Honoring is Better than Celebrating: Hispanic Heritage Month

From September 15 to October 15, Hispanic heritage month is celebrated in the United States, or to be more exact, in the schools of the United States. During this month, large companies invest millions of dollars in commercials that, beyond celebrating the Hispanic heritage, are aimed at selling, selling and selling more.

In the same way, different activities are organized in schools that, although well-intentioned, fail to deliver the message that should be delivered during this month. The Hispanic community in the United States is large, vibrant, creative, and contributes to the greatness of this nation. However, during Hispanic Heritage Month, stereotypes and negative beliefs towards this human group fail to be banished.

When we focus only on celebrating Hispanic heritage through piñatas, papel picado decorations, lots of nachos and burritos, we miss the fundamental purpose for which this month was created: to honor the Hispanic community in the United States.

There is no other way to honor a human group, a culture, than making a great effort to know them in their humanity. While eating a taco or dancing the cumbia is fun and exposes students to cultural practices, it is not helping them to understand the culture in a deep, empathic way.

In this Hispanic Heritage Month let’s look for ways to go beyond the celebration, let’s look for meaningful ways that honor the Hispanic community in this country. That is why today I want to share one of the poems in my comprehensible poetry book: Nostalgia migrante. These poems are easy to read but very honest about the experiences of many immigrants. Two activities are included with each poem that will allow teachers and students to reflect on the human experiences of immigrants. This is how we honor the Hispanic community.

You can find Nostalgia migrante with the following distributors:

CPLI

Bryce Hedstrom

Discovery teachers

Amazon