Map Latin America

Challenges & Millennium Development Goals

Latin America is a beautiful region rich with culture, people and breathtaking landscapes. The region also faces many challenges. Since the region is so big, we’ll look mainly at Nicaragua and Ecuador as case studies.

• Poverty
• Education
• Health
• Sustainable Development

Bring Latin America Alive in Your School and Classroom

School-Wide Activities

Lunchtime Trivia

Have students create a trivia or Jeopardy game using the regional information they’ve learned about Latin America. As students walk around the cafeteria during lunchtime, they’ll be able to test their knowledge on each other and on their friends.

Artist’s Hall

Encourage students to create collages, paintings, posters or drawings that depict the geography, people and culture of Latin America as well as some of the challenges they face like poverty and inability to access education. Display the art in a hallway so everyone can learn from the experience. Short descriptive texts under each artistic display could further help spread awareness about the issues.

Interview People from the Region

In your school, there may be people who come from Latin America or whose parents come from the region. Interview those people about life in the region. Challenge students to share what they learn in conversations with other students and with their families during mealtimes.

Subject-Specific Activities

Drama

Using the stories and information from the websites, have students put together a skit on some of the issues people face in Latin America. Suggest they use a backdrop of Latin American music for some of their scenes—there will be samples of these in the “world music” section of local libraries as well as via the Internet.

Math

Have students compile lists of all of the numbers and statistics they find on the website. Have them create flash cards with the numbers. Then, have them quiz their friends, seeing how many statistics each person or group (if you divide into teams) can remember.

Art

Have students bring in plain T-shirts. Then, using T-shirt paints and markers, have students design their own shirts, each one with a different compelling statistic. For example, 46 percent of people in Nicaragua live in poverty. If all students wear their T-shirts on the same day, they can initiate a powerful awareness campaign in their school.

Read and Teach the Student Websites

We’ve also created websites especially for your students, each of which provides additional information about West Africa. Visit these sites, specific for elementary and secondary schools, to see West Africa from a student’s perspective and to absorb the information yourself.

• Website for Elementary Students—focus on Latin America
• Website for High School Students—focus on Latin America

Teaching Latin America

Here are some ways you can use the student sites to teach about Latin America:

1. For the “Culture Connection” section of the website, break your class into three groups. Have one group represent the Inca, one the Maya and one the Aztec. Have each group find a story (either from the library or from the Internet) to share about life in these ancient empires.
2. For any of the sections, or a combination of them, have students make a board game about Latin America (be sure they include a lot of information, facts, statistics, stories, realities, etc. so that they’re educating people about the region). Then, have them challenge other classmates to their games.
3. For the “Economy” section of the website, bring in a film about the Amazon Rainforest and then initiate discussion about what students have learned.