NAME
DATE _____________
ENGLISH 350/355 / READING LAB / WRITING LAB
COMBINED ASSIGNMENT
Based on an excerpt from Barrio Boy
By Ernesto Galarza
Your instructors have created this combined assignment to help you better understand
the relationships among the reading, writing, and thinking skills you are studying in all
three classes--English 350/355, Reading Lab, and Writing Lab. You will be reading a
selection, discussing it, and writing about ideas that emerge from your discussions.
SCHEDULE
Your instructor will give you the dates for the following activities:
Part One:
English 350/355 Class Introduction begins _________
Part Two:
Begin Reading Lab section on ______________________
Complete Part Two in the Reading Lab ______________
Part Three: Your English 350/355 instructor will assign Classroom Activities to do on
the following dates:
___________________________________________________
Part Four:
Begin Writing Lab section on _____________________
Complete your composition in the Writing Lab by
__________________________________________________
Bring copy of your composition to English class on
__________________________________________________
1
03/08/16
NAME_______________________________ BEGINNING DATE ____________
INSTRUCTOR_________________________ DUE DATE __________________
An Excerpt from Barrio Boy
by Ernesto Galarzo
PART ONE: INTRODUCTORY CLASS ACTIVITIES
Please answer the following questions. If a question has more than one part, be sure
to answer all parts. If you do not have enough room, write your answers on a separate
sheet of paper.
A.
Background Research Questions - If you don't know the answers to any of the
questions below, look them up in a reference book in the library, look them up at
Google.com or Grokker.com.
1.


What is a migrant farm worker?
What do you know about the lives of migrant farm workers?
2.

What are the different kinds of barrios?
3.

What is a labor union and what is the purpose of labor unions?
4.


What is the United Farm Workers (UFW) and what does this organization
do?
Who was Cesar Chavez?
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Barrio Boy
Discussion Questions
1.





2.




3.



4.



Have you ever worked on a commercial farm or in a commercial orchard or
do you know anyone who has?
How big are these farms?
Whom do the workers work for?
What do they do?
How are they paid and how much do they earn?
Do you work or have you worked while going to school?
If so, what differences do you notice between the world of your job and the
world of school?
Do you feel like a different person in these two places?
If so, how?
Have you ever worked for a boss who took advantage of his or her
employees, or do you know someone who was taken advantage of by
his/her boss?
Describe what happened and what, if anything, was done.
Looking back, can you see any better ways to solve the problem?
Have you ever had to stand up to someone who had authority over you,
such as a boss, or do you know anyone who has?
What happened?
How did you feel?
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Barrio Boy
5.


Why do you think people get an education?
How does education or lack of it influence people's lives?
6.


Where besides schools do people get educated?
What different types of education are there?
7.



Do you or does anyone you know belong to a union?
If you belong, why did you or he/she join the union?
What does this union do or not do for its members?
9.

Did you or someone you know come to Solano County from another
country, state, or part of California?
If so, what did you or he/she expect to find here?
Was this part of California what you or he/she expected?


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Barrio Boy
Now your instructor will discuss with you:
*
*
*
*
*
main idea: thesis and topic sentence
implied main idea
drawing inferences
sensory description
using footnotes when reading
Your instructor may also discuss:

