We began with the Immigrant Archive Project activity from the Teacher's Guide. The activity is AWESOME, and my students loved exploring more biographies on their own. Just beware that the site has changed since the guide was published, and there is now a search feature AND Augusto Francisco's biography is no longer on the site. I substituted one for Prince Royce instead:
Do the reading on Political Asylum (included in the Teacher's Guide) as a class. I ended up having to do this in Spanish and English because my students had NO prior knowledge, and they had NO idea what the many cognates meant (asilo, persecución, solicitar, etc.), even in English. It might be different with high school students. This took us a long time, but it was a great discussion, and by the end the students were all able to give a student-friendly definition in Spanish. It is really important that students understand the concept of political asylum in order for them to understand the chapter! Can we say cross-content lesson, anyone?!
Finally, discuss the before-reading discussion questions.
Reading and processing
I read the chapter aloud to students as they followed along in their books.
Students worked individually to complete these Chapter 9 Cornell Notes. For more on Cornell Notes, visit this post.
This or that? reading comprehension
We discussed whether the events listed in the Stress or Hope? Powerpoint brought stress or hope to Esperanza's life (it was a this or that activity meant to practice critical thinking).
Finally, we did the Comprehension Questions from the Teacher's Guide as a Numbered Heads Together activity.
