UNIT 2

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1) There are many reasons why people choose to emigrate. Have a look at this list of possible
reasons and discuss them with your group. Then try to put them into order from the most
important to the least important. You can add more reasons of your own.

• To escape poverty

• To escape war

• To have better job opportunities

• To have a better education for your children

• To escape the political system

• To be with someone you love

• To escape natural disasters

• To learn a foreign language

• To have a higher quality of life

• To live in a country with a better climate

2) Imagine you are arriving home from school and your family tells you that you are going to
emigrate to the USA. You are going to leave your country next week. Work on your own to write
some notes in the boxes. The compare your ideas with your partners.

In my suitcase, I will put…

Things I will miss about my country…

How are you feeling…

Anything you are looking forward to…

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We’re going to read some chapters of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. She writes
about a Latino family in the States.

3) How do you identify yourself? Think about how you would define yourself in terms of these
categories. Which are the three most important for you?

 My name
 My age
 My nationality
 My gender
 My sexuality
 My hometown
 What I do- e.g. my job, my studies
 My continent
 My hobbies
 The football club that I support
 The music I listen to
 The people I spend time with
 My family- e.g. my family name and history
 My role in my family- e.g. sister, brother, mother, father, daughter, son
 The clothes I wear
 My beliefs- e.g. political, moral or religious

4) READING:

“The Name”
Before Reading:

A. Do you like your name? Why/ Why not?

B. If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Is there a reason?

Reading guide:

C. Match the words to their meanings.

- sob (verb) - a soft, silver metal
-chandelier (noun) - covered with mud: sticky earth, wet
-inherit (v) - to cry uncontrollably
- tin (n) - a large, decorative hanging light for several bulbs/ candles
- muddy (adj) - to receive something from an ancestor

D. Solve the true or false.

- Hope means “esperanza” in Spanish.
- Esperanza inherited the name from her grandmother.
- Esperanza’s great-grandmother liked horses.

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 -Esperanza’s great-grandmother was forced into marriage.
-Esperanza speaks English at school.

Analysis:

E. What is Esperanza revealing to us about her feelings about herself, her life, and her
dreams for the future through the discussion of her name? How is her name a metaphor
for her life?

“Those who Don’t”

Before reading:

A. Have you ever been judgmental of someone without knowing them? Think of situations in
which you were prejudiced.
B. Do you understand the title of the story?

Remember
demonstratives?

Reading guide:

C. How do outsiders see Esperanza’s neighbourhood?

D. How does Esperanza feel when she drives into “a neighborhood from another color”?

Analysis:
American English:
E. Who are those who don’t? What “don’t” they do?
F. Explain the quote “All brown around, we are safe.” Color/ neighborhood/ humor

British English:

Colour/ neighbourhood/
humour

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“No Speak English”
Before you read:

A. Is the title grammatically correct? What would be the accurate version?

B. What do you imagine the story is going to be about?

Reading guide:

C. What English phrases does Mamacita know? American English:

D. What are “hamandeggs”? Apartment
E. Why doesn’t Mamacita leave the apartment? British English: flat
F. Where is home to Mamacita?

Analysis:

G. Which of the following best supports the inference that “Mamacita” misses her
homeland?
a. “He saved and saved because she was alone with the baby boy in that country.”
b. “I believe she doesn’t come out because she is afraid to speak English”
c. “She sits all day by the window and plays the Spanish radio show…”
d. “The man paints the walls of the apartment pink...
H. Where is home for her little boy? Why is Mamacita heartbroken?
I. Are gender roles present in the story? How? Think about the colour pink.

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5) GRAMMAR: RELATIVE CLAUSES (¿já, pensaron que me había olvidado?)

Relative Pronouns

The woman who won the prize was

who for people called Mrs. Taylor

The prize which she won was very

which for things valuable.

That was the day when I decided to

when for times become a comedian.

where for places London is the city where he grew up.

That’s the reason why the sitcom is

why for reasons so popular.

She’s the girl whose father is a

whose for the possesive of who famous comedian.

for defining relative The prize that she won was very
that clauses: replaces who, valuable.
which, when, why

Defining relative clauses:

 They give us essential information. We cannot remove the relative clause and still
understand the sentence.
 We cannot use commas.
 We can replace who, which, when and why with “that”
 Examples:
She's the woman who cuts my hair.
He's the man that I met at the conference.
There was a one-year guarantee which came with the TV.
That's the stadium where Real Madrid play.