subordination in sentences
5
03/08/16
Barrio Boy
NAME
BEGINNING DATE
INSTRUCTOR
DUE DATE
DATE COMPLETED
Excerpt from Barrio Boy1
By Ernesto Galarza
PART TWO: READING LAB ASSIGNMENT
WORK MUST BE SIGNED OFF BY STAFF AT EACH SIGN OFF BEFORE GOING ON TO NEXT
SECTION. NO CREDIT WILL BE GIVEN FOR ASSIGNMENT IF COMPLETED SECTIONS ARE NOT
SIGNED OFF AT TIME OF COMPLETION.
STAFF
STUDENT
The following excerpt is taken from Ernesto Galarza's Barrio Boy, a book about
his family's journey from a small village in Mexico to the Sacramento Valley. The
selection describes Galarza's experiences with migrant farm workers during the
summer before he started high school.
As you read the story below, underline any words (English or Spanish) if you
don't know them or don't feel sure of their meanings. Some words are already
underlined for you. They are the words you will study in the Vocabulary section of this
assignment.
1
It was during the summer vacation that school did not interfere with
making a living, the time of the year when I went with other barrio people to the
ranches to look for work. Still too young to shape up with the day-haul gangs, I
loitered on skid row, picking up conversation and reading the chalk signs about
work that was being offered. For a few days of picking fruit or pulling hops I
bicycled to Folsom, Lodi, Woodland, Freeport, Walnut Grove, Marysville, Slough
House, Florin, and places that had no name. Looking for work, I pedaled
through a countryside blocked off, mile after mile, into orchards, vineyards, and
vegetable farms. Along the ditch banks, where the grass, the morning glory, and
the wild oats made a soft mattress, I unrolled my bindle2 and slept.
1 From Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1971, 261-266.
2 bedroll
1
Barrio Boy
2
In the labor camps I shared the summertime of the lives of the barrio
people. They gathered from barrios of far-away places like Imperial Valley, Los
Angeles, Phoenix, and San Antonio. Each family traveling on its own, they came
in trucks piled with household goods or packed in their secondhand fotingos and
chevees. The trucks and cars were ancient models, fresh out of a used-car lot,
with license tags of many states. It was into these jalopies that much of the care
and a good part of the family's earnings went. In camp they were constantly
being fixed, so close to scrap that when we needed a part for repairs, we first
went to the nearest junkyard.
3
It was a world different in so many ways from the lower part of
Sacramento and the residences surrounded by trim lawns and cool canopies of
elms to which I had delivered packages for Wahl's.1 Our main street was usually
an irrigation ditch, the water supply for cooking, drinking, laundering, and
bathing. In the better camps there was a faucet or a hydrant, from which water
was carried in buckets, pails and washtubs. If the camp belonged to a
contractor, and it was used from year to year, there were permanent buildings--a
shack for his office, the privies2, weatherworn and sagging, and a few cabins
made of secondhand lumber, patched and unpainted.
4
If the farmer provided housing himself, it was in tents pitched on the bare
baked earth or on the rough ground of newly plowed land on the edge of a field.
Those who arrived late for the work season camped under trees or raised leanto's along a creek, roofing their trucks with canvas to make bedrooms. Such
camps were always well away from the house of the ranchero 3, screened from
the main road by an orchard or a grove of eucalyptus. I helped to pitch and take
down such camps, on some spot that seemed lonely when we arrived, desolate
when we left.
5
If they could help it, the workers with families avoided the more permanent
camps, where the seasonal hired hands from skid row were more likely to be
found. I lived a few days in such a camp and found out why families avoided
them. On Saturday nights when the crews had a week's wages in their pockets,
strangers appeared, men and women, carrying suitcases with liquor and other
contraband. The police were called by the contractor only when the carousing
threatened to break into fighting. Otherwise, the weekly bouts4 were a part of the
regular business of the camp.
1 office supply store in Sacramento
2 outside toilet
3 rancher, owner of the ranch
4
fighting match
2
3
Barrio Boy
6
Like all the others, I often went to work without knowing how much I was
going to be paid. I was never hired by a rancher, but by a contractor or a straw
boss who picked up crews in town and handled the payroll. The important
questions that were in my mind--the wages per hour or per lug1 1box, whether
the beds would have mattresses and blankets, the price of meals, how often we
would be paid--were never discussed, much less answered, beforehand. Once
we were in camp, owing the employer for the ride to the job, having no means to
get back to town except by walking and no money for the next meal, arguments
over working conditions were settled in favor of the boss. I learned firsthand the
chiseling techniques of the contractors and their pushers--how they knocked off
two or three lugs of grapes from the daily record for each member of the crew, or
the way they had of turning the face of the scales away from you when you
weighed your work in.
7
There was never any doubt about the contractor and his power over us.
He could fire a man and his family on the spot and make them wait days for their
wages. A man could be forced to quit by assigning him regularly to the thinnest
pickings in the field. The worst thing one could do was to ask for fresh water on
the job, regardless of the heat of the day; instead of iced water, given freely, the
crews were expected to buy sodas at twice the price in town, sold by the
contractor himself. He usually had a pistol--to protect the payroll, so it was said.
Through the ranchers for whom he worked, we were certain that he had
connections with the Autoridades, for they never showed up in camp to settle
wage disputes or listen to our complaints or to go for a doctor when one was
needed. Lord of a rag-tag labor camp of Mexicans, the contractor, a Mexican
himself, knew that few men would let their anger blow, even when he stung them
with curses like, "Orale, San Afabeeches huevones." 2
8
As a single worker, I usually ate with some household, paying for my
board. I did more work than a child but less than a man, neither the head nor the
tail of a family. Unless the camp was a large one I became acquainted with most
of the families. Those who could not write asked me to chalk their payroll
numbers on the boxes they picked. I counted matches for a man who
transferred them from the right pocket of his pants to the left as he tallied the
lugs he filled throughout the day. It was his only check on the record the
contractor kept of his work. As we worked the rows or the tree blocks during the
