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CLAS Educator Programs

Upcoming Summer Teacher Programs

Check back in fall 2024 for information on our summer 2025 programs. To receive announcements about CLAS summer programs and opportunities for educators, subscribe to the CLAS For Educators mailing list.

Previous Summer Programs

Image of bright lettering on the U.S.-Mexico border wall extending into a vibrant Pacific Ocean in the distance. Photo by Barbara Zandoval on Unsplash.

History of the Américas: Migraciones y Fronteras/ Migrations and Borders

March 30 to April 1, 2023
Tijuana, Mexico

This 3-day program, led by Stanford Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages lecturer Vivian Brates, supported educators in analyzing the push-and-pull factors that have contributed to shifting migration patterns, how changes in globalization and U.S. immigration policy have changed border communities over time, what kind of opposition migrants face in border towns, and how these dynamic communities are responding.

Photo of St-Barthélémy Island, Galapagos, coastline. By Nathalie Marquis on Unsplash

Engaging with the Américas: The Galápagos Islands

June 19 to 27, 2023
Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Throughout this 8-day professional development program, led by Stanford Bing Professor in Human Biology (Emeritus) William (Bill) Durham, educators observed pivotal sites and species that have shaped our understanding of ecology, conservation, and biological evolution, and learned about sustainable agribusinesses and local conservation efforts on Santa Cruz Island.

Educator Intercambio: Teaching, Social Justice, and Teachers as Activists

July 1-8, 2023
Chiapas, Mexico

This program, offered by CLAS, the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET), and San José State University and led by David Morales, doctoral student and researcher in the Race, Inequality, and Language in Education program at Stanford University, brought educators from across the U.S. together in conversation with Chiapas counterparts through the intercambio framework, sharing experiences in social justice education and learning from Chiapas educators' histories, methodologies, and context-specific teaching.

History of the Américas: Legacies of the Cold War

July 11-19, 2023
Antigua, Guatemala

Expert Latin American Studies scholars and community organizers provided educators with rich content knowledge on the lasting effects of the Cold War on Guatemala, including the work of women and indigenous groups in rebuilding the social fabric while seeking justice. Educators were accompanied by former CLAS Tinker Visiting Professor and journalist Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj.

Língua Portuguesa: Intensive Portuguese Language Study

July 15-29, 2023
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This unique two-week intensive language and culture learning experience was designed to complement the CLAS academic year Língua Portuguesa Professional Development Program and to meet the unique professional needs of world language teachers. Intended for Spanish-language teachers, this program offered two weeks of intensive language study and culture classes taught by instructors from the Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos (IBEU).

Summer 2021 "History of the Americas: U.S.-Mexico War or Intervention?"

Dates: July 26-29, 2021
Location: Online, featuring synchronous and asynchronous professional learning

CLAS and and the Stanford Graduate School of Education's Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) brought together secondary and community college instructors from across the U.S. in this virtual synchronous-learning course to deepen their understanding of the Mexican-American War, also known as the U.S. Intervention in Mexico. Designed to support the History-Social Science Framework for California Schools for grades K-12, this institute explored the Mexican-American War, including the historical context, differing perspectives, and resulting consequences for Mexico, the U.S., and the relationship between the two.

Summer 2020: "History of the Americas: Latin America and the Cold War"

Dates: July 27-30, 2020
Location: Online, featuring synchronous and asynchronous professional learning

CLAS and and the Stanford Graduate School of Education's Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) brought together secondary and community college instructors from across the U.S. in this virtual synchronous-learning course to deepen their understanding of Latin America and the Cold War and sharpen their pedagogical expertise. Participating teachers engaged with leading scholars on how the Cold War impacted, and was shaped by, Central America, Cuba, and Chile. Scholars underscored the role of underrepresented populations, including women and indigenous groups, in the conflict. The institute included a virtual tour of digital resources available through the Hoover Institution Library & Archives as well as a session on using Américas Book Award young adult literature to teach the Cold War. Attendees worked with CSET instructional lead Nicole Lusiani Elliott to develop lesson plans that encourage students to think critically about key historical events and navigate complex and often contradictory content.

