The calendar lies forgotten in a corner of the classroom. (Meili Robles/Borderzine.com)

Nahuatl, the Aztec language that once graced Canutillo Elementary was displaced by pragmatism

CANUTILLO, Tx. – While many schools are integrating bilingual studies into their programs, one teacher went beyond the two-language system at Canutillo Elementary to include Nahuatl, the Aztec language. Carlos Aceves, a fifth grade teacher at the school, began teaching Nahuatl and the Aztec calendar to his students in 1995. But in the same way that the Spanish did away with the Aztecs, the need to prepare students to take the state mandated achievement tests purged the Native American language from the curriculum. “The first year I did it without telling anybody,” recalls Aceves.