2013 Secondary Solutions the House on Mango Street Answers

1 The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Literature Guide Developed by Debra Navratil for Secondary Solutions ISBN-10: ISBN-13: Digital ISBN: Secondary Solutions. All rights reserved. A classroom teacher who has purchased this Guide may photocopy the materials in this publication for his/her classroom use only. Use or reproduction by a part of or an entire school or school system, by for-profit tutoring centers and like institutions, or for commercial sale, is strictly prohibited. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, translated or stored in any form (including digitally) without the express written permission of the publisher. Created and printed in the United States of America.

2 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide About This Literature Guide... 4 How to Use Our Literature Guides... 5 Author Biography: Sandra Cisneros ( )... 6 Comprehension Check: Author Biography... 7 Historical Context: The Mexican Population in Chicago... 8 Comprehension Check: The Mexican Population in Chicago Standards Focus: Literary Style Novellas and Vignettes Pre-Reading Ideas Pre-Reading Activity: Thematic Literary Elements Anticipation/Reaction Activity Anticipation/Reaction Reflection Standards Focus: Allusions, Slang, and Spanish Words Vocabulary List Standards Focus: Note-Taking and Response Chart Note-Taking and Response Chart: Sample Note-Taking and Response Chart Standards Focus: Journal Response Sample Standards Focus: Journal Response Chart Part One Comprehension and Analysis Journal Topics Literature Focus: Sequence Language Focus: Sentence Structure Part Two Comprehension and Analysis Journal Topics Literature Focus: Figurative Language Language Focus: Parallel Structure Part Three Comprehension and Analysis Journal Topics Literature Focus: Character Interaction Language Focus: Context Clues Part Four Comprehension and Analysis Journal Topics Literature Focus: Setting and Theme Assessment Preparation: Allusions Part Five Comprehension and Analysis Journal Topics Literature Focus: Theme and Character Gender Roles Language Focus: Colons Part Six Comprehension and Analysis Journal Topics Literature Focus: Referential Texts The Bible Writing Focus: Task, Audience, and Purpose Part One Quiz Part Two: Quiz Part Three: Quiz Part Four: Quiz Part Five: Quiz Part Six: Quiz Mixed Review Final Test Multiple Choice Final Test Teacher Resources Secondary Solutions - 2 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

3 Sample Agenda Notes for the Teacher Summary of the Novel Vocabulary with Definitions Post-Reading Activities and Alternative Assessment Essay Ideas Non-Essay Writing Ideas Project Rubric A Project Rubric B Response to Literature Rubric Answer Key Secondary Solutions - 3 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

4 About This Literature Guide Secondary Solutions is the endeavor of a high school English teacher who could not seem to find appropriate materials to help her students master the necessary concepts at the secondary level. She grew tired of spending countless hours researching, creating, writing, and revising lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes, tests and extension activities to motivate and inspire her students, and at the same time, address those ominous content standards! Materials that were available were either juvenile in nature, skimpy in content, or were moderately engaging activities that did not come close to meeting the content standards on which her students were being tested. Frustrated and tired of trying to get by with inappropriate, inane lessons, she finally decided that if the right materials were going to be available to her and other teachers, she was going to have to make them herself. Mrs. Bowers set to work to create one of the most comprehensive and innovative Literature Guide sets on the market. Joined by a middle school teacher with 21 years of secondary school experience, Secondary Solutions began, and has matured into a specialized team of intermediate and secondary teachers who have developed for you a set of materials unsurpassed by all others. Before the innovation of Secondary Solutions, materials that could be purchased offered a reproducible student workbook and a separate set of teacher materials at an additional cost. Other units provided the teacher with student materials only, and very often, the content standards were ignored. Secondary Solutions provides all of the necessary materials for complete coverage of the literature units of study, including author biographies, pre-reading activities, numerous and varied vocabulary and comprehension activities, study-guide questions, graphic organizers, literary analysis and critical thinking activities, essay-writing ideas, extension activities, quizzes, unit tests, alternative assessment, online teacher assistance, and much, much more. Each Guide is designed to address the unique learning styles and comprehension levels of every student in your classroom. All materials are written and presented at the grade level of the learner, and include extensive coverage of the content standards. As an added bonus, all teacher materials are included! As a busy teacher, you don t have time to waste reinventing the wheel. You want to get down to the business of teaching! With our professionally developed teacherwritten Literature Guides, Secondary Solutions has provided you with the answer to your time management problems, while saving you hours of tedious and exhausting work. Our Guides will allow you to focus on the most important aspects of teaching the personal, one-on-one, hands-on instruction you enjoy most the reason you became a teacher in the first place. Secondary Solutions The First Solution for the Secondary Teacher! Secondary Solutions - 4 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