day, or talked in the evenings where the men gathered in small groups to smoke
and rest, I heard about barrios I had never seen but that must have been much
like ours in Sacramento.
1
A box for shipping fruits and vegetables.
2
"Look, you lazy sons of bitches."
4
9
The only way to complain or protest was to leave, but now and then a
camp would stand instead of run, and for a few hours or a few days work would
slow down or stop. I saw it happen in a pear orchard in Yolo when pay rates
were cut without notice to the crew. The contractor said the market for pears
had dropped and the rancher could not afford to pay more. The fruit stayed on
the trees, while we, a committee drafted by the camp, argued with the contractor
first and then with the rancher. The talks gave them time to round up other
pickers. A carload of police in plain clothes drove into the camp. We were lined
up for our pay, taking whatever the contractor said was on his books. That
afternoon we were ordered off the ranch.
10
In a camp near Folsom, during hop picking, it was not wages but death
that pulled the people together. Several children in the camp were sick with
diarrhea; one had been taken to the hospital in town and the word came back
that he had died. It was the women who guessed that the cause of the epidemic
was the water. For cooking and drinking and washing it came from a ditch that
went by the ranch stables upstream.
11
I was appointed by a camp committee to go to Sacramento to find some
Autoridad who would send an inspector. Pedaling my bicycle, mulling over
where to go and what to say, I remembered some clippings from the Sacramento
Bee that Mr. Everett1 had discussed in class, and I decided the man to look for
was Mr. Simon Lubin2, who was in some way a state Autoridad.
12
He received me in his office at Weinstock and Lubin's. He sat, squareshouldered and natty, behind a desk with a glass top. He was half-bald, with a
strong nose and a dimple in the center of his chin. To his right was a box with
small levers into which Mr. Lubin talked and out of which came voices.
13
He heard me out, asked me questions and made notes on a pad. He
promised that an inspector would come to the camp. I thanked him and thought
the business of my visit was over; but Mr. Lubin did not break the handshake
until he had said to tell the people in the camp to organize. Only by organizing,
he told me, will they ever have decent places to live.
14
I reported the interview with Mr. Lubin to the camp. The part about the
inspector they understood and it was voted not to go back to work until he came.
The part about organizing was received in silence and I knew they understood it
1 Galarza's junior high school civics (political science) teacher who encouraged Galarza to stay in school
and go to college.
2 Lubin was a business partner of Weinstock in a dry goods store. Weinstock later bought out Lubin and
established Weinstocks, a department store in the Sacramento Valley. Weinstocks later merged with
Emporium and was later dissolved.
5
Barrio Boy
as little as I did. Remembering Duran1 in that camp meeting, I made my first
organizing speech.
15
The inspector came and a water tank pulled by mules was parked by the
irrigation ditch. At the same time the contractor began to fire some of the
pickers. I was one of them. I finished that summer nailing boxes on a grape
ranch near Florin.
16
When my job ended I pedaled back to Sacramento, detouring over
country lanes I knew well. Here and there I walked the bicycle over dirt roads
rutted by wagons. The pastures were sunburned and the grainfields had been
cut to stubble. Riding by a thicket of reeds where an irrigation ditch swamped I
stopped and looked at the red-winged blackbirds riding gracefully on the tips of
the canes. Now and then they streaked out of the green clump, spraying the
pale sky with crimson dots in all directions.
17
Crossing the Y Street levee by Southside Park I rode through the barrio to
Dona Transito's, leaving my bike hooked on the picket fence by the handle bar.
18
I knocked on the screen door that always hung tired, like the sagging
porch coming unnailed. No one was at home.
19
It was two hours before time to cook supper. From the stoop I looked up
and down the cross streets. The barrio seemed empty.
20
I unhooked the bicycle, mounted it, and headed for the main high school,
twenty blocks away where I would be going in a week. Pumping slowly, I
wondered about the debating team and the other things Mr. Everett had
mentioned.
1 A Mexican immigrant union organizer and revolutionary. Galarza once heard Duran give a "passionate
lecture on the suffering of the Mexican people," including a massacre of workers at a mill. Duran also
described his anger at how U.S. bosses broke up union meetings and jailed union participants.
6
NAME
INSTRUCTOR
VOCABULARY
The words listed below are underlined in the reading. Do the following for each word:
*
*
*
*
*
Look the word up in the dictionary.
Write its pronunciation in the parentheses.
Note the part of speech.
Write the correct definition for the word as it is used in the reading.
Use the word in your own sentence.
loitered – verb – Paragraph 1
Word in context: Still too young to shape up with the day-haul gangs, I loitered on skid
row, picking up conversation and reading the chalk signs about work that was being
offered.
your definition
dictionary definition
your sentence
jalopies – noun – Paragraph 2
Word in context: It was into these jalopies that much of the care and a good part of
the family’s earnings went.
your definition
dictionary definition
your sentence
7
Barrio Boy
desolate – adjective – Paragraph 4
Word in context: I helped to pitch and take down such camps, on some spot that
seemed lonely when we arrived, desolate when we left.
your definition
dictionary definition
your sentence
contraband -– noun – Paragraph 5
Word in context: On Saturday nights when the crews had a week's wages in their
pockets, strangers appeared, men and women, carrying suitcases with liquor and other
contraband.
your definition
dictionary definition
your sentence
carousing -– noun – Paragraph 5
Word in context: The police were called by the contractor only when the carousing
threatened to break into fighting.
your definition
dictionary definition
your sentence
8
rag-tag – adjective – Paragraph 7
Word in context: Lord of a rag-tag labor camp of Mexicans, the contractor, a Mexican
himself, knew that few men would let their anger blow, even when he stung them with
curses like, "Orale, San Afabeeches huevones."
your definition
dictionary definition
your sentence
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY STAFF BEFORE YOU GO ON.
INITIALS AND DATE
9
Barrio Boy
Questions for Understanding
The questions below ask you to think about the writer of the essay (Galarza), the other
