Estereotipos de género / Gender Stereotypes

This week, February 3^rd through the 7^th, marks the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, a national coalition organization for racial justice in education. And, as the social justice advocates that we are here at AFS, we have taken the lead to bring this effort to our community. While social justice is at the core of our education, this week focuses classroom lessons on various topics through the thirteen guiding principles from the Black Lives Matter movement. To learn more, please visit their web site: https://blacklivesmatteratschool.com/

So, with that being said, in Spanish class conversations have begun starting with our youngest learners, the Cardinals and Catbirds.  The topic we will be exploring during the next several weeks is Gender Stereotypes. Through read alouds, role-playing, and games my goal is for students to learn to embrace differences, understanding that personal expression is independent and separate from gender and race. Through this study, we will be learning Spanish vocabulary related to some emotions, clothing, professions, and toys.

To start the conversation, the simple term of “fairness” was introduced through Mary Hoffman’s book, “La Asombrosa Graciela / Amazing Grace”. This is a story about a little girl who loves stories, especially acting out the characters in them. But, when she tries out for the lead part in the school play, her friends tell her she can’t have the lead because it is a boy’s role. Hmmm. Is this fair? Is it ok for girls to do things boys normally do? What does it say about Graciela that she went ahead and tried out for the part? All these and many more questions will be explored in the weeks to come. Stay tuned as our conversations deepen and our knowledge expands as we progress through the study.