House+on+Mango+Street

http://www.elbalero.gob.mx/index_kids.html
 * Mexican culture**


 * The American Dream**



toc = =
 * by Sandra Cisneros**

Unit activities designed by Susannah Muench

"Writing a poem is discovering"

Robert Frost [|“Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular.]” Aristotle

==

=**About the Author**=





=Beginning Questions: The people on Mango Street=

1. Why do you think Cisneros tells the reader about Esperanza's house before she writes about her name? Why is where Esperanza lives more important than who she is? 2. How old do you think Esperanza is? Where in the book does Cisneros suggest her age? 3. Of what is Esperanza ashamed? 4. What do you think makes her cry or angry?

=**Main Characters**= After reading the first chapter who are the main characters in //House on Mango Street//? List them in your notebook.

Now read the second and third chapters. Create a character web (like you did for the characters in Rabbit Proof Fence) for Esperanza.

1. What is the point of view of this book? 2. The last sentence in this chapter is, “But I know how those things go.” What does it mean? What does it tell you about the book’s narrator? 3. What kind of feeling do you get from the word “there” on page 5? How does the nun see the house? How does she feel about the house?

Chapter Questions for Chapters 5-7

 * //Cathy Queen of Cats (pages 12-13)//**


 * 1) What do you learn about Esperanza’s neighborhood from the four paragraphs in this chapter?
 * 2) Write a quote from this chapter that shows how prejudice and events made it hard growing up as a Latina (someone who is Hispanic) for Esperanza.


 * //Our Good Day (pages 14-16)//**


 * 1) What is the mood of the chapter?
 * 2) Make a list of the upbeat words and phrases from this chapter.


 * //Laughter (pages 17-18)//**


 * 1) What is the special bond between Esperanza and Nenny?
 * 2) Do you have anyone who you share something special with or have a special bond with?

//**Gil’s Furniture Bought and Sold**//


 * 1) Why do you think Esperanza has to pretend she does not care about the music box?
 * 2) What images or impression do you get from Esperanza’s description of how the music box sounds, “it like all of a sudden he let go a million moths all over the dusty furniture and swan-neck shadows and in our bones. It’s like drops of water. Or like marimbas only with a fumy little plucked sound to it like if you were running your fingers across the teeth of a metal comb.” (P.20)

//**Meme Ortiz**//
 * 1) “Out front there are twenty-one steps, all lopsided and jutting like crooked teeth” is an example of what types of figures of speech?
 * 2) Why do you think Sandra Cisneros does not comment or explain more about the First Annual Tarzan Jumping Contest?

Chapter Questions: "A Rice Sandwich"
1. Why does Esperanza want to eat in the canteen? 2. How does Esperanza convince her mother to allow her to eat in the canteen? 3. Why did Esperanza say that the house was hers when it wasn’t? 4. Once again Esperanza endures a humiliating experience. How is the experience with the nun in this chapter similar to the experience in chapter one? Why does Esperanza lie about her home? 5. What did she learn from this experience? 6. Why do you think this chapter titled “The Rice Sandwich?” Would another title be more appropriate?

= = = Communicating through poetry = = = Poems like films and literature have a particular form and purpose. A poet, like a director or writer, chooses special techniques to get across images, sounds and a message or theme.

The House on Mango Street contains many small poems and references to poems, which emphasize the importance of language to Esperanza and her neighbors. The poems are actual poems that Esperanza writes and simple, internal rhymes within the text. The abundance of poetry suggests that the women and girls on Mango Street try to make their lives better by describing the world with beautiful language. The novel itself, with its many internal rhymes, is in some ways Esperanza’s long poem, her attempt to make some of the unpoetic aspects of her life less hard and more ordered through poetry.

Style
The way, in which something is said, done, expressed or performed

Within //House on Mango Street//, Cisneros uses certain methods and techniques to express herself which helps to create a certain STYLE

//House on Mango Street// is written in a very special style. When you hear it read out loud what does it sound like to you? How would you describe the style of //House on Mango Street//?**
 * Think Pair Share:

One of the ways that authors such as Cisneros help to create style is by using figures of speech within their writing.

Figures of Speech

 * Denotation-**
 * Connotation**-
 * Cliché-**
 * Irony-**
 * Metaphor-**
 * Simile-**
 * Onomatopoeia-**
 * Personification-**
 * Hyperbole-**

**Task 1**
Using the book //Literature and Integrated Studies: Grade 8// (ScottForesman, 1997), write definitions for the figures of speech above. Illustrate each with an example.

Task 2
Find a poem in a book or on the internet that you like and that uses at least one of the techniques of poetry and one of the figures of speech we have learned about.

Post it on **the relevant page (Hum 1, Hum 2, Hum 3) for your class under** **Poetry We Like, AND your blog**. Explain why you like the poem and what type of technique/s it used. Be sure to put both your name and cite the author of the poem.

Task 3

 * // My Home //**

Esperanza has definite feelings about her home. Create a poem about how you feel about your home. The poem should follow the format below. Make sure that it is descriptive and creative.

My home is ……………. Where It is …………………….

My home is ………….. It is ………………..

My home is……………… Where…………………. It is ………………….

My home is………………… It is………………………….

My version of this poem is below: My home is my refuge, a pool of calm, Where there is peace from people who want things It is the balm that soothes the worries of mind and soul My home is the laughter of friends Pot luck dinners and the sharing of food The scent of my grandmother’s incense drifting over the altar table My home was the view over the Bosphorus Where the water changes from silver to the blue of storms With the cries of the simit seller on a summer’s eve lingering in the air It was easier to breathe there But the door to that home is shut now My home is the scent of eucalypt The sounds of the ocean and the dusty feel of the sand between my toes It is the open spaces of Australia And the road that stretches out before me, an infinity of adventure My home is in my husband’s voice And the stories he tells In the laughter that fills all the empty spaces Smoothing out the jagged edges

[| Rubric for My Home.doc]





T o Say the Name is to Begin the Story**
 * __Pre- Writing__
 * **How do you feel about your name?**
 * **What are some stories or history that you know about your name?**
 * **If your name were a color, what color would it be?**
 * **If your name were an animal, what animal would it be?**
 * **What does your name represent to you? Think about metaphors or similes here.**
 * **Would you change your name if you could?**
 * **How does your name affect you?**

//Use the chapter “My Name” as a jumping off place and a source for inspiration, this assignment asks you to write about the story of your name. I want to know the history of your name, memories or stories about your name, your feelings about your name, nicknames you have, and anything else related to your name.// //Please use Cisneros’s descriptive style of writing as a model to try something new. If you get stuck use the chapter on names and try to imitate the style.//

Turn your pre-writing assignment into a short piece of writing/poetry- about a page. Be sure your writing is descriptive, includes at least one example of hyperbole, personification, a simile or metaphor, has sensory details and of course has rhythm!**
 * __Assignment:__

Here is a website where you can research what your name means. But do not get side-tracked! Your writing/poetry needs to focus on what your name means to you!



[| Peer Edit.doc]

[| Rubric for My Name.doc]

=//House on Mango Street// Skits=

You and your group need to come up with a two-minute skit that depicts (shows) the **main themes and events** of your chapter. Be sure to somehow include everyone in the skit, either by talking or acting. You have 15 minutes to come up with your skit. Make sure it is clear and well done.

Cathy Queen of Cats Our Good Day Laughter Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold Meme Ortiz
 * Chapters: **

=Figures of Speech and Literary Terms Review=

[| Literary Terms Examples for Classification Activity.doc] [| Literary Terms WebQuest.doc] [| Four dimensional study example for Humanities.doc]


 * Character Metaphor?**