people in the essay, and the relationships of the people. Looking at people and their
relationships is a good way to analyze what a writer is saying in a personal experience
text like Galarza's.
1.
When the events in this section of the book occur, how old is Galarza?
a. List specific words or phrases from the section above to support your
answer.
2.
Galarza gives vivid descriptions of the people who come to the labor camps.
a. List at least three places the people come from.
b. How do the people come to the labor camps?
c. What are fotingos and cheeves?
3.
What do the people Galarza works with in the fields think of him?
List examples from the section above that support your answer.
4.
What are farm contractors?
10
Barrio Boy
5.
In paragraph 6, Galarza describes how the contractors sometimes "turned the
face of the scales" away from the workers while weighing the produce the
workers had picked.
a. Why did the contractors do this?
b. List another example of the power the contractors had over the workers.
6.
Galarza never says how he feels about his experiences as a migrant farm
worker.
a.
7.
Reread paragraph 6; how would you feel about taking a job without
knowing beforehand the answers to Galarza's "important questions" about
wages and accommodations? Why?
In sentence 4 of paragraph 6, Galarza says, "Once we were in camp, owing the
employer for the ride to the job, having no means to get back to town except by
walking and no money for the next meal, arguments over working conditions
were settled in favor of the boss."
a.
How would you feel in this situation? Why?
b.
Do you think this treatment is fair to workers? Why or why not?
c.
Why do you think the bosses treated their employees this way?
11
Barrio Boy
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY STAFF.
INFERENCES
Sometimes when we read we have to figure out what a writer is trying to tell us because
he does not state his ideas but hints at them instead. When we use clues in the writing
to figure out what a writer is hinting at, we are making inferences. When we make
inferences, we use clues or hints in the writing along with our own knowledge about the
world. The questions below ask you to make some inferences about what Galarza is
telling us in some parts of his essay.
INFERENCES: You have probably heard the expression "to read between the
lines." When you read between the lines, you pick up ideas that are not directly
stated in what you are reading. These implied ideas are usually important for a full
understanding of what an author means. Discovering the ideas that are not stated
directly is called making inferences or drawing conclusions.
When a writer doesn't state his/her feelings or beliefs, we often figure them out from
clues or hints in the writing. For example, Galarza doesn't say how he feels about not
having his "important questions" answered in paragraph 6, but because he tells us the
questions are "important," we know that he thinks they should be answered by an
employer. When we figure out ideas using clues or hints like this, we are making
inferences.
On a separate piece of paper, answer the following questions by drawing inferences
about his experience.
1.
In paragraph 9, Galarza tells us that sometimes a farm workers' camp
"would stand instead of run"; in other words, the workers would protest
instead of accepting unfair treatment. Twice in the section, Galarza
describes being part of a workers' camp that protests unfair conditions; in
both cases, he loses his job after the protest (see paragraph 9 and
paragraph 15).
a. Why do you think he was fired?
b. How do you think he feels about losing his jobs?
c. What clues did you use to draw your inferences?
2.
Why do you think Galarza reminds us that he is in school before and after
he tells his story?
What inferences can you draw about what school represents to him?
12
Barrio Boy
3.
What do you think Mr. Lubin means when he tells Galarza in paragraph
13 that the workers should "organize"?
Do Galarza and the farm workers understand what it means to
"organize"? How can you tell?
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY Staff BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Instructor Initials and Date
13
Barrio Boy
Main Idea
As you have studied, a writer's main idea is the point that he or she wants readers to
understand. Sometimes a writer doesn't state the main idea but instead wants us to
figure out in our own words what the main idea is. When we have to figure out a main
idea that is not stated, we say the main idea is implied and we have to figure it out
through inference. If you can see that no sentence in a piece of writing is a good
"umbrella" statement that covers all the others in the writing, then you must figure out
the implied main idea by inferring it from the supporting details.
The main idea in Galarza's essay is implied.
One way to figure out an implied main idea in a personal experience text like Galarza's
is to look at:
1.
2.
3.
the people the writer tells about
their relationships to each other
their feelings about their experiences
You analyzed all three of these topics in the questions you answered above in the
"Questions for Understanding" and "Inferences" sections.
The following questions help you put together a main idea statement in your own words,
using what you learned above about the people, relationships, experiences, and
feelings in the essay.
The questions you answered above ask you to think about Galarza's experiences as a
farm worker. Look back over your answers and think about what you discovered. Then
use that information in answering the following questions:
1.
How are Galarza and the farm workers treated by their employers? Why?
2.
What did Galarza learn from the things Mr. Lubin did and said?
14
Barrio Boy
3.
How do you think Galarza feels about his experiences and about school? Why?
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY Staff BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Instructor Initials and Date
A main idea sentence for an essay must include all the subjects covered in the essay.
A main idea usually:
names the topic or topics of the essay
makes a statement of the main point or points about those topics
1. Now, write a main idea sentence that states the point you think Galarza wants
us to understand about the people the writer tells about
________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
2.
3.
their relationships to each other
their feelings about their experiences
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY AN INSTRUCTOR BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Instructor Initials and Date
15
NAME_______________________________ BEGINNING DATE
INSTRUCTOR_________________________ DUE DATE
An Excerpt from Barrio Boy
By Ernesto Galarza
PART THREE: CLASS ACTIVITIES
Thinking About What You Read
1.



