American History PDF Past Paper

MAKING MEANING About the Author American History Concept Vocabulary You will encounter the following words as you read “American History.” Befo...

MAKING MEANING About the Author American History Concept Vocabulary You will encounter the following words as you read “American History.” Before reading, note how familiar you are with each word. Then, rank the words in order from most familiar (1) to least familiar (6). WORD YOUR RANKING Judith Ortiz Cofer anticipated (1952–2016) spent her childhood in two different infatuated cultures. Born in Puerto Rico, she moved with her parents enthralled to Paterson, New Jersey, devoted when she was very young. She grew up mostly in elation Paterson, but she also spent impulse time in Puerto Rico with her abuela (grandmother). It was After completing the first read, return to the concept vocabulary and review from her grandmother that your rankings. Make changes to your original rankings as needed. Ortiz Cofer learned the art of storytelling. In her own work, Ortiz Cofer teaches readers about the richness and First Read FICTION difficulty of coming of age in Apply these strategies as you conduct your first read. You will have an two cultures at once. opportunity to complete the close-read notes after your first read. Notice whom the story Annotate by marking is about, what happens, vocabulary and key passages where and when it happens, you want to revisit. Tool Kit and why those involved react First-Read Guide and as they do. Model Annotation Connect ideas within Respond by completing Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. the selection to what you the Comprehension Check and already know and what you by writing a brief summary of have already read. the selection.  STANDARDS Reading Literature By the end of grade 9, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 9–10 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. 36 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  ANCHOR TEXT | SHORT STORY American History Judith Ortiz Cofer BACKGROUND On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas, and the United States was plunged into mourning. Most people who lived through that time can still remember where they were when they heard the news. Kennedy’s assassination and the nation’s grief Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. defined a generation. Key events in this story take place on that fateful day. 1 I once read in a “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” column that Paterson, New Jersey, is the place where the Straight and Narrow (streets) intersect. The Puerto Rican tenement known as El Building was one NOTES block up from Straight. It was, in fact, the corner of Straight and Market; not “at” the corner, but the corner. At almost any hour of the day, El Building was like a monstrous jukebox, blasting out salsas1 from open windows as the residents, mostly new immigrants just up from the island, tried to drown out whatever they were currently enduring with loud music. But the day President Kennedy was shot there was a profound silence in El Building; even the abusive tongues of viragoes,2 the cursing of the unemployed, and the screeching of 1. salsas (SAHL suhz) songs written in a particular Latin American musical style. 2. viragoes (vih RAH gohz) fierce, irritable women with loud voices. American History 37  small children had been somehow muted. President Kennedy was NOTES a saint to these people. In fact, soon his photograph would be hung alongside the Sacred Heart and over the spiritist altars that many women kept in their apartments. He would become part of the hierarchy of martyrs they prayed to for favors that only one who had died for a cause would understand. 2 On the day that President Kennedy was shot, my ninth grade class had been out in the fenced playground of Public School Number 13. We had been given “free” exercise time and had been ordered by our P.E. teacher, Mr. DePalma, to “keep moving.” That meant that the girls should jump rope and the boys toss basketballs through a hoop at the far end of the yard. He in the meantime would “keep an eye” on us from just inside the building. 3 It was a cold gray day in Paterson. The kind that warns of early snow. I was miserable, since I had forgotten my gloves, and my knuckles were turning red and raw from the jump rope. I was also taking a lot of abuse from the black girls for not turning the rope hard and fast enough for them. 4 “Hey, Skinny Bones, pump it, girl. Ain’t you got no energy today?” Gail, the biggest of the black girls who had the other end of the rope, yelled, “Didn’t you eat your rice and beans and pork chops for breakfast today?” CLOSE READ 5 The other girls picked up the “pork chops” and made it into a ANNOTATE: In paragraph 5, refrain: “pork chop, pork chop, did you eat your pork chop?” They mark words and phrases entered the double ropes in pairs and exited without tripping or related to temperature. missing a beat. I felt a burning on my cheeks and then my glasses QUESTION: Why is the fogged up so that I could not manage to coordinate the jump rope narrator so focused on with Gail. The chill was doing to me what it always did; entering my feelings of hot and cold? bones, making me cry, humiliating me. I hated the city, especially CONCLUDE: How do in winter. I hated Public School Number 13. I hated my skinny flat- these details help readers chested body, and I envied the black girls who could jump rope so understand Elena’s feelings fast that their legs became a blur. They always seemed to be warm of isolation? while I froze. Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 6 There was only one source of beauty and light for me that school anticipated (an TIHS uh payt year. The only thing I had anticipated at the start of the semester. ihd) v. eagerly expected That was seeing Eugene. In August, Eugene and his family had moved into the only house on the block that had a yard and trees. I could see his place from my window in El Building. In fact, if I sat on the fire escape I was literally suspended above Eugene’s backyard. It was my favorite spot to read my library books in the summer. Until that August the house had been occupied by an old Jewish couple. Over the years I had become part of their family, without their knowing it, of course. I had a view of their kitchen and their backyard, and though I could not hear what they said, I knew when they were arguing, when one of them was sick, and many other things. I knew all this by watching them at mealtimes. I could see their kitchen table, the sink, and the stove. During good times, he 38 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  sat at the table and read his newspapers while she fixed the meals. If they argued, he would leave and the old woman would sit and NOTES stare at nothing for a long time. When one of them was sick, the other would come and get things from the kitchen and carry them out on a tray. The old man had died