Los Dichos de la Casa

To help Silicon Valley’s Spanish-speaking parents better support their children’s education, Project Cornerstone developed “Los Dichos de la Casa,” or Los Dichos. This Spanish-language program is opening new doors for monolingual parents to support their children’s educational success as well as that of other youth in the community.

Los Dichos helps Spanish-speaking parents become involved in their children’s education and instill a sense of positive cultural identity in their children. Los Dichos volunteers are trained in Spanish by a bilingual/bicultural Project Cornerstone staff member in the principles of positive youth development, including the importance of parent involvement in education.

Each month, Los Dichos volunteers read specially selected bilingual books in the classroom and lead activities and discussions about topics including tolerance, family pride, peaceful conflict resolution and other important values.

The impact of Los Dichos is threefold:

• Parent volunteers become empowered to better support their children’s academic success and to form more positive connections with all youth in the community.
• By leading a lesson in Spanish, the volunteers demonstrate that their language and heritage are valued in the classroom, helping build positive cultural identity for their children and their Latino classmates.
• All students in the class learn the same positive lesson and develop greater appreciation and respect for the culture of their Latino classmates, promoting greater cultural competence and tolerance throughout the school community.

Click here to see a list of books in the Los Dichos program.

If you're already a Los Dichos volunteer, click here for program materials and resources.

My sons feel very proud that their Mom is always supporting them and reading to them and getting to know more children. Now they call me ‘Maestra’ whenever they see me!
–Los Dichos volunteer (translated from Spanish)