The Latino Guide to Creating Family Histories

It's never too early to start learning about one's heritage. This book contains three manuals for writing one's family history: Student, Parent, and Teacher Guides. It can be used by classes from upper elementary school through college - as well as by parents and children to better understand their heritage. The Student Manual guides the efforts of research and writing, with tips on interviews and organization of materials for the writing of the student's first book. The Parents' Manual stresses ways to help the child author with encouragement, family documents, and persons to contact. There is a parent manual in Spanish to meet the needs we commonly find of monolingual parents. The Teachers Guide contains tips for arousing student interest in their family history as far back as grandparents and family friends. The use of a computer and access to the web are helpful but not required. Grade level and motivation are factors that will shape the scope and breath of the family history project. The final section of the book is devoted to a detailed presentation of the top 350 Hispanic surnames - names that are used by 64% of all Latinos in the USA. Students, parents, and teachers all will have fun seeing whose names is more popular and how they rank. Writing a family history is depicted as a life-long adventure in search of one's, heritage. The first edition of the project lends itself to additions over time. The final family history can be suitable for printing as a gift on special occasions. Various aspects of the learning curriculum are benefited by this effort. The author, Dr. Juan Nava was the first Latino elected to the Los Angeles Unified School Board and also served as the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico.