you wish.
Let us know how you are drawing attention to Hispanic Heritage Month in your class!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition Group