Summer 2019: "History of the Americas: Latin America and the Cold War"

Location: Stanford University, Stanford, CA

CLAS and and the Stanford Graduate School of Education's Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) brought secondary and community college instructors together on Stanford campus to to deepen their understanding of Latin America and the Cold War and sharpen their pedagogical expertise. Participating teachers engaged with leading scholars on how the Cold War impacted, and was shaped by, Latin America and the Caribbean, specifically Cuba. Scholars underscored the role of underrepresented populations, including women and indigenous groups, in the conflict. The institute included a guided visit to the Hoover Institution Library & Archives to consult primary resources from the early years of the Cuban Revolution, including photographs, newspapers and posters, as well as a guided tour of the Mission District Murals in San Francisco to observe the role that migrants and refugee peoples—particularly those from Latin American countries impacted by the Cold War—have had in creating and shaping local communities in the United States. Following the in-person course, attendees participated in two virtual follow-up sessions to share resources and implementation strategies with other instructors. Read more about the program.

Mexican Revolution Mural

Summer 2018:  "History of the Americas: Mexican Revolution & Nation-Building" in Mexico City, Mexico

Location: Mexico City, Mexico

Building on the foundation laid by the 2017 summer institute, CLAS partnered with CSET and one of Mexico's leading universities, El Colegio de México, for a summer institute abroad in Mexico City! This professional development institute, designed for history and social science instructors, led teachers to Mexico City to explore rich content on the Mexican Revolution and nation-building with El Colegio de México faculty and an expert CSET Pedagogy Instructor. Participants spent seven days in Mexico visiting historical sites, museums, and murals around Mexico City; engaging with expert history professors at El Colegio de México; and strengthening their course curricula through guided pedagogy sessions.

Summer 2017: "History of the Americas: Mexican Revolution & Nation-Building"

Location: Stanford University

The California State Board of Education adopted a revised History-Social Science curriculum framework for grades K-12 in July 2016. The new framework reflects the struggles and progress of Chicanos and Latinos in the U.S., as well as major historical events in Latin America, including a focus on Mexico and the Mexican Revolution in 10th grade.  In this five-day summer course, held on Stanford Campus, historians from El Colegio de México joined U.S. scholars to provide rich content knowledge on the Mexican Revolution and nation-building. Topics included women of the Revolution, the use of media throughout the Revolution, Mexican muralists, and U.S.-Mexican political history.  A CSET Pedagogy Instructor led participants in using primary sources, literature, and scholarly texts to build curriculum that reflects the new History-Social Science framework and teaches students to think critically about key historical events.  Teachers had the opportunity to experience being students again while deepening and broadening their content knowledge.

Summer 2016: Ecology & Sustainability: Experiences with Mexico's Biocultural Diversity in Veracruz, Mexio

Location: Xalapa and Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico

In July 2016, CLAS, in partnership with CSET, offered a professional development institute for secondary and community college STEM and social science educators. During this 10-day summer course, teachers went into the field in Mexico with Rodolfo Dirzo, Bing Professor in Environmental Science in the Department of Biology. Teachers participated in ecology, sustainability, and conservation science research (learning by doing) at Los Tuxtlas Tropical Biology Station; attended lectures and visits on resource management and sustainability at the Instituto de Ecología in Xalapa; and visited an indigenous community to learn about conservation efforts of tropical rainforest ecosystems via rural ecotourism. Upon returning from Mexico, teachers worked with CSET science educators to develop unit plans, lessons, or units for use in their classrooms.

 

 

Additional Opportunities

For a list of summer institutes offered by fellow Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs member institutions around the U.S., visit CLASP Professional Development.


CLAS is a U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center (NRC). Supported by the U.S. Department of Education under the auspices of Title VI, Section 602(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, NRCs serve to strengthen access to and training in the major languages of their respective regions, and to broaden area studies training across all disciplines.