Students at Churchville-Chili’s Chestnut Ridge Elementary School traveled far beyond the usual celebration of Hispanic culture during this year’s Hispanic Heritage month. In addition to the school’s month-long highlighting of Hispanic music, art, customs and cultural contributions, students were treated to a special trip of discovery to one of our South American neighbors – Peru – thanks to the personal experiences of the school’s English as a New Language (ENL) teacher Kari Shirk.
Shirk, who lived and taught school in Peru for ten years, modeled traditional Peruvian clothing and worked with other teachers to collect daily fun facts about Hispanic cultures. At the end of the month, she led a school-wide assembly that included stories and pictures from her time in Peru. Students learned about the country, its cities, its foods and holidays, and similarities and differences in how elementary students learn. They had many questions, learned a few new words of Spanish, and left with a better understanding of how our differences make the world a richer and more interesting place.
“I wanted to share my own personal connections, along with experiences our students could relate to, to help make their understanding of diversity and heritage memorable and real for them,” Shirk said. “We plan to follow up with a chance for each of them to share a little about their own heritage with classmates. It will be exciting for them to see the cultural diversity each of them brings to our school community.”