5 How to Use Our Literature Guides Our Literature Guides are based upon the Common Core State Standards, the National Council of the Teachers of English and the International Reading Association s national English/Language Arts Curriculum and Content Area Standards. The materials we offer allow you to teach the love and full enjoyment of literature, while still addressing the concepts upon which your students are assessed. These Guides are designed to be used in their sequential entirety, or may be divided into separate parts. Not all activities must be used, but to achieve full comprehension and mastery of the skills involved, it is recommended that you utilize everything each Guide has to offer. Most importantly, you now have a variety of valuable materials to choose from, and you are not forced into extra work! There are several distinct categories within each Secondary Solutions Literature Guide: Teacher s Guide A variety of resources to help you get the most out of this Guide as well as the text you are teaching. The Teacher s Guide includes a sample Teacher s Agenda, Summary of the Play or Novel, Pre-and Post-Reading Ideas and Activities and Alternative Assessment, Essay and Writing Ideas, Rubrics, complete Answer Key and more. Look for the Teacher s Guide at the end of this Guide. Pre-Reading Ideas and Activities are located at the beginning of the Guide. Exploring Expository Writing Worksheets designed to address the exploration and analysis of functional and/or informational materials and of the historical aspects of the text ü Author Biography including heritage, beliefs, and customs of the author ü Historical Context, including allusions and unique diction, comparison of situations across historical eras, analysis of theme relevant to the historical era ü Biographies of relevant non-fictional characters ü Relevant news and magazine articles, etc. Comprehension Check Similar to Exploring Expository Writing, but designed for comprehension of narrative text study questions designed to guide students as they read the text. ü Questions focus on Reading Comprehension and Analysis and cover a wide range of questioning based on Bloom s Taxonomy Literature Focus Worksheets and activities that directly address the content standards and allow students extensive practice in literary skills and analysis. Literature Focus activities are found within every chapter or section. Some examples: ü ü Literary Response and Analysis, including Figurative Language, Irony, Flashback, Theme, Tone and Mood, Style, and Aesthetic Approach, etc. Writing Strategies, including developing thesis statements, audience and purpose, sentence combining, concise word choice, developing research questions, etc. Assessment Preparation Vocabulary activities which emulate the types of vocabulary/ grammar proficiency on which students are tested in state and national assessments. Assessment Preparation activities are found within every chapter or section. Some examples: ü ü Writing Conventions, including Parts of Speech, Precise Word Choice, Punctuation Vocabulary and Word Development, including Context Clues, Connotation/ Denotation, Word Roots, Analogies, and Literal and Figurative Language Quizzes and Tests Quizzes are included for each chapter or designated section; final tests as well as alternative assessment are available at the end of each Guide. Each Guide contains handouts and activities for varied levels of difficulty. We know that not all students are alike nor are all teachers! We hope you can effectively utilize every aspect our Literature Guides have to offer we want to make things easier on you! If you need additional assistance, please us at Thank you for choosing Secondary Solutions The First Solution for the Secondary Teacher! 2013 Secondary Solutions - 5 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

6 The House on Mango Street Author Biography: Sandra Cisneros ( ) Sandra Cisneros was born on December 20, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois. She is the third of seven children and the only daughter, so she sometimes felt left out in her brothers company. Her father, a Mexican immigrant, worked as an upholsterer and frequently talked about his sons, but not as often about Sandra. Her mother worked in a local factory and completed most chores around the house so Sandra could focus on her schoolwork because she felt an education was very important to her daughter s future. Señor Cisneros s family still lived in Mexico City, so the entire family made an annual trip to spend quality time with their extended family. Each time they returned to Chicago, the Cisneroses unpacked their belongings into a new apartment, and the children enrolled in a different school. Consequently, Sandra Cisneros had trouble making friends and feeling like she belonged. She found reading, especially reading fairy tales, an excellent way to escape her lonely childhood, and she was thankful that it was possible to do so, even in a poor family, with the library card her mother helped her obtain. In 1966, the family finally moved into a house of their own, which helped the children to stay in one school. When she began high school at Josephinum Academy, an all-girls Catholic school near her house, Cisneros found another place where she felt she belonged. Her classmates and one particular teacher acknowledged her writing talent especially poetry writing and encouraged her to continue. During her college years, first at Loyola University in Chicago and then in the Master s Program at the University of Iowa, Cisneros found her unique writing voice. At first, she looked around her classes and observed the faculty, realizing that she was very different because she was a woman from a poor neighborhood with a personal identity that was part American and part Mexican. Eventually she discovered that she could pull experiences from her own life, especially the people and places from the neighborhoods of her childhood, to write poems and stories that were both important and interesting. At first, Cisneros could not make enough money as a full-time writer to pay her bills, so she took a job as a counselor for high school dropouts at Latino Youth Alternative High School in Chicago in During the day, she helped the students deal with their personal and academic troubles while encouraging them to focus on their goals. In the evenings, Cisneros gave public readings of her writing and worked on a small chapbook of her poetry, entitled Bad Boys, which was published in 1980 as a limited run. Also that year, she left the high school to take a job as a recruiter at her alma mater, Loyola University, in an effort to encourage more Latino students to attend college. While in both school environments, she continued to meet interesting people and collect their stories, which served as more inspiration for the writing she did in her free time. In 1982, Cisneros got her first big break: the National Endowment for the Arts awarded her a grant, which allowed her to quit her job and focus only on her writing for a while. She finally had time to put all her short writing pieces together, and the concept for her most famous publication emerged. To get some distance from her home and the people she was writing about, she left the United States to travel around Europe while she revised her little stories, called vignettes. During this time, she also wrote more poems and built friendships with people overseas. These friendships reminded her of how similar all people are, despite 2013 Secondary Solutions - 6 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

