New Teaching Central America Program Specialist

Jonathan Peraza Campos

Join us in welcoming our new program specialist for our Teaching Central America campaign, Jonathan Peraza Campos. He is passionate about this work. Here is why,

I did not grow up with a grasp of my history and my identity and my culture. It is something that was denied to me because of war trauma survived by my family. It is something that is deliberately excluded from the curriculum.

But in a time when there are so many Central American migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, even Nicaragua, coming to the United States, when there are so many different populations of multiple many races, languages, cultures, histories, backgrounds, in our schools and our neighborhoods, it is imperative that we create content — that we center content — about Central Americans and Central America in our classrooms.

Jonathan has hit the ground running to prepare for Teach Central America Week on October 3-9.

Based in Atlanta, Jonathan will ensure that Central Americans in the South are featured in our lessons and other resources. Currently the funding for the program specialist position is part time, so Jonathan will also continue to teach secondary school and pursue his second Master’s degree from Georgia State University with a focus on history and Latinx/Latin American Studies.

We welcome additional support to make this a full time position and expand our programming.

Support Teaching Central America

Greetings From Jonathan

Check out the two-minute video below where Jonathan shares why he is excited to join the team and some of his plans for Teach Central America Week.

 

 

 

 

Transcript

Hi, my name is Jonathan Peraza Campos. I am the new program specialist for Teaching Central America, a project of Teaching for Change. It is a huge privilege to be able to be part of the team because I am a Salvadoran and Guatemalan descendant person born of the United States. I am a proud Central American.

I did not grow up with a grasp of my history and my identity and my culture. It is something that was denied to me because of war trauma survived by my family. It is something that is deliberately excluded from the curriculum. But in a time when there are so many Central American migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, even Nicaragua, coming to the United States, when there are so many different populations of multiple many races, languages, cultures, histories, backgrounds, in our schools and our neighborhoods, it is imperative that we create content — that we center content — about Central Americans and Central America in our classrooms.

So I’m super excited to be able to join the Teaching for Change team to really develop teaching Central America and build up towards our flagship event, Teach Central America Week, October 3 to the 9th of 2022.

As the new program specialist, please count on me to support you in the teaching of Central America and Central Americans. There are so many lessons, there are films and things, there are resources for you to use in your classrooms. And I’m happy to help support the facilitation of these different events and lessons in your classrooms.

There’ll be some professional development sessions coming up in September. There are so many ways that I hope to support you in teaching about my people, about your students, and to your students. For your students who are not Central Americans to be aware of their neighbors, to be aware of social issues that are urgent to understand today with the recent migration trends that we’re seeing in the U.S. and around the world even.

And so, I hope to join you in developing Teach Central America Week. I hope to support your teaching of Central America and Central Americans, and let’s do good work. Let’s teach the truth in all of our schools everywhere. I look forward to working with you.

Sign Up for Teach Central America Week