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Week 9 October 29th, 2013 Story & Comprehension Questions

from

Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza

What is prose? • Prose is the ordinary form of written language. • Most writing that is not poetry, drama, or song is considered prose. • Prose is one of the genres, or forms, of literature and occurs both in fiction and nonfiction.

Narrator - a person who tells the story Characters - the people living the story

Dialogue - the conversations that the characters have Events - make up the action in the story

Ernesto Galarza 1905 - 1984 • At eight, migrated to Sacramento, California • worked as a farm laborer • became one of the 1st poor Mexican-Americans to complete college • M.A. from Stanford in 1929 • Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in 1944 • Returned to California • organized unions for farm laborers

• joined effort to create the 1st multiracial farm worker union. • failed but created the foundation for the United Farm Workers Union of the 1960s. • wrote the 1964 Merchants of Labor, on the exploitation of Mexican contract workers, and the 1971 Barrio Boy, about his own childhood • nominated for Nobel Prize in Literature in 1976.

from

Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza

What is a Barrio? A barrio is a part of a town or city where most of the people are Hispanic.

Open books to page 70

page 70

Look carefully at the expression on this boy’s face. • What emotions do you think he is feeling? • Does this picture convey the emotions that a child might feel as he enrolls in a new school?

• Why?

What is a narrator? It is the person telling the story

Who is the narrator of this work? The author is the narrator.

1st person or 3rd person?

It is written from the 1st person point of view.

How do you know?

He is telling a story about himself because he uses the words I, me, we and us.

Why does Ernesto Galarza discuss the differences between Lincoln School and his school in Mazatlan? He wants you to understand how insecure he feels in the new school in the new country.

Where do the narrator and his mother go?

The boy and his mother have gone to his new school. Where are they? They have entered the office of Miss Nettie Hopley, the school principal.

Why does Miss Hopley have another boy come to her meeting with Ernesto and his mother? Ernesto and his mother do not speak English

What words describe how young Ernesto is feeling during the days at school in this country? Secure

Afraid

(when his mother is there)

(when his mother leaves)

What happens that makes Ernesto’s feeling start to change? His feelings begin to change when begins to be able to read and speak English. He stops being afraid and decides he really likes Miss Ryan.

What details in selection #8 on page 73 help you appreciate the importance of the author’s actual experience? The teacher feels such devotion to her students that she gives some of them private lessons in a closet. She keeps an eye on the rest of the class while focusing on teaching a few students in the closet. The teacher is very dedicated to teaching English.

On the first day of school, Miss Ryan’s smile is reassuring to Ernesto. How does she make him feel? She makes him feel confident.

Which students get private lessons with Miss Ryan? The first graders who do not know English have private lessons with Miss Ryan.

What have you learned about Ernesto’s classmates? They come from many different backgrounds and speak different languages.

How does Miss Ryan help Ernesto overcome his fear of her? She helps him learn English and encourages him in front of the class.

How does Miss Ryan encourage the students she tutors privately? She praises their accomplishments in front of the class.

What do the details in the paragraph at the top of page 74 tell about each character in the narrative? The details reveal the nationalities of the children and the physical characteristics of a couple of the children.

What makes Ernesto similar to several of his classmates?

There are other students in the class that do not speak English.

Think again about the difficulties a child might face when moving from another country to the U.S. Are your original ideas similar to the events in the story? What new ideas did you learn?

Page 74 Answer questions 1-4 in complete sentences in your notebook. Complete by the end of class and show teacher to receive your classwork credit.