7 their many differences. She returned to the United States in 1984 for the publication of The House on Mango Street, which received so much critical praise for its new style and fresh voice that it won the Before Columbus American Book Award. Shortly thereafter, Cisneros moved to San Antonio to work with the Guadalupe Arts Center. She immediately found a community in San Antonio that made her feel welcome and comfortable in a way she never felt in Chicago. San Antonio has been her home since. After The House on Mango Street was published, she was also better able to earn money and secure awards and grants that allowed her to focus on her writing. In 1987, she published a book of poems, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, which further cemented her reputation as a gifted writer and may have been the catalyst for Random House to offer her $100,000 for another book of fiction the largest advance ever offered a Latino writer at that time. Cisneros used the advance to write and revise a collection of short stories, Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories, which was published in Her second book of poetry, Loose Woman was published in 1994, and an epic novel entitled Carmelo was published in When Cisneros was a child, there were no Mexican writers that served as role models to her. As a young Mexican-American girl, most people expected Sandra to grow up strong, get married, have children, and take care of the home. She has never gotten married or had children because she says she needs the quiet of her home to write, and her books and poems are like her children. Instead Cisneros made a place in the world for herself, where a young Latina can be creative, thoughtful, and intelligent while also being happy and successful. Although she did not have suitable role models for her writing, as a best-selling author and possibly the most famous Mexican woman writer, Cisneros has become a role model for young writers, especially women, who are inspired by her dedication and talent. She has also been able to use her writing as a means of educating non-spanish speakers about the Latino experience in America, thereby increasing our understanding of the basic human themes of identity, belonging, and home. Comprehension Check: Author Biography Directions: Answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper. 1. What is one of the problems Sandra Cisneros faced in her youth? How did she overcome it? 2. Do you find any similarities between your life and Sandra Cisneros s? If so, what are they? If not, what is one part of your life that is completely different from Cisneros s? 3. In one or two paragraphs, write an even shorter summary of Cisneros s life, from her birth to the present day, including as many of the important events of her life as you can. 4. What is one life lesson you can learn from Sandra Cisneros s life? Where do you see that lesson exemplified in her life? 5. What do you think Sandra Cisneros is like, based on the information offered in the article? Give three traits and evidence from the article to support your opinions Secondary Solutions - 7 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

8 The House on Mango Street Historical Context: The Mexican Population in Chicago According to the 2010 census, two-thirds of the United States Latino population lives in California, Texas, or Arizona. However, the fourth most populous state for Latinos, especially Mexicans, is Illinois. In 1850, the Mexican population of Chicago consisted of a mere 50 people. By 1920, the census reported 1,200 Mexicans living in Chicago, and there were over one million by the year Today, many Mexican-Americans living in Chicago can trace their family s history in the city as far back as the turn of the previous century. The period between 1900 and 1925 was full of change for both Mexico and the United States. Mexico was experiencing a time of political unrest and war, so men looking for better wages crossed the American border. In addition, many people found it unsafe to stay in Mexico, so entire families fled the country for the political or religious safety and the freedoms the United States offered. At this time, Chicago s economy was heavily reliant on the railroad, steel, sugar beet, and meatpacking industries, but more workers were needed, sometimes to replace employees on strike or men fighting overseas during World War I. Business leaders sent representatives to the Southwest to hire newly arrived Mexican immigrants and transport them north. The recruiters, called enganchistas, paid for the new workers railroad fees and meals on the trip to Chicago, with the understanding that the Mexicans first paychecks would be docked a percentage until the money was compensated. They had better-paying jobs in the United States, but Mexicans still struggled. Many worked ten or more hours per shift, and their meals consisted of small portions of bread or watereddown stew, if they ate anything at all. Mexican immigrants had difficulty finding reasonably priced housing because many apartment complexes were owned by Europeans who resented immigrants. Therefore, landlords unfairly raised rent prices for Mexicans, which meant many people lived in the same apartment to be able to afford a roof over their heads. With more people in such small spaces, good health and sanitation was difficult to maintain. By the early 1920s, American soldiers had returned from war and wanted Mexicans to vacate their jobs and their communities. In Chicago, neighborhoods called colonias, or enclaves, were informally established to help keep Mexicans together. Some of those areas included Calumet, on the near West Side of Chicago; the Back of the Yards area, near the stockyards; and Pilsen, on the lower West Side. These enclaves gave rise to tortilla factories, restaurants, markets, and Spanish-language newspapers like El Ideal. The 1930 census reports 20,000 Mexicans, both immigrants and American citizens, living in Chicago an increase of six hundred percent in just ten years. When the Great Depression hit the United States, Mexicans were seen as expendable and undesirable, so a nationwide campaign of repatriation began. Mexicans were rounded up and sent back to Mexico, even those who were born in the United States and were American citizens. Those who remained in the country had an even harder time getting jobs and food for their families, and some were hurt or killed because of racial violence. At the end of the campaign, about one-third of the Mexican population in the United States had been forced out. In Chicago, the loss was not as severe, in part because of the involvement of social workers and the work of settlement houses staff, who had already been offering assistance to immigrants for decades Secondary Solutions - 8 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