Non-defining relative clauses:

 They give us extra information. We can remove the relative clause and still understand the
sentence.
 We must use commas.
 We cannot replace the relative pronoun with “that”.

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  Examples:

My grandfather, who's 87, goes swimming every day.

The house, which was built in 1883, has just been opened to the public.
The award was given to Sara, whose short story impressed the judges.

 Examples from The House on Mango Street:

-But in Spanish my name is made out of a softer something, like silver, not quite as thick as
sister’s name- Magdalena- which is uglier than mine.

-Magdalena who at least can come home and become Nenny.

1) Read Sandra Cisnero’s biography and choose the correct relative pronoun.

1954 was the year A) when/ where/ which Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago, Illinois. Although
her parents were both from Mexico, it was in Chicago B) when/ where/ which they met.

Her first poem, C) that/ who/ which she wrote at the age of 10, was the beginning of a lifelong
passion. She was an active writer at school D) who/ where/ why she was known as “the poet”.

After high school, Cisneros attended Loyola University of Chicago E) where/ when/ which she
graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Cisneros continued on to the University
of Iowa and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, F) whose/ who/ which
she got in 1978. After Cisneros graduated with her second degree, she returned to Chicago.

She became a teacher and counselor at the Latino Youth Alternative High School, G) who/ that/
where she taught students H) who/ whose/ which dropped out of school. A few years later, Cisneros
returned to Loyola University of Chicago as an administrative assistant. Later on, she worked at many
universities including; California State University at Chico, the University of California Berkeley,
the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and the University of New Mexico.

She is the author of: Bad Boys; The House on Mango Street, I) that/ which/ who is one of her most
famous writings, My Wicked Wicked Ways; Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories; Loose
Woman; Caramelo, among others. She won several prizes such as the American Book Award from
the Before Columbus Foundations, the PEN Center West Award for Best Fiction and the Lannan
Foundation Literary Award. On September 2016, she met president Barack Obama J) whose/ which/
who presented her with the National Medal of Arts for her work.

Her groundbreaking evocation of Mexican American life in Chicago is one of the reasons K) why/
where/ which she is so popular worldwide.

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2) Complete the sentences with the missing relative pronouns.

A. Esperanza’s great-grandmother, _____________ great granddaughter inherited her name,

was a strong woman.
B. It was the Chinese Year of the Horse ____________ Esperanza was born.
C. Chinese and Mexican people, ___________ don’t like their women strong, believe that
being born in the Chinese Year is bad if you’re a female.
D. Esperanza’s name reminds her father of Mexico _____________ he was born.
E. Esperanza’s sister has a name _____________ is easier to abbreviate.
F. The reason ____________ Esperanza wants to change her name is because it doesn’t fit
her.
G. Esperanza, __________ doesn’t like her name, wants to change it.
H. The person ____________ wants to change her name is Esperanza.

3) Correct the mistake- if any- in each sentence and rewrite the word or phrase correctly on the
line.

A. Outsiders think that the neighbourhood when Esperanza lives is dangerous. ___________

B. The reason whose outsiders go into Esperanza’s neighbourhood is that they are lost.
___________

C. Outsiders think that people which live in Esperanza’s neighbourhood are dangerous.
____________

D. Every time Esperanza sees someone who skin colour is different from her she gets scared.
__________

E. Outsiders are people that don’t know Esperanza’s neighbourhood. _________

F. The knives who people think Esperanza’s neighbours have are not real. _______

4) Combine the following pair of sentences using a relative pronoun.

A. Mamacita arrived in USA. She is from Mexico.

________________________________________________________
B. Mamacita is angry with her boy. He speaks English.

________________________________________________________

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C. Mamacita’s possessions are pink. Pink is her favourite colour.

___________________________________________________________
D. Mamacita doesn’t leave her house. She is afraid to speak English.

___________________________________________________________
E. Mamacita’s got a radio. She uses it to listen to Spanish songs.

____________________________________________________________
F. The man is tired of Mamacita’s nostalgia. The man shouts at her.

______________________________________________________________
G. Mamacita speaks Spanish. She doesn’t want to learn English.

___________________________________________________________
H. The boy sings the Pepsi commercial. He heard the commercial on T.V.

______________________________________________________________