Colombian American History

This lesson falls under our homeschool curriculum on Latin American History. We recommend that this lesson be taught after the lesson on Salvadoran Americans.

1. Internet Access – Pull up the following:

1. United States-Colombia Map

2. Picture of emeralds

1. Teacher: Last time we learned about the Salvadoran Americans, who are from the smallest country in Central America, El Salvador.

2. Teacher: Today, we’re going to learn about the Colombians from the country way down here, called Colombia [point to Colombia on the United States-Colombia Map – you will need to use the zoom out function by clicking the minus sign, Colombia is near the bottom right of the map].

3. Teacher: So, are you ready to learn about the Colombian Americans? [Get positive response from Student and begin lesson].

1. Teacher: Great. Now, the Colombian Americans come from a country called Colombia. Again, this country, like the other Latin American countries we talked about, was controlled by Spain long ago and that’s why Colombians speak Spanish. Also, something interesting to know about Colombia is that Colombia is the second largest maker of coffee in the world and also makes beautiful green emeralds called Colombian Emeralds. Want to see a picture? [Show picture of Colombian Emerald to Student].

2. Teacher: Like El Salvador, Colombians first moved to the United States because of civil war. A civil war is when two groups of people in the same country fight. But later on, Colombians moved to the United States mostly to make more money for their families.

3. Teacher: A lot of the Colombians moved to New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Washington D.C., and California. But since many of the Colombian Americans thought that they would stay in the United States only for a while until they saved enough money, they didn’t get too involved at first in the American way of life compared to other peoples coming to the United States.

4. Teacher: Sadly, at about the time when many Colombians were coming to the United States, the United States created new rules to make it harder to come here. But that didn’t stop the Colombians even if it meant going against those rules.

5. Teacher: Although the first group of Colombians worked in jobs that paid you a lot of money since they were highly educated, the Colombians that came after usually worked tough jobs that paid little, but still more than those in Colombia. This created some complaints by other Americans who needed these jobs; the Americans saying that why are people who came here against the rules taking American jobs away?

6. Teacher: But there are some Colombian Americans that have risen up in American life. For example, Colombian American actor John Leguizamo played the voice of Sid the Ground Sloth in the Ice Age movies. And Moises Arias, another Colombian American actor, played the role of Rico in the Hanna Montana TV shows. Finally, Alexa Vega, whose father is Colombian, played the role of Carmen Cortiz in the Spy Kids movies.

7. Teacher: And even though most Colombian Americans arrived to the United States just recently, these hard working people seem to be ready to succeed and give to the American way of life.

8. Teacher: OK – time for review. Get in front of the class. [Have the Student stand in front of you (consider inviting other members of the family also to set the stage) and ask her the following:

1. Why did the first Colombians come to the United States? They came to escape the civil war going on in their country and they stayed to find better opportunities.

2. What is something that Colombia makes? Any one of the following: Coffee or emeralds

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