9 By the late 1930s, Mexicans in Chicago began to take action to protect themselves and each other from the difficulties around them. Mutual aid societies were established in the enclaves, which required members to put a portion of their earnings into a community collection box each month. When a member needed money for a serious problem, like unemployment, illness, or death, they were given a portion of the money in the community savings to alleviate the issue. In addition, Mexicans, especially steel workers, joined labor unions like the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) to win better wages and working conditions and to fight racism they observed in the workplace. In 1940, there were 35,000 Mexicans living in or around Chicago, but that was about to change. When Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, Mexicans living in the United States joined the military to fight with the Allied forces in World War II. Some illegal immigrants were able to earn their citizenship this way, including Sandra Cisneros s father. However, there were once again thousands of jobs needing to be filled, so the United States government established the Bracero Program (brazo means arm in Spanish) to invite guest workers from Mexico into the United States. These men were each on a six-month employment contract to work in agriculture in the Southwest and the railroad industry in Chicago and other major cities. The program ran until In the meantime, the Mexican-American community in Chicago continued to expand. Some braceros did not return to Mexico when their contracts were up, and they illegally stayed in the country with friends or relatives, taking jobs where they could. Colonias spread to larger areas, and an area near Pilsen called Little Village, or La Villita, became the center of Mexican culture in Chicago and remains so today. Mexican families also moved out of the city to the suburbs, including Joliet and Aurora, to find more space and larger homes. From the 1950s to the 1970s, organizations like the Mexican Patriotic Committee, the Chicago Area Project, and a branch of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) formed to meet the community, educational, and civil rights needs of the 250,000 Mexican citizens living in the Chicago area in 1970, a number that had increased five hundred percent since In the 1970s, the Chicano movement encouraged strength and pride in the Mexican culture in Chicago. Muralists such as Mario Castillo painted reminders of their heritage from Aztec and Mayan symbols to entertainers, political leaders, and personal family members as a way to pay homage to their roots. Mexican-Americans also worked in community organizations like the Spanish Coalition for Jobs and the Latino Institute to get the housing, medical coverage, and education they needed for their families. Through these organizations, they were also able to fight unfair employment practices and racial discrimination in the workplace. Today, Chicago remains a city where the Mexican culture is showcased and Mexican- Americans feel more empowered. Community service and activist groups work to educate Mexican-Americans on the resources and issues that pertain to them, while smaller pride organizations stage citywide celebrations, like the Mexican Independence Day Parade down 26 th Street every September. Chicago s National Museum of Mexican Art, opened in 1987, has become a major institute for Mexican art and is visited by over 200,000 people annually. Mexican-Americans have earned top offices in local, state, and federal government as representatives of Chicago, and the state of Illinois, and they serve the more than one million Mexican-Americans living in the metropolitan area as of It is clear that without Mexicans contributions to the city s industries, community, and culture for over a century, Chicago would not be what it is today Secondary Solutions - 9 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

10 Comprehension Check: The Mexican Population in Chicago 1. Create a graph showing the growth of the Mexican population in the Greater Chicago Area from 1850 to 2010, according to census data. 2. What are three reasons that Mexicans moved to the United States between 1900 and 1950? 3. Describe several ways that the social workers, settlement houses, or activism organizations helped Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in Chicago. 4. Why is it logical that two-thirds of the Mexican-American population in the United States lives in Texas, California, and Arizona? 5. Develop three research questions you could use to discover more about the Mexican-American experience in Chicago or the United States Secondary Solutions - 10 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

