Esperanza, Chapter 2

The only two terms that my kiddos needed to learn to read Chapter 2 of Esperanza were “regresa” (we had learned “vuelve”) and “espera”, so we spent our time yesterday with personalized discussion (here is the activity that I used to get them talking). I typed up a quick reading based on their answers to a few of the questions to use at the beginning of our block class today, and then into Chapter 2 we dove.

Chapter 2 is a fun one to act out because it involves vomiting and crying–loads of fun for middle schoolers! I decided that because I wanted the kids to focus on the actors but that I also wanted them to follow along with the text, I would have them read the chapter individually first, and then we would go back and they would listen to me narrate and watch the actors as they heard the chapter read to them a second time.

As kids entered the room, their Campanada (bellwork) was the matching activity from the Teacher’s Guide that reviews Chapter 1. I had it projected on the board as opposed to making individual photocopies.
We read the espera/regresa reading that I had made. As kids read, they highlighted any part of the summary that was true for them. Then, we discussed and personalized it as a class.
We reviewed the answers from the matching activity.
Students read the chapter individually.
When they finished, they completed a four-square story map.
After most students had finished, I picked two actors (Ricardito and Lili), and they acted out the story with me while I narrated the chapter (and acted out the part of the narrator, since the story is told from the first person perspective).
We reviewed the comprehension questions from the reading together, orally (I projected the questions, and we discussed them).
Students worked individually to construct timelines. I had them glue them together, but that’s not necessary–you could just walk around and look at them when they are placed in the correct spots! Download the timeline that I created here: Esperanza chapter 2 cronología. Kids just cut out the two rows of solid-edge boxes and line them up next to each other, then cut out the little text boxes and place them in the correct location on the timeline. I wanted to do a kinesthetic activity to break up the 1.5 hour block that we have on Thursdays!!
We did the cierto/falso reading activity from the Teacher’s Guide, but we did it orally (I read the statements).
We did the “Mis dibujos” activity from the Teacher’s Guide. To make it a little more exciting, we passed papers between each “scene”, so each student’s paper had drawings from six different students on it.
We learned about typical houses in Guatemala using (1) the slideshow from the Teacher’s Guide and (2) the reading from the Teacher’s Guide. I love that they included an expanded reading for Native/Heritage speakers!! What a blessing 🙂

We did not use the Chapter 2 quiz from the Guide, and I am saving the “Predicciones” activity from the guide for when we go into Chapter 3.

I received express, written consent from the publisher to share the materials that I created and to use the cover image and title of the novel in this blog post. I am not compensated in any way by the author or publisher for writing this post.