How would you describe Galarza?
What are his values, goals, and personality?
List quotes from the reading lab selection to support your ideas.
2.



What do you think are the worst things Galarza faces as a farm worker?
Why do you think the farm workers are mistreated?
Are there any positive elements to his work in the camps?
3.

Based on what you know about unions, what do you think a union could
do for the migrant farm workers in Galarza's essay?
What would you do in Galarza's situation in paragraphs 10-15 if you were
going to take a leadership role?

4.


5.



Why do you think Galarza describes the farm workers' cars in such detail
in paragraph 2?
What do these details show about their owners?
Do you think the farm workers who come from all over expect the
conditions they find on the farms?
Why do they come to the farms to work?
Why do they accept their working conditions?
16
Barrio Boy
6.



7.




In the Reading Lab section you drew inferences about
Galarza's feelings regarding his experiences. Now look at paragraph 16
where he pauses to describe the scene with the red wing blackbirds as he
is on his way home.
What do you think he wants us to see or what inferences does he want
us to draw from the way he describes this scene?
What do you think the blackbirds represent to Galarza?
Why do you think the story ends with Galarza riding his bicycle towards
school?
Does he seem eager to go back to school?
Do you think school is just an interference with making a living as he
states in the first sentence of the essay?
How can you tell?
REFLECTING ON THE READING

Looking back at the answers to your questions from
Part 1, Introductory Class Activities, compare and contrast your
experiences with work with Galarza's experiences as a farm worker.
What is similar; what is different?

Compare your experiences of being taken advantage of by a boss or
standing up to a boss with Galarza's experiences of standing up to the
bosses.
17
Barrio Boy
NAME_______________________________ BEGINNING DATE ___________
INSTRUCTOR_________________________ DUE DATE_________________
DATE COMPLETED
__________
An Excerpt from Barrio Boy
by Ernesto Galarza
PART FOUR: WRITING LAB ASSIGNMENT
WORK MUST BE SIGNED OFF BY STAFF AT EACH SIGN OFF BEFORE GOING ON TO NEXT
SECTION. NO CREDIT WILL BE GIVEN FOR ASSIGNMENT IF COMPLETED SECTIONS ARE NOT
SIGNED OFF AT TIME OF COMPLETION.
STAFF
STUDENT
Read the following topics. Then choose one of them as your writing assignment.
Discuss your choice with an assistant or instructor to see if your topic fits the
assignment.
The Writing Lab instructors will ask you to:
 use specific examples to support your thesis statement
 use descriptive language and details to help us
experience
what you are writing about and draw accurate inferences about the
people, places, and experiences you describe
 use a footnote to explain about a person or place
Please read all the topics before choosing one.
Topics
1.
Describe a job you had when you were a teenager. Was it a valuable
experience? Why or why not? How did it affect your schooling? How did it
affect other areas of your life?
2.
Have you ever been in a situation in which you had to stand up to a person in
authority? What was the situation? What did you do? What was the outcome?
What might have been done to make the results better or different?
3.
Describe a person you know or a place you have lived that turned out to be
opposite of what you thought that person or place would be like. How did you
feel about this experience?
18
Barrio Boy
4.
Have you ever had a job where you or other workers were taken advantage of by
a boss? Describe what happened, how you and the others involved felt, and
what you did. Looking back, would you handle the situation the same way or
differently now? Why?
5.
Interview a person from another culture, another part of the country, or another
part of California. Describe her/his expectations about Solano County before
he/she came here. How have the expectations been met? If they have not been
met, why?



Before conducting the interview, create a minimum of 3-5 questions to be
asked.
Have your list checked by an instructor or assistant.
Write a paper that describes the expectations and experiences of the
person you interviewed.
6.
If you are from another culture, another part of the country, or even another part
of California, describe your expectations when you moved to this area? Have
your expectations been met? How? If they have not been met, why?
7.
Define what education means to you. How does an education or the lack of an
education influence the choices a person makes? Describe one or more
examples using yourself or people you know.
8.
Interview a union member to see how his/her union works. Why did she/he join
the union? Does it meet his/her needs?