11 The House on Mango Street Standards Focus: Literary Style Novellas and Vignettes The House on Mango Street is a novella, which is shorter than a novel. When compared to short stories, novellas are longer, with more conflicts and characters to develop. One definition requires a novella to be between 17,500 words and 40,000 words. Other novellas you might have heard of include Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, and A Christmas Carol. Instead of chapters, House on Mango Street includes vignettes (vin-yets), brief descriptive writing pieces. In her vignettes, Sandra Cisneros describes the narrator, Esperanza, and her dreams, her family members and neighbors, and the neighborhood around Esperanza s home. Each vignette is like a photograph, full of sensory details to help readers feel and understand the message the author is trying to convey. The vignettes seem disconnected at first, but careful readers will notice a plot emerge as Esperanza relates her life and the lives of those around her. In describing her concept of the book, Cisneros thought the reader would understand each story like a little pearl, or you could look at the whole thing like a necklace. 1. What benefits or challenges do you see to reading a novella written in vignettes? Explain your answer on a separate piece of paper, using the facts from above. In the introduction to the 25 th anniversary edition of The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros wrote about the writer she was before publishing it. (Note: Cisneros is talking about herself in the third person here.) She wants to write stories that ignore borders between genres, between written and spoken, between highbrow literature and children s nursery rhymes, between New York and the imaginary village of Macondo, between the U.S. and Mexico. It s true, she wants writers she admires to respect her work, but she also wants people who don t usually read books to enjoy these stories, too. She doesn t want to write a book that a reader doesn t understand and would feel ashamed for not understanding. She thinks stories are about beauty. Beauty that is there to be admired by anyone, like a herd of clouds grazing overhead. She thinks people who are busy working for a living deserve beautiful little stories, because they don t have much time and are often tired. She has in mind a book that can be opened at any page and will still make sense to the reader who doesn t know what came before or comes after. 2. Do you know people who don t read in their free time? Based on Sandra Cisneros s opinions, what are a few reasons they might not read? Why does Cisneros think people should read her stories? Write your answers on your paper Secondary Solutions - 11 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

12 Cisneros continues to write about the style she adopted for House on Mango Street: She experiments, creating text that is as succinct and flexible as poetry, snapping sentences into fragments so that the reader pauses, making each sentence serve her and not the other way around, abandoning quotation marks to streamline the typography and make the page as simple and readable as possible. So that the sentences are pliant as branches and can be read in more ways than one. 3. With poetic writing, fragments and longer sentences, no quotation marks, do you think The House on Mango Street will be easy for you to read? Explain your reasoning with personal experience or the details from above. Write your answers on your paper. In an interview she did with her publisher, Cisneros said she felt that The House on Mango Street has a particular draw for teenagers because Esperanza has some of the same questions they do. I think that it speaks to young people's isolation, loneliness, and longing.... You basically have to invent [your list of possibilities] as you go, and you don't know who you're going to become yet. So you're looking around for models, as Esperanza is. She's looking at other women around her, saying, "I don't wanna go that way. I'm not going that way. But where do I go? Where do I fit? And how do I make myself into the person I want to be if I don't see that person I want to be?" I think that that's true for young people of any culture in their teens, when one day they still feel like a kid and the next day, you know, you ve got the responsibilities of the adult. 4. Do you think young people are basically isolated and lonely? Are young people searching for role models? Do you agree that teens can be a kid one day and an adult the next? Respond to Cisneros s comments. Do you think a story like this is one you will like to read? Write your answers on your paper. Cisneros characterizes her novella as a coming-of-age story, or a bildungsroman. In this type of book, a young main character has to learn about his or her world through observation and questioning, and this new education forces the character to make some surprising or uncomfortable realizations in order to become an adult. You may have read another bildungsroman, like To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, or Ender s Game. Can you think of any more? 5. Predict what kind of adult knowledge Esperanza may learn in The House on Mango Street that may cause her to mature and feel like an adult. Write your answers on your paper. Interview Responses from "The House on Mango Street The Story on YouTube.com, KnopfGroup Channel Secondary Solutions - 12 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

