Central America: An Introductory Lesson

Middle School and High School

By Pat Scallen, et al.

The immediate reasons for Central Americans crossing the U.S. border include high levels of poverty brought on by economic stagnation, political unrest, climate change, and violence. Many of these problems are rooted in centuries of structural economic inequality, state-sponsored oppression, and institutionalized racism.

This lesson is designed to introduce students to several of these concepts through brief biographical sketches of figures in twentieth and twenty-first century Central America. It then builds upon this knowledge in examining the role the United States has played in the affairs of these nations residing in what many U.S. presidents have considered our own backyard.

Time Required

45-50 minutes

Objectives

Students will emerge with a deeper understanding of the key concepts and themes that define modern Central American history, a more nuanced view of U.S. foreign policy in that history, and an appreciation of its impact on Latinx migration in recent years.

Materials 

• Copies of “Getting to Know Central America” questions

• Mixer roles/bios, one per student

• Name tags: Distribute blank name tags and have students write their character’s name or use the photo name tags included (use string to create hanging name tags or place in lanyard holders)

• (Optional) Meet-and-greet role assignment template for remote instruction

Bios / Meet and Greet Roles

El Salvador

• Claribel Alegria (Also Nicaragua)

• Prudencia Ayala

• Roque Dalton

• Major Roberto D’Aubuisson

• Vicky Guzman

• Yolanda del Carmen Marín

• Agustín Farabundo Martí

• Gen. Maximiliano Hernández Martínez

• Andrés McKinley (also United States)

• Archbishop Oscar Romero

• Maria Serrano

Nicaragua

• Claribel Alegria (also El Salvador)

• Gioconda Belli

• Fr. Ernesto Cardenal

• Violeta Barrios de Chamorro

• Carlos Mejia Godoy

• Daniel Ortega

• Brooklyn Rivera

• Anastasio Somoza Debayle

• Augusto César Sandino

• Dora Maria Téllez

The video clip below is provided to offer the teacher a sense of how the lesson looks in action.  Teaching for Change curriculum specialist Julian Hipkins III is introducing the lesson to students at a high school in D.C. The school has a high percentage of Central American students. Following the lesson there are brief reflections from students. (Note that this was filmed with a handheld camera, so the production is a bit shaky.)

Remote and Online Learning

To support remote instruction, we have created a role assignment template for educators. This form digitally links to the lesson's role play biographies and allows instructors to assign students roles by entering each of their names into the left-hand column. Add or remove spaces to fit your classroom size. Note that instead of inserting the student names, you can also assign each student a number that corresponds to the respective bio. When you access the document (in Google docs), it will lead you to make a copy.