CLACS Outreach

At the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) our mission is to increase knowledge and awareness of Latin America and the Caribbean in the educational community and the general public by promoting language and area studies in their broadest sense.

Outreach at CLACS is a service-oriented program funded through a Title VI Federal Area Studies grant. It is designed to increase public knowledge about Latin America and the Caribbean and Latin American and Caribbean peoples and cultures. All our services are free!

CLACS K-12 educators Outreach

Teaching Resources
  • Provides a Speakers Bureau for presentations in schools on Latin American topics.
  • Launched the Outreach Library for k-14 teachers and instructors.
  • Publishes several curriculum development workbooks including: Columbus: Beyond the Myth, A Teacher's Workbook on Tropical Rain Forests, and Historia Oral: The Latina/o Experience in the United States.
  • Maintains links to Web based curriculum-related materials on its outreach Web pages as a means of facilitating access to curriculum resources and research materials on Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • Teachers' Workshop on Latin American Studies , April 2010.
    Offered to teachers and librarians. This professional development workshop will provide an informative overview and discussion of different aspects of Latin America and the Caribbean. For more information, please contact Alejandra Seufferheld, 244-2790, amsseu@illinois.edu .

CLACS children Outreach

  • Spanish Story Time
    The Spanish Story Time haven been organized by CLACS & the Urbana Free Library since 2006. The event is for children and their parents and consists of storytelling, live music and art. It is presented bilingually in Spanish/English, the second Saturday of October, November, December, February, March and April from 2:30 to 3:30 PM.
  • Library-Spanish Time
    The goal of Library Spanish Time is to encourage elementary school students to discover literature, enjoy reading and at the same time learn about Latin American culture.
    In this project, school teachers and librarians bring the children to the Library for bilingual (Spanish/English) storytelling and music.

CLACS Outreach to the community

  • Lecture Series
    CLACS Organizes the Latin American Brownbag Colloquium, a weekly series of noon seminars in which faculty, students, and visiting scholars present current research and speak on topics of special interest. Additionally, the Center sponsors many cultural events, such as Latin American music and dance ensembles, and art exhibitions.
  • CLACS this Week, an online weekly Calendar of Events.
    If you want to receive CLACS weekly bulletin with announcements on lectures, workshops, films and activities related to Latin America and the Caribbean please, contact the Associate Director, Angelina Cotler, cotler@illinois.edu.
  • Colaborates with the Illinois International Review, the University of Illinois
  • Correo de Linguistica Andina,an annual newsletter on Quechua instruction : http://www.clacs.uiuc.edu/quechua/correo/
  • Additionally, the CLACS sponsors many cultural events, such as Latin American music and dance ensembles, and art exhibitions.