13 The House on Mango Street Pre-Reading Ideas Journal or discuss topics related to the book, such as feeling a sense of belonging, growing up, prejudice, identifying a role model, or dreams for adult life. Complete a K-W-L (Know, Wonder, Learned) about the Latino culture. Write research questions from the Wonder column and have the students report their findings to the class. Share and discuss photos of Mexicans or Mexican-Americans (Chicanos) in everyday life. One excellent resource is Mexican Chicago, from the Images of America series by Arcadia Press. Find out about the term rite of passage and brainstorm a list of events that might be considered a rite of passage, e.g. moving from childhood to adolescence or adolescence to adulthood. Examples may include permission to go somewhere without parents, a job, babysitting, a religious ceremony, a cell phone, car keys, first kiss or sexual experience, graduation, etc. Read a short story from Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories by Sandra Cisneros. Eleven, about a girl who is forced to wear an uncomfortable sweater from the lost and found at school, is one that is frequently anthologized. Read picture books with both English and Spanish in them. Some examples might be Gathering the Sun by Alma Flor Ada and Simon Silver; Loverboy by Lee Merrill Byrd; My Colors, My World by Maya Christina Gonzalez; I Remember Abuelito: A Day of the Dead Story by Janice Levy, Loretta Lopez, and Miguel Arisa; In my Family by Carmen Lomas Garza; or This Home We Have Made by Anna Hammond. Discuss the flow of language and the themes that the stories have in common. The Mayans and the Aztecs used to inhabit the area that is now Mexico and beyond. Read some of their ancient stories and mythology and compare them to mythological stories from other cultures. Chicago has a rich history of muralists, especially those with cultural significance. Search for photos of Chicago murals and look closely at them to determine their message or purpose. Some artists to begin your search might include Jeff Zimmerman, Hector Duarte, and Alejandro Medina. The Chicago Public Art Guide also has a portfolio of some on their website. Bring in a picture of your home and write about it while looking at the picture. You can describe it, explain your feelings about it, or narrate an event that took place there. Alternately, search for a picture of your dream home or simply write about what your dream home would need to have, as Esperanza does in the first vignette of The House on Mango Street. Sandra Cisneros said the vignettes in this novella were partially inspired by stories from her family, friends, and students. During an interview, when someone asked if the events in the novella really happened, her answer was, all fiction has a basis in truth. Tell a story to another student without him/her taking notes, and then have your partner tell you a story, in the same manner. Afterwards, take about ten minutes to write your partner s story down. How much did you get right? How much did you have to make up to bridge a gap in your memory? Discuss whether it matters that part of the story is not true. Begin planning a Mexican festival, to be held after completion of the novella. Break into groups, with each group responsible for researching and planning something different, such as decorations, music, food, games or activities, or anything else that interests your class. It can even be a school wide event or fundraiser, with Spanish classes, Latino clubs, the dance class or band participating. Be sure to get families involved. Arrange for speakers to come in and share their stories with the students. The speakers may want to explain how they overcame adversity, created a path for their life that was not traditional, or accomplished the dreams they had as a child Secondary Solutions - 13 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

14 The House on Mango Street Pre-Reading Activity: Thematic Literary Elements Directions: For the following statements and questions, compose several sentences or a paragraph giving your reaction or answer to each question. Do your writing on a separate sheet of paper. 1. List five events that indicate that a child is growing into an adult. Explain how each of these experiences signifies that someone has become more adult. a. Consider: How much do a person's physical qualities, personal abilities and accomplishments, and emotional readiness make that person an adult? b. Which should be more important in determining maturity: a person's physical appearance, his/her intellectual abilities, or his/her emotional strength? Explain your answer. 2. Discuss how the statement, "Once you leave, you can never go home again," applies to children becoming adults. a. How important do you think it is to have a home? Is it important that it remain the same while you're away? For example, would you be upset if your home changed while you were away for the weekend? for summer camp? for college? b. Think about a time when you have left someplace you frequented as a child, and it seemed different when you returned. For example, you might think about a former home, your kindergarten classroom, a playground you used to visit, or the pool where you learned to swim. Has the place changed much, or have you? How? 3. Discuss how dreams (having a goal or vision) motivate human behavior. a. Provide a personal, literary, or historical example of a person with dreams. Discuss how this person's actions led to attaining his/her dream or prevented him/her from turning the dream into reality. b. Explain why you think humans tend to dream about a different life. Is dreaming necessary for growth and motivation? Why or why not? 4. Consider the cultural importance of the spiritual. a. Why do you think people consider belief in a god or gods to be important hallmarks of a culture? b. Select a particular historical or modern-day culture and explain how its people display or do not display belief in a higher existence. How do these beliefs affect the daily lives of the people of this culture? 5. The House on Mango Street repeatedly examines the role of women in their own lives, their parents' lives, their husbands' lives, their children's lives, and the world outside their homes. a. Provide a modern-day example of a woman who holds many important roles in her life. How does she meet all of the expectations that come with those roles? If she does not balance the roles well, what prevents her from doing so? b. Anticipate how you think the concept of women's roles will be developed in The House on Mango Street. After you have answered Questions 1-5, you will be divided into five small groups. As a group, discuss and summarize your group s responses Secondary Solutions - 14 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

