Carribean/African Latin America

This activity focuses on the migration of people from the Caribbean. Students will look at paintings by a contemporary Haitian artist that depict the political life in Haiti. In addition, students will read a poem that describes the poverty in Haiti and expresses the author's sentiments about this poverty. Students will also analyze the messages in political cartoons and construct a Hatian tap taps bus decorating it to illustrate the reasons people leave Haiti.

Students will listen to a song called "Visa for a Dream"" which describes the sentiments of Dominicans waiting in line at the United States Consulate to obtain a visa. The song also touches on how Dominicans will falsify records to obtain this ticket into the United States. Three short articles give students more information about the methods used to enter the United States illegally through Puerto Rico and about some of the accidents that have occurred in the attempts to cross. The students perform a sit to illustrate to the entire class the reasons people have for leaving the Dominican Republic.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to a new social image of Latin American women as pictured in this tale.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to alternative forms of celebrating a major holiday. Climate, economy, customs and foreign influence all have a role in shaping the way we celebrate holidays. Students will read a description of how Christmas is celebrated in the Dominican Republic in order to gain a good understanding of this.

In this lesson, students will read quotes from an interview with balseros who made the trip from Cuba to Florida. In addition, students will examine Coast Guard statistics showing the increasing numbers of people leaving Cuba. Overall students will understand the migration patterns between Cuba and the United States and why people migrate from Cuba.

In this lesson, students will learn some specific aspects of slavery and will also discover the role slave women played in shaping Caribbean culture and the struggle for abolishing slavery.

In this lesson, students will be able to identify and use a variety of borrowed words from both English and Spanish in order to complete a word puzzles. Students will also be made aware of how languages, in this case English and Spanish, can evolve through contact with another language and the products and way of life represented by that language.

In this lesson, students will be able to draw a freehand map using lines of latitude and longitude. Students will be given the opportunity to construct a map, focusing attention on geographical details.

In this lesson, students will play a board game in order to become familiar with Caribbean geography by tracing a theoretical buccaneer route and will also become familiar with the products of colonial America.

This activity allows students to become acquainted with Haiti's basic foods and Haitian meal patterns by making and trying some Haitian dishes. A fun way to immerse student's in the Haitian culture.