Sociedad Hispánica de Amistad-For Elementary and Middle School-Information, Forms and Contacts
Sociedad Hispánica de Amistad is a new organization for elementary and middle school students and their teachers. In order to have a chapter, the teachers must be members of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, our parent organization. We have a “sister society”, the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica, which is an honorary society for high school students.
Because there are almost an infinite number of program styles for Spanish in elementary and middle schools, we designed the SHA to be flexible and curriculum friendly. Schools may elect to have either Regular Members, Honor Members, or both. Elementary and middle schools which offer only exploratory programs usually have Regular Members only. Middle schools which offer Spanish I and above usually have Honor Members, since this membership requires that the chapter establish minimum grade requirements. Some middle schools offer both types of memberships, with the Honor Membership for their most outstanding students. Both Regular and Honor Members are required to participate in projects. The projects are divided into three categories:
Ambassadorship (focus on using the language to share with others)
Examples:
- Be a pen pal with a student in a Spanish-speaking country or an SHA member in another chapter.
- Tutor other students.
Service to School
Examples:
- Sponsor a foreign language week of activities for your school - poster contests, special foods and music, etc.
- Prepare and serve a Hispanic meal for the teachers in your school.
Service to Community
Examples:
- Make Christmas ornaments with Hispanic themes–donate them to a retirement home, community center, etc.
- Incorporate Hispanic music and dance into a school program for parents and community members.
In order to establish a chapter, the teacher must hold current membership in AATSP. The teacher fills out a one page charter application. There is a $25 charter fee. The fee and application are sent to Pamela S. Wink at the address below. You receive an SHA notebook containing our Handbook with rules for operation, our Constitution, suggestions for projects, text for induction ceremonies, etc. You also receive a charter for framing and display. When your students are ready to be inducted, there is a $5 per member fee for registration, postage, and handling to mail certificates of membership for each student.
Contact
Sociedad Hispánica de Amistad
Pam Wink, National Director
P.O. Box 4128
Frankfort, KY 40604-4128
E-mail: SHAmisad@aol.com
Forms
SHA Charter Application Form (PDF)
To view the PDF files you will need Acrobat Reader. It is a free program, and you may download it here.