The new curriculum unit for the high school Spanish classroom Migration Sagas/ Sagas de Migración Interpretada en Novelas y Poemas introduces students to a wide variety of voices and diverse aspects of immigration including unrest in the country of origin, struggles during the journey, and experiences within the United States. The unit centers around two books featured on the Américas Award commended book lists: Me Dicen Güero written by David Bowles and published by Penguin Random House in 2020 and La Travesía de Enrique written by Sonia Nazario and published by Delacorte Books in 2013. In addition to these two books, intended to be read in Spanish, the unit also incorporates a selection of Américas Award books with migration themes to be chosen by the students and read in English. Featuring over a dozen award-winning books, this is the first CLASP curriculum unit to join multiple Américas Award books in conversation. It is added to the collection of Teaching Resources available on the CLASP website.
The curriculum was designed by Christi Moraga, a retired French and Spanish teacher, ACTFL 2006 Northeast Teacher of the Year, and Américas Book Award Committee member for six years. Christi’s philosophy includes teaching culture along with promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion while teaching a world language. Additional assistance was provided by Xena Fitzgerald, PhD student in Latin American Studies and Art History at the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University.
The Américas Award is administered by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP) and coordinated by both Tulane University’s Stone Center for Latin American Studies and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American Studies. Generous support is also provided by Florida International University, Stanford University, The Ohio State University, UNC-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Florida, University of New Mexico, University of Texas at Austin, University of Utah, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.