Setting the Scene for Immigration: Preparing to teach Esperanza

I´m going to be teaching Esperanza in level two right after Christmas break. I usually wait until level 4 to teach this novel for two reasons: 1) it goes very quickly in the upper levels due to the simplicity of the language used. And, 2) the topic can be pretty touchy – immigration. Sophomores aren’t typically known for their emotional maturity and are prone to repeating rhetoric they hear from media outlets. However, I’ve decided to move some units around for second semester and Esperanza landed in level two. In order to do this successfully, I need to spend time setting the scene.

Let’s face it, we don’t live in very understanding, tolerant, or accepting times right now. There is so much negativity toward immigrants from news outlets and it can be extremely difficult for our students to filter through to find the truth. For this very reason, I feel it is my duty as a World Language teacher to offer different perspectives and views. We will be spending 9 weeks together studying this unit. The more I do early on to set the stage for this kind of learning, the smoother the learning will go.

To prepare my readers, I’m going to teach them about a variety of reasons that Central Americans, Guatemalans in particular, immigrate. Here is an embedded reading I created from this article about the 2018 drought that sent thousands in search of better opportunities.

And, here is a google slideshow I created to pre-teach the vocab for the embedded reading. (Just click the link, make a copy, and edit to suit your purposes).

My goal isn’t to bombard my students  with information and make them feel defensive. No, my goal is to provide just enough data in the hopes that it might rattle around in their brain for a while. Maybe even plant a seed of tolerance and acceptance. Perhaps that seed won’t take root until they are long gone from my classroom. Perhaps for some it will take root and encourage them to continue studying Spanish so we can water that seed and help it to grow. But my true wish is that they will remember what we’ve learned together and know that while we are all different and have different backgrounds, we are also all the same.

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