Teaching Humanities to Newly Immigrated Students

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

I have been teaching English as a Second Language to newly immigrated students. Helping these students develop the ability to communicate, function and study in a new country is an incredibly rewarding experience. Now, I have been reassigned to teach humanities to high school students who have been living in the United States and have already achieved a level of English which allows them to study in mainstream classes. The school where I will teach focuses on teaching immigrant students who have come from every corner of the globe and various cultures.

The study of humanities will provide a great opportunity for these students to expand their breadth of knowledge to include philosophy, mythology, art, music, historical movements, poetry, the classics and other studies important to the development of critical thinking and sound analysis. Students will understand the connections between various intellectual themes and how the development of human thought and culture has been and is being influenced by prior and current events and developments. An eclectic education will prepare these students for higher education, responsible citizenship, and a more purposeful life. The high school is located in an urban setting and has a great reputation for administrative leadership and high performing students. Although the class has a basic textbook and access to a few computers, there remains a profound lack of teaching materials. Particularly for a course as encompassing as humanities, it is important that there be a broad selection of effective teaching materials.

For this proposed project our class will need supplementary books and teaching material on art and art history, musical genres, philosophy, historical atlases and time lines, world atlases, art posters, poetry, mythology, and other areas within the study of the humanities. These supplementary teaching materials will provide an enriched learning environment for over 200 students this year and for many years in the future.

I humbly ask you to consider making this wonderful opportunity available to these highly motivated and deeply appreciative students. Your concern for our students will provide an educational opportunity that will have a profoundly positive influence on their lives and consequently, on the quality of our shared community. I am truly grateful to you for caring about these young people and their desires to create productive lives for themselves in their adopted country.