Colombia’s Virtual Cultural Box

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During this time of Quarantine and of staying at home to work and study, in collaboration with our graduate student assistants, we have built a package of activities that are related to Colombia and its culture and geography. In this package we want to share with you activities that go from Kindergarten up to 12 grade.

As some of you know, we at the LAII department of the University of New Mexico have some Cultural Boxes with materials that you can use in class to teach the culture and traditions of the different countries of South and Central America. Today we are going to present Colombia’s Virtual Cultural Box, a didactic resource full of guides, activities, videos and knowledge about Colombia. This Virtual Cultural Box comes with a teaching guide, where teachers can find other resources and instructions on how to use the different activities from the Cultural Box.

We are happy to share with all of you this new package of guides that are part of the Viajamos a… project and the My Passport activities.

Single Activities:

Guide: America, a continent with two seasons.

Guide: Speaking more than two languages.

Guide: Viajamos a Colombia

Guide: Colombia’s Native Customs and Languages.

My Passport Template.

Cultural Box

Colombia Virtual Cultural Box

Colombia Virtual Cultural Box, Teaching Guide.

Enjoy it!

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Commemorating The Earth’s Day

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This 2020 has been a very different year from what we imagined it would be like. It has been a year in which it has allowed us to enjoy more of the coexistence with our families and has led us to live a unique experience in life. The commemoration of Earth Day takes place on April 22 of each year and is celebrated in honor of the resources, places and raw materials that the earth offers us.

That is why in Vamos a Leer, we have decided to make some guides that as a teacher will allow you to explore, learn and teach about natural resources and the importance of Earth Day from Colombia.

These guides are part of My Passport activities and have been designed incorporating activities aligned with the following Common Core Standards.

We hope that you enjoy and use the guides that we made for you.

Guide: America, a continent with two seasons.

Guide: Speaking more than two languages.

Guide: Colombia’s Native Customs and Languages

My Passport Activities.

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My Passport is a project we are working on that is part of Viajamos A… of our website, which will have activities from countries like Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico.

The principal idea of My Passport is to build a curriculum that helps teachers and students to travel through South and Central America without leaving the classroom. While engaging in the activities, students and teachers will learn new concepts, cultures and places.

In My Passport you will find a variety of activities and resources to teach, learn and travel to South and Central America. The different resources of My passport have been designed incorporating activities aligned with the following Common Core Standards, and are divided in:

Cultural Virtual Boxes.
Teaching Guide Cultural Virtual Boxes.
Single guides.

My Passport Template.

We hope that you can enjoy, use and learn from these different guides and materials that we have created for you.

Why Cascarones?

As Ericka told us in the previous post, the importance and influence of the culture of two different countries in the development and growth of a border child make a great mark in their way of looking at the world.

Some of the most important aspects that the book, They Call me Güero, touches are the family in the day-to-day life of a border child, he food and how it shows the cultural roots that his family has had for years, and finally how the Güero is fortunate to have the opportunity to participate and live in a social environment that allows him to live different traditions of the two countries.

Some of these traditions are the Quinceañera, the preparation of Mexican tamales, the celebration of the Day of the Dead, and Easter, among others. We wanted to highlight the creation of the cascarones as a celebration that is native to Mexico and the United States. This celebration is held during the month of Easter where children decorate the eggshells and fill them with flour, confetti, frost and other things. The idea is that after making the decoration and filling of these eggs, the game beings… who will break more eggs?

¡¡Manos a la obra!! // Let’s do it!!

List of things to use:

→ Clean eggshells (preferably white)

→ Food dyes (various colors)

→ Confetti or flour (whatever you want to fill the eggs with!)

→ X-Acto knife

→ Vinegar

→ Hot water

Process

Step 1

To begin, we make a small hole in the eggs at one end and then we begin to remove the egg from the shell with care to not break the shell. When you have empty eggshells, we will wash them with water and let them air dry.

Step 2

In cups with a cup of hot water, 1 tsp of vinegar and 10-15 drops of food coloring, we submerge the eggshells in the different colors leaving them to soak for about 5 minutes.

Dare to play with the colors!

This is what our cascarones looked like are after painting them.

Step 3

Now it’s time to add the filling! It’s important to think through what you want to put inside. Maybe a little confetti, or you can be riskier and put some flour in them.

After you put the stuffing in them, you cover the hole with a piece of tissue paper and glue, so that what you put inside the shell will have no way out.

Now you just have to enjoy and play with these fun cascarones.

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