ALBA high school teachers institute, New York City, Nov. 2014. Photo Rodolfo Graziano.

Are you a middle or high school teacher? Do you know one? Spread the word about ALBA’s teaching institutes. This fall offers plenty of opportunities to join!

This past July, ALBA’s Juli Highfill and Peter Carroll led a workshop for Spanish teachers in San Diego, California, at the annual convention of the American Associations of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). The session followed an article on ALBA’s professional-development work in Hispania, the AATSP’s flagship journal. Seventeen teachers from around the country spent three hours discussing ALBA’s core documents relating to international participation in the Spanish Civil War and related issues, including the rights of civilian refugees after the war.

The session in San Diego was only the opening salvo for an extraordinarily busy fall. With the generous support of the Puffin Foundation, ALBA’s teaching team is offering seven different workshops, ranging from a couple of hours to one day in length. On October 11, we’ll be in Oberlin, Ohio, for a full-day session as part of the region-wide professional-development program organized by the North Eastern Ohio Education Association (NEOEA). On October 19, we’ll be in the Chicago area, at Elmhurst College (Illinois), for a full-day workshop. An ALBA tradition by now is the annual election-day workshop in New York City (November 6) and, on the next day, November 7, a workshop in Bergen, New Jersey.

On November 11 and 12, ALBA is proud to be part of the first conference on Antisemitism, Hate, and Social Responsibility organized by Classrooms without Borders. Here, ALBA will offer two separate sessions on antifascist activism in the face of the rise of the radical right in Europe and the Americas. And, finally, on November 24, ALBA will offer a workshop session during the convention of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), which this year is held in Austin, Texas.

I was excited to be able to participate in the ALBA workshop because of my interest in the Spanish Civil War and human rights my desire to learn techniques for teaching those subjects. Dr. Highfill and Dr. Carroll provided each of us with a teaching packet complete with topics of discussion for students, as well as poem excerpts, copies of propaganda posters, lesson plan templates, and background summaries on central figures surrounding or related to the Civil War, such as Pablo Neruda. This workshop was the highlight of my time at the AATSP Conference.

—Erin Russ-Yribar, Associate Lecturer of Spanish, University of Wisconsin-River Falls

I attended your workshop in San Diego and wanted to thank you for your work. In my opinion, it’s a fascinating area of research that doesn’t receive enough attention outside of Spanish literature or culture courses.

—Cheri Robinson, Assistant Professor of Spanish, Dickinson State University, North Dakota

Anyone interested in these workshops, or in organizing a workshop in their area, can contact the ALBA office at info@alba-valb.org or (212) 674-5398.