Outreach in Our Schools

CLACS develops a wide array of workshops and open to all faculty, students, and educators. In partnership with other KU Area Studies Centers or community organizations, we collaborate with educators, faculty, and community experts to host two-to-three workshops annually for Great Plains K-16 educators on a wide variety of pedagogoical and curricular topics. These workshops are meant to help K-16 educators, students, communities, and educational institutions to increase awareness and understanding of Latin America and the Caribbean. We also coordinate or sponsor over 80 events annually, such as lectures, symposia, film screenings, concerts and conferences, so there are many ways for you and your students to learn and engage.

Find lesson plans across the disciplines produced by teachers in Kansas schools. Many of these lesson plans have been generated out of CLACS Educator Workshops.

Working in collaboration with KU's Area Studies Centers and KU International Affairs, and in partnership with the Foreign Language Association of Missouri, the Kansas World Language Association and the Kansas Department of Education, the Open Language Resource Center host an annual World Languages Fair on the KU Lawrence campus. The event brings middle- and high-school students to campus for a day focused on exploring world languages and cultures. Sessions include mini-lessons in a range of languages, presentations on target cultures, and discussions of how intercultural competence can enhance different fields of study. Presentations are led by faculty from the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Benedictine College, Johnson County Community College, Pittsburg State University, and Fort Hays State University. During an extended lunch period there are information booths where students can learn more about language-related scholarships, study abroad opportunities, and internationally-focused student organizations.

The KU Area Studies Centers are eager to visit high-school students on-site for a day focused on exploring world languages and cultures. Presentations are led by faculty from the University of Kansas, where sessions include mini-lessons in a range of languages, presentations on target cultures, and discussions of how intercultural competence can enhance different fields of study. In the past, traveling world language fairs have included languages such as: Portuguese, Chinese, Uyghur, Japanese, Arabic, Kaqchikel, KiSwahili, and Russian.

At the University of Kansas, we seek the next generation of global leaders that appreciate other cultures, languages, and histories, which is why KU has had such a rich international presence that continues to expand and deepen. With expert faculty from around the world, robust global area studies centers, over 40 world languages taught, decades-long partnerships with foreign universities, and dozens of high-quality study abroad programs, students at KU have the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to make an impact on the global stage. The University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University, and Donnelly College, the most diverse college in the Midwest, partner annually to showcase exciting and dynamic research and artistic projects undertaken by our faculty and students.

CLACS hosts annual Pan American Summit (PAS), an inter-collegiate all-day event that challenges students to consider and debate ways of resolving the most pressing issues affecting nations in the Americas. Through the experience, students learn about social movements, political ideologies, economic theories, geographic impacts, environmental challenges, and issues of socioeconomic class and ethnic / racial identities in American States. The objective of the summit is to bring people together with the common goal to improve our hemisphere’s development in the twenty-first century. 

CLACS hosts high school students for a day at KU. Visits are designed to showcase many facets of a global education possible at the university. Students are introduced to multicultural resources, meet with faculty and students at KU, participate in a college class, and visit the Spencer Museum of Art. Exact details of the showcase are subject to change, pending the needs and desires of the visiting school.