Educational Resources
K-16 Outreach Resources
The Center for Latin American Studies’ outreach mission is to provide professional development, informational and instructional resources to K-16 educators under a grant from the Title VI Department of Education. We offer a variety of materials for educators, including curriculum units, videos and books, and guest speakers.
Contact our Director of Outreach, Katrina Dillon, 520-626-0189 or kedillon@arizona.edu for more information.
Special Events and Workshops
We host between five and eight K-16 educators workshops annually. Topics range from historical to contemporary, intellectual to popular culture and span all of Latin America.
The Center also collaborates closely with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, to bring comparative perspectives to many of our events. Other collaborators include the Arizona State Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Language Reading and Culture Program and many more. We also offer an annual one week Field Study to Sonora, Mexico on “Understanding the Mexican Education System.”
We also collaborate on cultural events to mark important traditions and customs in Latin America, such as Día de los Muertos, Christmas, Easter, Columbus Day and a variety of independence days from many countries. See our calendar for the most up-to-date listing of events.
Speakers Bureau
Our bureau of student speakers is designed to serve as a resource for K-16 teachers. Some of our current graduate students have given talks on Mexico, Peru, NAFTA, border issues, Day of the Dead, tourism and sustainable development. These speakers frequently have field experience in the areas they are willing to talk about and are able to modify their presentations to fit your needs.
If you have a specific topic in mind, such as a Latin American country, event, or issue, please feel free to give us a call and we can probably find someone to help you. If you would like to arrange for a student speaker to come to your classroom, please email Katrina Dillon or contact the Center for Latin American Studies at 520-626-7242.
Books and Curriculum Materials
The Center houses a resource room filled with books, curriculum materials, and cultural artifacts and more, available free of charge to educators. Stop by to check out our collection, or browse online to get a better idea. Materials are available for two days for students and five days for all teachers. Please download the checkout form and the teacher form (if applicable), and bring it with you to the Center.
Video Collection
Our video library consists of more than 1000 movies, documentaries, and instructional videos related to Latin America. Our online database is searchable by country or topic through our website. Videos are free for teachers to checkout in person or via mail. Please download the checkout form and the teacher form (if applicable), and bring it with you to the center.
Complete Online Curriculum Units
We regularly offers workshops for K-16 teachers. During each session a group of educators interested in Latin America meet to explore specific topics related to the Latin world. We engage in presentations from University faculty and community experts at an academic level to satisfy their personal interest and knowledge. We also discuss ways to incorporate such information into the K-12 curriculum. The lesson plans derived from these dialogue sessions can be found in our curriculum section. Some topics include:
- LA Film Units
- Taste of LA Units
- Puerto Rico Units
- Mariachi Units
- Carnaval Units
- Central America Units
- Tango Units
- Salsa Units
- Frida Kahlo
- Day of the Dead
Other Curriculum Materials
We have organized our curriculum resources for educators of all levels. Visit our curriculum section to explore a variety of information, activities, lessons, and ideas that can be used directly or adapted to teach about Latin America in many learning environments.
Contact Us
The Center for Latin American Studies outreach program is designed with teachers needs in mind and we are here to serve the educators throughout Southern Arizona. Your feedback and suggestions for improvement are greatly appreciated. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions, concerns or new ideas for outreach. We look forward to hearing from you or seeing you in our Center soon!
Director of Outreach
Katrina Dillon
520-626-0189
kedillon@arizona.edu
Marshall Building, Suite 280