Teachers and staff at East and West Leyden High Schools are finding ways to recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month through books, music and poetry — including a surprise Mariachi band performance.
The month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, recognizes the historical and cultural contribution of people with heritage from Latin America.
Victor Gomez, who teaches physical sciences for English language learners and chemistry at East Leyden, kicked off the month with a surprise serenade for students over Google Meets and Facebook Live on Sept. 15.
Teacher-mariachi performs
Gomez, who’s played the vihuela, a string instrument, since age 14, formed a Mariachi band with his siblings and friends called El Mariachi Monarca de Michoacán. The band performed in front of a computer, filming for students watching over video conference, and with a staff member broadcasting from her phone on Facebook live.
The band decorated Gomez’s porch with flags from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras, which all celebrate their independence days Sept. 15, and Mexico, which celebrates Sept. 16.
“I thought it’d be really cool, since we are in quarantine and things have been a little bit stressful for the students, to just give them a little bit of that joy and that heritage back by performing for them and giving them a little bit of a surprise,” Gomez said.
Gomez also started a Mariachi band at East Leyden, which played for school events last year including homecoming and Valentine’s Day.
“It brings the students back to the roots, because a lot of the students are immigrants who’ve only been here for a couple years, coming from various parts of Latin America,” Gomez said.
Gomez said students can be shy over video conferences, but they showed their excitement for the performance with thumbs up and sharing smiley face emoji text symbols. To see the performance, visit the school’s Facebook page.
“I think one of my students put a comment on there that said, ‘Oh, Mr. Gomez is dropping his brand new mixtape,'” Gomez said. “They were just overall excited. They were saying, ‘Oh, this is so cool. This is so sweet of you.’ And then like, ‘Oh, I love this.'”
Gomez said it’s important to integrate students’ cultures into the classroom setting, noting that Leyden is home to students with Asian, European and African heritage as well as Latin American.
As a science teacher, he makes sure readings and discussions include information about scientists who share students’ heritage. The students also learn how science issues affect their own communities, a recent topic being the COVID-19 crisis and its disproportionate impact on Black and Latino communities. Doing so, he said, “places importance on who they are as a person and where they’re coming from and what their identity is.”
“I honestly believe the first thing we have to touch is the human spirit,” Gomez said. “And then after that, it allows them to be open and comfortable with you as an educator to learn what you’re trying to teach them.”
School librarians at Leyden are helping students and teachers mark the month by promoting Latino literature, including live video conference readings and question-and-answer sessions with authors, videos of slam poetry readings and book lists.
Authors share journeys
Janine Asmus, librarian at West Leyden, organized the two author virtual visits which will take place the first week of October.
One of the invited authors, Reyna Grande, is a memoirist and novelist who writes about immigration and family, including her own story of immigrating from Mexico as a young child. Grande visited Leyden several years ago to speak to students when her book “The Distance Between Us” was chosen for the “One Book, One Leyden” book program.
The other, Matt de la Peña, is an author known for his young adult fiction and picture books, many of which the Leyden library owns, Asmus said. Asmus said his work and presentations are known for reaching students who are “reluctant readers.”
The authors will each be sharing their work and personal stories with classes over video conference.
Asmus said in previous years students have been especially interested in the author’s life stories, and how they got started writing.
“We’ve been so isolated for so long now that this little sense of community that we’re going to have during those two author visits, the kids will ask some meaningful questions, and hopefully get some face time with our authors,” Asmus said.
Students have been making great use of the high school’s eBook collection and book curbside pick-up service, according to East Leyden librarian Gina Caneva, who said that “kids are doing it in droves.”
She and Asmus have visited classes by video conference to promote book lists and share slam poetry videos from Latino authors. The month presents an opportunity to encourage reading and inspire kids to write.
Caneva said she looks ahead to months like this that highlight particular populations, making sure to find books that are popular and likely to resonate with students.
“It’s important for students of the culture to see there are authors out there, there are ‘people like me’ out there in these successful places, who are writers, who are published, with strong characters who succeed,” Caneva said.
akim@chicagotribune.com
