Mexico Gets The Most Attention
Many people focus on Mexico during Hispanic Heritage Month. Mexico is nearby. The United States has a history with Mexico that goes back many years. Many Hispanics in the United States come from Mexican families. Not all of them do, though.
The words "Hispanic" and "Latino" can be confusing. "Hispanic" means Spanish-speaking people from Spain and most of Central and South America, except for a few places. Brazil is in South America. In Brazil, Portuguese is spoken, not Spanish.
"Latino" means people from countries in Latin America. Latin America is the countries in Central and South America. Latin America includes Brazil even though Spanish is not spoken there. The word "Latino" refers to people who live in the United States. It does not include everyone in the U.S. who speaks Spanish, though. It does not include people from Spain.
The students do not call themselves Latino or Hispanic.
In fact, the words were not created by Spanish speakers or people from Latin America. Both of the words were created for the U.S. Census. The Census is a count of the population. It takes place every 10 years. In 1976, a law was passed. The law created "Hispanic" and "Latino." People thought this would make it easier for the census to collect information.

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