Before conducting the interview, create a minimum of 3-5 questions to be
asked.
Have your list checked by an instructor or assistant.
Write a paper that describes the person's job, his/her reasons for joining
the union, the way the union works, and why she/he feels the union meets
his/her needs or not.
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Barrio Boy
9.
Have you had any experience with unions? For example, using the services of
your union; being a non-union member in a workplace where there is a union;
participating in a union strike, etc. Describe an experience you had in which a
union played an important part. What happened and why? How did the
experience affect you?
10.
If you know someone who has been a farm worker, interview him or her to find
out what his or her job was like and some positive or negative experiences
she/he has had. What kind of relationship did she/he have with the boss?



11.
Before conducting the interview, create a minimum of 3-5 questions to be
asked.
Have your list checked by an instructor.
Write a paper describing the job of the person you interviewed, his/her
relationship with the boss, and a memorable negative or positive
experience she/he had.
Have you ever had to take a leadership role in a situation like the ones Galarza
experienced? Describe the situation. What did you do and why? How did you
feel about the situation and its outcome?
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Barrio Boy
Develop your composition (at least one well-developed paragraph) in the Writing Lab,
working with the instructor and assistants at each of the following steps in the writing
process.
1. DEVELOPING IDEAS AND PLANNING COMPOSITION: Use the ideas you have
already generated in the class activities or do some brainstorming activities to help you
develop ideas for your paper.
HAVE THE INSTRUCTOR OR ASSISTANT CHECK AND INITIAL THIS SECTION
BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Initials and Date___________
2. DRAFTING AND REVISING YOUR COMPOSITION: Using your planned ideas,
write a rough draft of your composition and have it checked by the instructor or
assistants. Follow their suggestions for revision and rewrite your composition one or
more times as needed to incorporate the ingredients of good writing you have
learned so far this semester. In your conclusion, make sure you analyze the
importance of your composition.
HAVE THE INSTRUCTOR OR ASSISTANT CHECK AND INITIAL THIS SECTION
BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Initials and Date_____________
3.
EDITING AND PROOFREADING: Ask the instructor or assistants to help you
check your paper for any punctuation, sentence structure, grammar, or spelling errors.
Do additional work on any particular errors that you have made. Then go back to your
paper and correct the errors.
HAVE THE INSTRUCTOR OR ASSISTANT CHECK AND INITIAL THIS SECTION
BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Initials and Date____________
4. MAKE A CLEAN, ERROR-FREE COPY OF YOUR PAPER. Then ask the assistant
or instructor to attach the assignment check-off sheet to your copy. Take this copy to
your English 350/355 instructor on the due date.
This handout and your drafts and brainstorming should be kept in your Writing Lab
folder. Make sure you have this assignment written on your Lab contract; you will be
given Writing Lab credit for this paper.
HAVE THE INSTRUCTOR OR ASSISTANT CHECK AND INITIAL THIS SECTION
BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Initials and Date
21
Barrio Boy
INSTRUCTOR NOTES
An Excerpt from Barrio Boy
by Ernesto Galarza
Part 1, Classroom Introduction
Because of publicity surrounding Proposition 187 passed in 1994, some people
are under the impression that immigrants, legal or illegal, only come from Mexico. This
is not the case. Immigration is any movement into the state or country whether from
foreign countries or from other states. You might discuss the difference between an
immigrant and an emigrant. Legal/illegal?
In addition to the questions listed, there are many topics for discussion before
the reading. Since the excerpt focuses on the Sacramento/Delta area where Galarza
lived and worked, Central Valley agriculture is a good topic. Another topic may be
discrimination or unfair treatment in the workplace. Working while going to school is a
topic which most students can relate to. This topic would provide a discussion about
the importance of an education and the difficulty of juggling work and school. Also, a
discussion of unions and the organization of workers could be used.
The questions in Part 1 can be assigned for homework or done together in a
library visit and class. Head librarian Diana Pacque is a great resource person in the
library. She will walk the students through the steps in finding information. You can
make an appointment to take your class to the libraryfor a tour by Diana.
We are working on acquiring a video on Cesar Chavez to go with this
assignment. Check with the Writing Lab.
Part 2, Reading Lab
The Reading Lab excerpt is taken from Ernesto Galarza's Barrio Boy, an account
of his family's journey from a small village in Mexico to the establishment of a new
home in Sacramento when he was eight years old. The family consisted of Ernesto, his
divorced mother Doña Henriqueta, and his two uncles, José and Gustavo. Doña
Henriqueta later remarries and has two daughters and another son. The family moves
out of the barrio to the Oak Park area of Sacramento. Then, in a devastating flu
epidemic, Ernesto's mother and his Uncle Gustavo die. The family is split with his older
sister going to live with an old friend and the younger children living with neighbors.
Ernesto and his Uncle José move back to the barrio and carry on with their lives-working, studying, trying to save enough money to pay for the two funerals, and bring