15 The House on Mango Street Anticipation/Reaction Activity Directions Before reading the novel: In the Before Reading column, write yes if you agree with the statement, no if you disagree with the statement, and? if you don t have a strong opinion or are not sure about the statement. Yes = I agree No = I disagree? = I don t know Before Reading Statement 1. The names people are given determine what type of people they will become. 2. Little girls should be able to wear anything, even if it makes them look like women. 3. Getting to know the neighbors is an excellent way to feel comfortable in a new home. 4. People who are born smart will have an easy time being successful. 5. Beautiful women use their looks as power to control others. 6. Where we live now has nothing to do with our lives in the future. 7. Dreams are as important to human survival as education, love, and health. 8. When trying to build a life, people need role models more than they need motivation. After Reading After completing the Before Reading column, get into small groups and tally the number of yes, no, and? responses for each question. Each group member should keep track of the tally. Group Members: Statement # Yes No I Don t Know Once you have collected your data, discuss those issues about which your group was divided. Make your case for your opinions, and pay attention to your classmates arguments. Once you have discussed all of the issues, answer the Pre-Reading Individual Reflection questions on the next page on your own. *Your teacher will collect and keep your chart and responses to use after you have finished reading the novel, when you will complete the Post-Reading Individual Reflection.* 2013 Secondary Solutions - 15 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

16 The House on Mango Street Anticipation/Reaction Reflection Pre-Reading Individual Reflection Directions: Use the information and discussion from the Before Reading responses to answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper. Be sure to use complete sentences. 1. Which statements triggered the most thought-provoking or interesting discussion? 2. Summarize the discussion/debate. 3. For any of the statements that you discussed, what were some of the strongest or most memorable points made by your group members? 4. What was your reaction when a group member disagreed with the way you feel about an issue? 5. Was any argument strong enough to make you change your mind or want to change any of your initial responses? Why or why not? What made the argument effective? Post-Reading Individual Reflection Directions: After reading the novel, revisit your Anticipation/Reaction Activity and your answers to the discussion questions. Now that you have read the novel, complete the After Reading column on page 15 and answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper, comparing your responses. Answer each question using complete sentences. 1. How many of your responses have changed since reading the novel? 2. Which statements do you see differently after reading the novel? 3. Describe an important part of the novel that affected you or made you think differently after reading. 4. In small groups, talk to some of your classmates about their responses. How are their responses different after reading the novel? 5. Overall, are the feelings of your other group members the same or different from yours? Do any of their responses surprise you? Which ones? How? 6. Why do you think there might be so many different opinions and viewpoints? What do you feel has contributed to the way you and your other classmates responded to each statement? 2013 Secondary Solutions - 16 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

17 The House on Mango Street Standards Focus: Allusions, Slang, and Spanish Words Part 1 Mango Street, Loomis Street, Keeler Street, Paulina Street: Mango Street is a fictional location, but Loomis and Paulina are streets in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, which has a high population of Mexicans and other immigrants. An even bigger Mexican population is in the Little Village neighborhood, where Keeler is located. Chinese year of the horse : The Chinese zodiac associates each year with an animal and its characteristics. It rotates on a twelveyear cycle. People born in the year of the horse are thought to be cheerful, flexible, perceptive, intelligent, childish, and stubborn. Esperanza: The narrator s name means hope in Spanish. the neighborhood is getting bad : People are moving into the neighborhood that are not welcome by the speaker. shiny Sunday shoes : In many cultures, it is important to dress up to go to religious services on the weekend. Often, kids have special clothes they only wear on Sunday, so their good clothes stay clean during the week. You sure got quite a load : You are carrying heavy objects. popsicle lips : lips that are big and pink, as after eating a popsicle Part 2 I bought the Statue of Liberty for a dime : The Statue of Liberty is a statue of the Roman goddess of freedom, holding a tablet and a torch, with a broken chain at her feet. It is over 300 feet tall and stands in New York harbor as the first thing some immigrants see when they arrive in the United States. Tourists can buy small replicas of the statue as a souvenir. big brass record with holes : refers to a music box containing tiny metal combs, that when plucked by the holes on the record, produce sound. marimbas: instruments similar to xylophones, but with lower and broader ranges Tarzan: Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912, this fictional character is a child raised in the wild by apes the subject of hundreds of books, comic books, movies, television shows, and songs. Avon: a makeup company that trains women to go into homes and sell its products Apples, peaches, pumpkin pah-ay : The first line is from the song Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie by Jay and the Techniques in The second line is not in the song, but it fits the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the real lyrics. whitewalls: also known as whitewall tires or white sidewall tires, these tires are considered stylish, expensive, and high-maintenance flooring: pushing the gas pedal all the way to the floor, making the car go fast what cream is best for taking off moustache hair : a lotion that has chemicals to break down hair (ex. Nair) a star to fall : Sometimes called a falling star or shooting star, these streaks in the night sky are meteoroids entering the atmosphere. Some people believe that making a wish after seeing a falling star will help their wish come true. straw brim : a large hat made of straw and often used by farmers because of the brim, which keeps sun out of their eyes and off their necks and ears There Was an Old Woman : an English nursery rhyme dating back to the late 18 th century. The full text reads, There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. / She had so many children, she didn t know what to do; / She gave them some broth without any bread; / Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed. playing chicken : a game in which two players try not to give up on a dare or conflict. If one gives up, that player is chicken and cowardly. If neither gives up, they both suffer the worst outcome, sometimes a serious injury. swollen floorboards : floorboards on a car or vehicle that have absorbed water and may begin to rot soon Part 3 The Eskimos got thirty different names for snow : a common belief, which is stated to show how words can convey the importance of a culture. Although it is true the Eskimo-Aleut languages have many words for snow, the English 2013 Secondary Solutions - 17 The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

