K-16 SCHOOL VISIT PROGRAM
The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) is pleased to announce that we will once again offer opportunities for your students to learn about Latin America, the Caribbean, and its Diasporas right from the classroom.
As American society becomes more diverse, the importance of developing students who are culturally sensitive and understand the “other” is increasing. The Latin American Studies School Visit Program is a wonderful opportunity for your students to explore this region. Our team is available to visit K-16 classrooms to share their knowledge on Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latinx topics. The presentations are interactive and available in English/Portuguese/Spanish.
By visiting the Workshops & Programs page you can find the list of topics that we are working with, but if you have a specific topic that you would like for your students to learn about it, please let us know. We look forward to meeting with you and your students. If you are interested in scheduling a traditional school visit, please click HERE.
Testimonials
"The "Pantera Cartonera" was such a cool experience for my students! Not only was it fun, hands-on learning that allowed them to express their creativity, but it was also a perfect tie-in to our unit themes of art and activism in Latin America. The Center for Latin American studies made everything so easy and provided all of the materials we needed for the project. I highly recommend this workshop to other educators!"
Alyson Nolte, Environmental Charter School, 2023
"As a teacher in a large public school, it is often complicated to take field trips. It was wonderful to have CLAS come into our space and bring a unique experience to our school. It made the students feel as though they were on a field trip, without the expenses and logistics. CLAS tailored the lessons to the speaking level of my students so that they were able to participate in fully immersive activities in Spanish. I highly recommend inviting CLAS into your classroom!"
Ms. Ellie Haizlett, Allderdice High School, 2022
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"We are grateful to have had a visit from the Center for Latin American Studies at Pitt. The nicest part about having CLAS visit your school is that it gives you the ability to take your students on a field trip without the logistics and lost time of an actual field trip. What's more, many of my students don't know anyone personally who speaks Spanish natively, and still, others may not know a person of Latine descent. Having two Spanish-speaking representatives of the University of Pittsburgh visit my class gave my students an opportunity to meet people they otherwise would not have met. Lastly, learning about the specifics of demographic and cultural identities can be a bit dry, but the CLAS staff did a great job of engaging the students with an interesting, interactive, and informative presentation.
The CLAS staff was very accommodating and flexible with regard to the restraints of our school's schedule. I enthusiastically recommend any teacher requesting a visit from CLAS."
Jason Hank, Beaver Area High School, 2022
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"It was such a wonderful experience for my students to be able to go to the Center for Latin American Studies and participate in a session that focused on so many interesting cultural and language-related topics. Students enjoyed listening to the presentations about the language study opportunities at Pitt, the meaning of names, and having the opportunity to create alebrijes and learn about the meaning behind them.
It was a very interactive experience and we look forward to more opportunities to attend workshops and other sessions presented by the Center for Latin American Studies. We have had Pitt university students from CLAS come to our school and do presentations in the past and several times we have gone to Pitt to participate and every time has been an absolutely wonderful experience. I highly recommend that language teachers seek these tremendous opportunities available through the Center for Latin American Studies."
Rachelle Dené Poth, Riverview High School, 2022
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"For Hispanic Heritage Month, CLAS sent two representatives to do a presentation and discussion about Latinx/Hispanic heritage and different dances from the many cultures that make up the Hispanic/Latinx culture. The speakers were very informative and were able to give students another perspective on things that they have been learning in class.
I think the fact that there is such a beautifully diverse group of people with diverse customs and ways of life under this "umbrella term" was really emphasized and allowed students to reflect on how they think of others, especially when using the words "Spanish", "Hispanic" and "Latinx", as well as understanding the different terminology used. It also allowed us to celebrate that diversity and meet the ACTFL standards of world language learning. I would really look forward to creating an ongoing partnership and collaboration with CLAS so that we can offer workshops and more discussions that the students can greatly benefit from."
Janeen Landy, Beaver Area High School, 2022
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"I had the pleasure of having CLAS visit Art 1 at Beaver Area High School. The students enjoyed the history of alebrijes, especially since they recognized them from Coco. They really loved painting and all of my other classes were jealous! If you visit the High School parking lot you will see a collection of mapache, coyote, conejo, and buho alebrijes adorning the dashboard of many cars and trucks!"
Rachael Zahn, Beaver Area High School, 2022