Ernesto's aunt Dona Esther and her family to live with them.
Galarza continues to go to school and work at odd jobs during the school year.
In the summer, he is completely free to earn whatever money can be made and go
wherever work can be found.
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Barrio Boy
Galarza graduated from Occidental College, received his MA from Stanford, and
his Ph.D from Columbia University. He lived and lectured in the San Jose area and
taught at San Jose State University. Galarza was born in 1906 and came to California
in 1914. He worked on the farms in the early 1920's and beyond. He died in 1984 at
the age of 78. His life will be commemorated by a piece of art commissioned by the city
of San Jose. A scholarship bearing his name is given each year at the Ernesto Galarza
Symposium and Awards ceremony, sponsored by the San Jose State University
Chicano/Latino faculty and staff. The excerpt takes place around 1925-1935.
An answer key is available for the Reading Lab section.
Part 3, Classroom Activities
Suggestions for working on sensory description.
You can create a workshop on concrete and vivid nouns, verbs, and adjectives
using magazine or other photos collected beforehand and passed out.
Hand out a list of general nouns and verbs (tree, talk, man, dog). Have each
group brainstorm lists of more and/or find more descriptive adjectives and more vivid
nouns.
Hand out a list of general statements to small groups. Have them brainstorm
specific examples to support and illustrate the general statement.
Sentence Structure:
Galarza uses a lot of participial phrases in his writing as well as compoundcomplex sentences. If your class is ready to consider either of these types of sentence
structure, you could select some similiarly constructed sentences and ask students to
identify similarities among them. In sentences using participial phrases, students will
often notice things such as: a lot of commas; --ing words; a lot of description. You can
use these observations to teach this type of sentence as a sort of formula: simple
sentence, --ing word describing subject of sentence.
Example from Paragraph 16:
Now and then they streaked out of the green clump, spraying the pale sky with crimson
dots in all directions.
simple sentence that could stand alone = they streaked out of the green clump
more descriptive information incorporated by adding a present participle that
describes the subject of the simple sentence = spraying the pale sky with
crimson dots in all directions
An excellent pamphlet by James Gray is available from the Bay Area Writers'
Workshop. It talks about teaching these kinds of sentences.
Part 4, Writing Lab
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Barrio Boy
READING LAB ANSWER KEY
An Excerpt from Barrio Boy
by Ernesto Galarza
Questions for Understanding
1.
2.
3.
4.
How old do you think Galarza is when the events in the essay take place?
List specific words or phrases from the essay to support your answer.
A.
about to start high school
B.
Paragraph 1, "still too young. . ."
Paragraph 8, "more work than a child but less than a man. . ."
Paragraph 20, ". . .high school where I would be going in a
week."
Galarza gives vivid descriptions of the people who come to the labor
camps.
List at least three places the people come from.
How do the people come to the labor camps?
What are "fotingos" and "cheeves"?
A.
Paragraph 2, Barrios of Imperial Valley, Los Angeles, Phoenix,
and San Antonio
B.
old, broken down jalopies
C.
Fords and Chevys
What do you think the people Galarza works with in the fields think of
him?
List examples from the essay that support your answer.
A.
They seem to respect and trust him
B.
Paragraph 8, A man who is illiterate asks Galarza to count the
matches he uses to record how much he has picked.
Paragraph 9, He is part of a committee that argues with a
contractor when pay rates are cut.
Paragraph 11, He is appointed to go to Sacramento
and find an authority.
Who are farm contractors?
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Barrio Boy
In paragraph 6, Galarza describes how the contractors sometimes "turned
the face of the scales" away from the workers while weighing the produce
the workers had picked.
Why did the contractors do this?
List another example of the power the contractors had over the workers.
5.
A.
people hired to hire laborers
B.
to hide the amount so they could cheat the workers
C.
Paragraphs 6 and 7, Lots of examples
Paragraph 9, Cut workers pay without notice, fire them on the
spot
Galarza never says how he feels about his experiences as a migrant farm
worker.
Reread paragraph 6; how would you feel about taking a job without
knowing beforehand the answers to Galarza's "important questions" about
wages and accommodations?
In sentence 4 of paragraph 6, Galarza says, "Once we were in camp,
owing the employer for the ride to the job, having no means to get back to
town except by walking and no money for the next meal, arguments over
working conditions were settled in favor of the boss."
How would you feel in this situation?
Do you think this is a fair way to treat workers? Why or why not?
Why do you think the bosses treated their employees this way?
A.
Answers will vary; likely answers: angry, anxious, fearful
B.
Answers will vary; probably frustrated, angry
C.
Probably students will say no, because the workers have no
say over their own conditions
D.
Answers will vary. Possible answers might deal with money
or power corrupts.
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY AN INSTRUCTOR OR ASSISTANT BEFORE
YOU GO ON.
Initials and Date
INFERENCES
Sometimes when we read we have to figure out what a writer is trying to tell us because
