Integrating Human Rights Education into Heritage Language Classrooms

Strategic Insights -

As part of a nine-week unit on migrant labor rights at East Hartford High School, students in a Spanish heritage language classroom debated labor laws, analyzed fairness, and connected their own lives to the experiences of migrant youth. The unit, which was designed specifically for Spanish heritage language learners, became the focus of a research study co-led by Neag School associate professor Michele Back and East Hartford teacher and Neag School alumna Amber Dickey '16 (CLAS), '16 (ED), '17 MA. Their collaboration, the results of which were recently published in Foreign Language Annals, emerged from Dickey's participation in UConn's Human Rights Close to Home (HRCH) program, a professional learning initiative created by the University's Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs in collaboration with the Neag School.

Key Takeaways:

  • The unit on migrant labor rights, which was designed specifically for Spanish heritage language learners at East Hartford High School, became the focus of a research study co-led by Michele Back and Amber Dickey '16 (CLAS), '16 (ED), '17 MA.
  • The unit was part of a nine-week curriculum that incorporated a semi-autobiographical account of child migrant labor, a documentary, and research on Connecticut teen labor laws.
  • Students in the class, who were mainly Latino students from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Central and South America, were able to connect the literature to articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and analyze labor rights across historical and contemporary contexts.
  • The study used classroom observations, student surveys, and discourse analysis to explore how the unit affected student engagement, empathy, and civic awareness.
  • The study found that students were able to debate, challenge one another to provide evidence, and engage in nuanced discussions, but quantitative surveys showed only modest changes in those areas.
  • The partnership between Back and Dickey reflected mutual respect and shared goals, and both educators see potential for similar units in other heritage language programs.
  • Human rights education fits naturally within any heritage language program, and embedding these themes strengthens language skills and empowers students to engage critically with the world.

Statistics:

  • 9-week unit on migrant labor rights
  • 40 hours of part-time work per week for some students
  • 14 years old: the minimum age for working on farms in Connecticut
  • 40% of students in Dickey's class were holding part-time jobs outside of school
  • 73% of students in Dickey's class enrolled in UConn's Early College Experience human rights course after completing the unit on migrant labor rights

Sources:

  • UConn News Releases
  • Foreign Language Annals
  • Human Rights Close to Home (HRCH) program
  • University of Connecticut's Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs
  • Neag School