Hispanic Heritage Month is sometimes celebrated with a focus on historical figures or famous people and their accomplishments. In West Hartford, Spanish teacher Carolina Gieczewski uses the month as an opportunity to build community connections and introduce students to the Hispanic people around them in their everyday lives.
“In my classroom, on top of the usual targeted lessons for Hispanic Heritage Month, I invite parents who have Hispanic backgrounds to come in and present to their child’s class,” Gieczewski says.
At Webster Hill and Bugby Elementary Schools where Gieczewski teaches, there are few Hispanic families but those who do live in the community are excited to come in and talk about the places that are important to them as well as dances, music, food, sports, and other aspects of their culture that they love. This year a family from Mexico brought in food and talked about coming to the United States and growing up here. When a family member from Colombia visited, he talked about three kinds of Colombian music before giving the children an opportunity to try out the dances.
A family member of one of Gieczewski ‘s students, who is from Colombia, visited the class to talk about three kinds of Colombian music before giving the children an opportunity to try out dances.
“It was fun for the kids to listen to the different rhythms and try dancing the steps,” Gieczewski says.
She continues, “I want to highlight the fact that there are a lot of Hispanic people around us. I want students to see who we are and bring aspects of Hispanic culture to their everyday lives.”
Gieczewski says the family visits are always very successful.
“Students are so excited, so engaged, and have so many questions,” she says. “It’s a great way of connecting students and families and to have a very real celebration. The district has good online resources but there’s nothing like having a person in front of you talking about their lived experiences such as how they came to this country or how they learned English.”
She says students usually have questions for the visitors about who made the food that is shared, where they get the necessary ingredients, and what they miss about their country of origin.
“The parents who come in usually laugh a lot,” Gieczewski says. “It’s a little overwhelming when you have 20 students in front of you who want to ask questions at the same time. Many parents do come back again the following year—these students just fill you with love, and that’s the best part of it.”
Gieczewski, joined here by her son Henry, is from Argentina and presents about her home country to her students every year.
Gieczewski, who is originally from Argentina, makes sure to walk the talk by presenting about her own culture as well and has invited her sons to join her in her presentations.
“I talk about glaciers and the tall mountains covered with snow—things the kids don’t associate with Argentina,” she says.
In West Hartford, students don’t start learning Spanish until third grade, so Gieczewski also makes an effort to visit the kindergarten through second graders during Hispanic Heritage Month and often reads simple books in Spanish to the youngest students.
“When I go and visit the classrooms, they give me hugs and it’s wonderful. They ask when I’m coming again,” she says.
To wrap up Hispanic Heritage Month, last week Gieczewski organized a a school assembly.
“We showed a little montage that included every Hispanic student saying their name, where their family is from, and sharing a favorite thing,” Gieczewski explains. “I also raffled off some bilingual books.”
Gieczewski says the best part about being a Spanish teacher is growing a love for the Spanish language in her students.
“I open the door to a new world. Because of their age, my students are so willing to enter this new world, have fun with it, and explore. There’s a lot of love and a lot of joy. I only have an hour with them every week, so I work them hard, but the emotional connection that we establish is the best.”
