Help Us Explore Latino Culture Through Great Literature!
My students need authentic texts such as Cool Salsa, Border-Line Personalities, Sopad de Pollo Par el Alma Latina (Chicken Soup for the Latin Soul and 11 copies of Secret story of Sonia Rodriguez, to help them learn about Latino culture as they work on their literacy skills.
Yesterday, I read two chapters of "The Secret Story of Sonia Rodríguez" to my eleven Spanish III students. They silently listened and begged me to let them start reading it next week. When I told them I would try to get them each their own copy, they were elated, to say the least.
My students are 101 amazing, brilliant, caring, dynamic, energetic, fierce (Tyra-style), gucci (their word, not mine), hilarious, inquisitive, jovial, kind, lively, modest, nosey, outgoing, polite, quirky, respectful, stellar, truthful, understanding, vivacious, witty, excited, yakety, zany teenagers.
My school is a high-poverty school in rural Arkansas. My kids are so curious about the world around them, and as a foreign language teacher, I get to teach them a great deal about Hispanic culture and widen the scope of their own cultural knowledge, even if just a little.
My Project
My students need authentic texts such as Cool Salsa, Border-Line Personalities, Sopad de Pollo Par el Alma Latina (Chicken Soup for the Latin Soul and 11 copies of Secret story of Sonia Rodriguez, to help them learn about Latino culture as they work on their literacy skills. With your help, my Spanish III students will have their very own copies of a novel they can read, annotate and enjoy both in-class and in their free time. These students are college-bound and need to practice their literacy and critical thinking skills so they will be on-par with their higher-income peers once they make it to college. My Spanish I and II students will also benefit from this project, as I will do many read-alouds and activities to expose them to the many facets of Hispanic culture as well.
The achievement gap is both a literacy and exposure gap.
By giving to this project, you can help my kids learn about Hispanic culture as well as grow as life-long readers. Please help me help my kiddos, who deserve the high-quality cultural education that they unfortunately have been cheated out of in the past.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Hernandez and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.