Mexico Donates 44,000 Spanish Textbooks to School Libraries

In an effort to reinforce its language, history and culture north of the border, the Mexican government Wednesday donated more than 44,000 new Spanish-language textbooks to Los Angeles schools.

Each elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District will receive two boxes, each containing 52 softbound textbooks on subjects ranging from math and natural science to Mexican history and geography.

To keep them accessible to all students, the Spanish textbooks will be kept on school library shelves. Although it is up to individual schools what exactly to do with them, district officials hope teachers will utilize the materials--which also include teachers’ manuals--to augment social studies lessons.

Wednesday morning, interim Supt. Ramon C. Cortines formally received the gift from Mexican Consul General Jose Luis Bernal during a news conference at Corona Avenue Elementary in Bell.

“So many of our children [in the district] are from your country,” Cortines told Bernal. “If they don’t think in two languages and read in two languages and write in two languages, they’re not going to do well.”

Bernal said that for Latino children--particularly those of Mexican origin--the textbooks will provide a link to their culture and history. Aimed at the first five grades and divided by grade level, the books are identical to those used by many schoolchildren in Mexico.

“These books that we bring you today are a gift from the children of Mexico to the children of Los Angeles,” Bernal said.

A set of books will also be delivered to each of the 88 cities in Los Angeles County, as well as to several public libraries and other community groups.

At Corona Elementary, where 98% of the students are Latino, the books will be a welcome addition to the library’s Spanish-language collection, school officials said. As part of the its after-school program, The school encourages parents to accompany their children to the library and read alongside them.

“We know that if a child sees their parent reading, they’ll duplicate that,” said school board member Victoria Castro, “and reading is reading, whether it’s in English or Spanish or any other language.”