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.

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.

More on teaching Esperanza:

  1. Esperanza, Chapter 1 (Day 1 and Day 2)
  2. Esperanza, Chapter 2
  3. Esperanza, Chapter 3
  4. Esperanza, Chapters 4-6
  5. Esperanza, Chapter 7
  6. Esperanza, Chapter 8
  7. Esperanza, Chapter 9
  8. Esperanza, Chapter 10

Esperanza around the web

Using novels in class:

18 replies on “Esperanza, Chapter 9”

  1. I had a (in my opinion) brilliant idea that I wanted to share with everyone. I’m going to have my scholars actually fill out an application for asylum in the U.S, as if they were Esperanza and her family! You can find the form here https://www.uscis.gov/i-589

    Reply

  2. The Immigrant Archive Project activity from the Teacher’s Guide isn’t in the new teacher’s guide anymore. Can you elaborate a bit on what you did? Thank you!

    Reply

  3. I wanted to let you know that the Augusto Francisco’s interview is available on the website. The problem is that it is under Agusto Francisco. I don’t know if it was an error of the website or that is his name but it is there. Search under Francisco and it will come up. Thank you!

    Reply

  5. Dear Martina, we don’t have the reading on Political Asylum that you mention is included in the Teacher’s Guide. Could you email me a copy when get a chance? Thank you!

    Reply

      1. After I posted my question, II thought to write directly to TPRs, and Kristi P sent me a copy of the activity, Martina.

        Thank you for answering me so quickly!

    2. Hi! This is my first year using TPRS in the classroom and the Esperanza novel! I love the using the novel but am looking for more resources to expand each chapter in Spanish 4. For some reason, the “teacher’s resources” that our school purchased doesn’t have the political asylum reading and I feel that it would be very beneficial for my students. Does anyone know where to find it? Thank you so much for your time!

      Reply

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