Unit: Hispanic Culture in literature
Grade Level/Course: 9th Grade Engl. II
Teacher: Burkhalter, Q
Complex
Simple
Learning Goals (Question 1)
Utilizing literal, figurative and connotative language found in Short stories, Poetry, and non-fiction
Genre, paraphrase, tone, imagery, connotation, denotation, Cultural aspects of writing, dialects.
Planning for Question 2
Preview
Process as a class
through discussion
initial reaction to
initial text
Critical Input Chunk
As a Class students will read
My English by Julia Alvarez
and take notes on the
biographical details Of Alvarez’
life.
As a class students will read
Celebration of Grandfathers
by Rudolfo Anaya and take
notes on the biographical details
Of Anaya’s life.
As a class students will read
Uncle Marcos by Isabel
Allende and take notes on the
biographical details Of
Allende’s life.
As a class students will read My
Wicked, Wicked Ways by
Sandra Cisneros and take notes
on the biographical details Of
Cisneros’ life.
As a class students will read
Clenched Soul by Pablo
Neruda and take notes on the
biographical details of Neruda’s
life.
Vocab Chunk

Tone

Imagery

Metaphor

Connotation

Denotation
Actively Process
Snap shots:

Indentify the author’s
purpose in the story

Relate the Story to the
factual information
presented
Tableuxs:

Using the facts given
about the Alvarez’ Life
write a 16 line poem
that illustrates your
own difficulties
growing up. What
cultural hurdles have
you had to leap.

Anaya’s work is based
on a life growing up in
New Mexico. What
aspects of Celebration
of Grandfathers ring
true for you?

Write a paragraph
illustrating why you
think Hispanic
Literature has become
financially successful.

After reading Neruda’s
Clenched Soul make a
list of things that you
have lost. The list will
start with the literal
and move to the
figurative.
Planning for
Question 3
Planning for
Question 4
Indentify metaphors and
symbolism in relation to
cultural morays in the story
Write essay analyzing the
story and/or stories, or
comparing the story in
preview based on specific
prompts.





1.
2.
Culturally how do
the stories relate
to the
Biographical
information
presented via PP
Compare Stories
(orally)
Classify
Analyze errors
found in faulty
thinking
Answer the
following
questions about
the Sandra
Cisneros Poem:
Visualize this
photograph.
Imagine you are
the mother, the
father, or the
"woman, / the one
my father knows."
Describe this
photograph in this
other voice: what
you see, what you
think and feel
when you see it.
What is the
allusion of the
title? How does it

Compare the use
of culture in My
English by Julia
Alvarez and
Celebration of
Grandfathers
by Rudolfo
Anaya. With the
following quote
from Rudolfo
Anaya "I made
strength from
everything that
had happened to
me, so that in
the end even the
final tragedy
could not defeat
me.” Discuss
what each
author claims is
the power of
education. Cite
lines from My
English by Julia
Alvarez and
Celebration of
Grandfathers
by Rudolfo
Unit: Hispanic Culture in literature
Grade Level/Course: 9th Grade Engl. II
Teacher: Burkhalter, Q


appear in the
poem and how
does it help us
understand more
about the people
in the poem? If
you had to look up
the reference or
ask somebody
about it, be sure to
give credit to your
source.
Cultural connection


Using the list of
things you’ve lost
write a 20 line
poem using
Neruda’s
Clenched Soul as
a template.

Anaya.
The fact that
both of these
authors are of
Hispanic origin
plays what part
in their writing.
Cultural aspects:
which aspects of
the authors true
lives influence
their writing?
Write a 3 page
essay that
illustrates the
power of culture
in the writings
of Alvarez and
Anaya.
Cisnero’s poem
My Wicked,
Wicked Ways
has absences as
well as presences.
Pick one of them
"She is not
crying" or "The
woman . . . is not
here" and reflect
on the
significance of the
speaker seeing
here what is not
here.
Resources: Please add any text page numbers, web links, articles, or other unit resources here. My English by Julia Alvarez and Celebration of Grandfathers
by Rudolfo Anaya. PH Literature p113 & P 443