he does not state his ideas but hints at them instead. When we use clues in the writing
to figure out what a writer is hinting at, we are making inferences. When we make
inferences, we use clues or hints in the writing along with our own knowledge about the
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Barrio Boy
world. The questions below ask you to make some inferences about what Galarza is
telling us in some parts of his essay.
INFERENCES: You have probably heard the expression "to read between the
lines." When you read between the lines, you pick up ideas that are not directly
stated in what you are reading. These implied ideas are usually important for a full
understanding of what an author means. Discovering the ideas that are not stated
directly is called making inferences or drawing conclusions.
When a writer doesn't state his/her feelings or beliefs, we often figure them out from
clues or hints in the writing. For example, Galarza doesn't say how he feels about not
having his "important questions" answered in paragraph 6, but because he tells us the
questions are "important," we know that he thinks they should be answered by an
employer. When we figure out ideas using clues or hints like this, we are making
inferences.
1.
In paragraph 9, Galarza tells us that sometimes a farm workers' camp
"would stand instead of run"; in other words, the workers would protest
instead of accepting unfair treatment. Twice in the essay, Galarza
describes being part of a workers' camp that protests unfair conditions; in
both cases, he loses his job after the protest (see paragraph 9 and
paragraph 15).
Draw inferences about his experience.
Why do you think he was fired?
How do you think he feels about losing his jobs?
List some clues you used to draw your inferences.
2.
A.
for making trouble
B.
He doesn't say, seems to take it in stride. No evidence of
anger.
C.
See Paragraphs 9 and 15
Galarza begins and ends his story talking about school.
Why do you think he reminds us that he is in school before and after he
tells his story?
List two inferences you can draw about what school represents to him.
A.
Students will probably have different answers. Possible
answers: perhaps Galarza is showing us he is different from
the other farm workers because he is getting an education.
B.
It is his "ticket" out of a life like the farm workers'. It is far
removed from the farm workers' world. He can't see himself
as a farm worker as an adult.
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Barrio Boy
3.
What do you think Mr. Lubin means when he tells Galarza in paragraph
13 that the workers should "organize"?
Do Galarza and the farm workers understand what it means to
"organize"? How can you tell?
A.
They need to get together and, as a large group and in a
focused way, demand their rights.
B.
No; paragraph 14: "The part about organizing was received in
silence and I knew they understood it as little as I did."
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY AN INSTRUCTOR BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Instructor Initials and Date
Main Idea
As you have studied, a writer's main idea is the point that he or she wants readers to
understand. Sometimes a writer doesn't state his or her main idea, but instead she/he
wants us to figure out in our own words what the main idea is. When we have to figure
out a main idea that is not stated, we say the main idea is implied. If you can see that
no sentence in a piece of writing is a good "umbrella" statement that covers all the
others in the writing, then you must figure out the implied main idea.
The main idea in Galarza's essay is implied.
One way to figure out an implied main idea in a personal experience essay like
Galarza's is to look at:
1.
2.
3.
the people the writer tells about
their relationships to each other
their feelings about their experiences
You analyzed all three of these topics in the questions you answered above in the
"Questions for Understanding" and "Inferences" sections.
The following questions help you put together a main idea statement in your own words,
using what you learned above about the people, relationships, experiences, and
feelings in the essay.
The questions you answered on pages 17-20 ask you to think about Galarza's
experiences as a farm worker. Look back over your answers and try to sum up what
you discovered. Then use that information in answering the following questions:
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Barrio Boy
1.
How are Galarza and the farm workers treated by their employers? Why?
disrespectfully, unfairly
The employers don't respect the workers, who lack schooling. The
employers are trying to make money at the workers' expense.
2.
What did Galarza learn from the things Mr. Lubin did and said?
The option of "organizing" was available and could bring about changes;
some people had the power to force the employers to treat the workers
more fairly.
3.
How do you think Galarza feels about his experiences and about school?
He doesn't state his emotions; he may feel sad and angry. He probably
sees the value of education, the power and responsibility education can
confer on a person, and the possibility or need for change in farm labor
practices.
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY AN INSTRUCTOR BEFORE YOU GO ON.
A main idea sentence for an essay must include all the subjects covered in the essay.
A main idea usually:
names the topic or topics of the essay
makes a statement of the main point or points about those topics
Now, write a main idea sentence that states what points you think Galarza wants us to
understand about all three topics listed above.
HAVE YOUR WORK CHECKED BY AN INSTRUCTOR BEFORE YOU GO ON.
Instructor Initials and Date
1
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