18 language has about as many, including sleet, hail, blizzard, and flurry. cumulus: clouds that are white and puffy nimbus: clouds that are dark and tall, usually warning of precipitation your mama : a common, all-purpose insult too much trash : an insult, suggesting the target is unwanted or dirty Cream of Wheat cereal : a breakfast product like grits or oatmeal, but made of finely ground wheat kernels foot fleas: chigoe fleas, or chiggers, are parasites which burrow into the feet of humans and other mammals to lay eggs, leaving an irritating blister at the site chicken lips: an insult frijoles: beans in Spanish, and a staple of many Latin American diets tamales: With a history traced back to the Ancient Mayans, tamales are a traditional Central American dish made of a starchy corn dough called masa that is filled with a variety of foods, placed in a corn husk wrapper, and then steamed or boiled Cinderella: a fairy tale character who endured abuse at home, received magical help, and married a prince who found her by using a shoe that fit only her foot double-dutch rope: a jump rope game using two ropes, which alternately turn in opposite directions whiskey words: things people might say when they are drinking or drunk bushel basket: a wooden basket used to collect crops in a field the ones who wear keys around their necks : These classmates use their keys to enter an empty house after school, since their parents will be gone, usually working afternoon or evening shifts at their jobs. patrol boys: boys who wander around the school or neighborhood to keep their classmates, especially the younger ones, safe while traveling to and from school 300 Spartans: a movie from 1962 about 300 soldiers from the city of Sparta who lead a Greek army against an even larger Persian army, and refuse to surrender Sister Superior: the leader of a group of nuns or the principal of a school run by nuns three-flats: buildings that have three apartments chanclas: sandals or flip-flips; also, old, unwanted shoes baptism: a sacred ceremony in Christian religions, when a person is welcomed into the faith community tilts his thumbs to his lips : a silent signal that someone has been drinking alcohol and may be drunk saddle shoes: a laced, usually leather shoe with a plain white toe and heel, but a black saddleshaped area in the middle of the shoe, in the lace and ankle area my cousin by first communion or something : probably meant to be first cousin, meaning the child of her aunt or uncle, or perhaps cousin by marriage, referring to a child who is her aunt s or uncle s nephew in another family I like coffee, I like tea : The indented, italicized rhymes in this vignette are jump rope jingles, chanted while a person is jumping rope to help keep rhythm. hoochi-coochie: a sexually suggestive belly dance or belly dancer, from which the classic blues song Hoochie Coochie Man by Muddy Waters takes its name heebie-jeebie: a modern idiom to refer to a feeling of anxious discomfort; also, a blues song by Louis Armstrong, in which he sings to a woman about doing the heebie jeebies dance, which may also be a euphemism for sexual intercourse Tahiti: an island located in the French Polynesia collection of islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, known for ote a, a fast hip-shaking dance often confused with Hawaiian hula dancing. merengue: a term which refers to a style of both music and partner dance originating from the Dominican Republic, but popular worldwide. Dancers hold their upper body upright while their feet move to the fast musical arrangements, often written in a 2/4 signature. tembleque: Translated from Spanish, it means wobbly or trembling. It is also the name of a Puerto Rican pudding dessert made with coconut milk, or a beaded headdress worn by folk dancers in some Spanish-speaking countries. Skip, skip, snake in your hips : Although this is just a jump rope chant, it has sexual undertones. She misses on maybe so : Lucy was jumping rope while chanting and did not jump at the right time when she said the last maybe so, which ended her turn jumping. naphtha laundry soap : Naphtha is a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons, and products made with it include lighter fluid and some cleaning supplies. However, Fels-Naptha (no h after the p) is a brand of laundry soap now owned by Dial, which comes in bar form and is used as a stain remover or laundry detergent booster Secondary Solutions The House on Mango Street Literature Guide

2013 Secondary Solutions the House on Mango Street Answers

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