in June. The last week of school I had not seen him at the table at all. Then one day I saw that there was a crowd in the kitchen. The old woman had finally emerged from the house on the arm of a stocky, middle-aged woman, whom I had seen there a few times before, maybe her daughter. Then a man had carried out suitcases. The house had stood empty for weeks. I had had to resist the temptation to climb down into the yard and water the flowers the old lady had taken such good care of. 7 By the time Eugene’s family moved in, the yard was a tangled mass of weeds. The father had spent several days mowing, and when he finished, from where I sat, I didn’t see the red, yellow, and purple clusters that meant flowers to me. I didn’t see this family sit down at the kitchen table together. It was I was ready for rejection, just the mother, a red-headed tall woman who snobbery, the worst. wore a white uniform—a nurse’s, I guessed it was; the father was gone before I got up in the morning and was never there at dinner time. I only saw him on weekends when they sometimes sat on lawn chairs under the oak tree, each hidden behind a section of the newspaper; and there was Eugene. He was tall and blond, and he wore glasses. I liked him right away because he sat at the kitchen table and read books for hours. That summer, before we had even spoken one word to each other, I kept him company on my fire escape. 8 Once school started I looked for him in all my classes, but P.S. 13 was a huge, overpopulated place and it took me days and many discreet questions to discover that Eugene was in honors classes for all his subjects; classes that were not open to me because English was Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. not my first language, though I was a straight A student. After much maneuvering, I managed “to run into him” in the hallway where his locker was—on the other side of the building from mine—and in study hall at the library where he first seemed to notice me, but did not speak; and finally, on the way home after school one day when I decided to approach him directly, though my stomach was doing somersaults. 9 I was ready for rejection, snobbery, the worst. But when I came up to him, practically panting in my nervousness, and blurted out: “You’re Eugene. Right?” he smiled, pushed his glasses up on his nose, and nodded. I saw then that he was blushing deeply. Eugene liked me, but he was shy. I did most of the talking that day. He nodded and smiled a lot. In the weeks that followed, we walked home together. He would linger at the corner of El Building for a few minutes then walk down to his two-story house. It was not until American History 39  Eugene moved into that house that I noticed that El Building blocked NOTES most of the sun, and that the only spot that got a little sunlight during the day was the tiny square of earth the old woman had planted with flowers. 10 I did not tell Eugene that I could see inside his kitchen from my bedroom. I felt dishonest, but I liked my secret sharing of his evenings, especially now that I knew what he was reading since we chose our books together at the school library. 11 One day my mother came into my room as I was sitting on the window-sill staring out. In her abrupt way she said: “Elena, you are acting ‘moony.’” Enamorada3 was what she really said, that is—like infatuated (ihn FACH oo ayt a girl stupidly infatuated. Since I had turned fourteen my mother ihd) adj.briefly but intensely had been more vigilant than ever. She acted as if I was going to go in love crazy or explode or something if she didn’t watch me and nag me all the time about being a señorita4 now. She kept talking about virtue, morality, and other subjects that did not interest me in the least. My mother was unhappy in Paterson, but my father had a good job at the bluejeans factory in Passaic and soon, he kept assuring us, we would be moving to our own house there. Every Sunday we drove out to the suburbs of Paterson, Clifton, and Passaic, out to where people mowed grass on Sundays in the summer, and where children made snowmen in the winter from pure white snow, not like the gray slush of Paterson which seemed to fall from the sky in that hue. I had learned to listen to my parents’ dreams, which were spoken in Spanish, as fairy tales, like the stories about life in the island paradise of Puerto Rico before I was born. I had been to the island once as a little girl, to grandmother’s funeral, and all I remembered was wailing women in black, my mother becoming hysterical and being given a pill that made her sleep two days, and me feeling lost in a crowd of strangers all claiming to be my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I had actually been glad to return to the city. We had not been back there since then, though my parents talked constantly about buying a house on the beach someday, retiring on the island—that was a Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. common topic among the residents of El Building. As for me, I was going to go to college and become a teacher. 12 But after meeting Eugene I began to think of the present more than of the future. What I wanted now was to enter that house I had watched for so many years. I wanted to see the other rooms where the old people had lived, and where the boy spent his time. Most of all, I wanted to sit at the kitchen table with Eugene like two adults, like the old man and his wife had done, maybe drink some coffee and talk about books. I had started reading Gone with the Wind. I was enthralled (ehn THRAWLD) v. enthralled by it, with the daring and the passion of the beautiful girl captivated living in a mansion, and with her devoted parents and the slaves who devoted (dih VOHT ihd) adj. did everything for them. I didn’t believe such a world had ever really loving, loyal, and concerned existed, and I wanted to ask Eugene some questions since he and his with another’s well-being 3. Enamorada (ay nah moh RAH dah) Spanish for “enamored; lovesick.” 4. señorita (seh nyoh REE tah) Spanish for “young lady.” 40 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  NOTES parents, he had told me, had come up from Georgia, the same place where the novel was set. His father worked for a company that had transferred him to Paterson. His mother was very unhappy, Eugene said, in his beautiful voice that rose and fell over words in a strange, lilting way. The kids at school called him “the hick” and made fun of the way he talked. I knew I was his only friend so far, and I liked that, though I felt sad for him sometimes. “Skinny Bones” and the “Hick” was what they called us at school when we were seen together. 13 The day Mr. DePalma came out into the cold and asked us to line up in front of him was the day that President Kennedy was shot. Mr. DePalma, a short, muscular man with slicked-down black hair, was the science teacher, P.E. coach, and disciplinarian at P.S. 13. He was the teacher to whose homeroom you got assigned if you were a troublemaker, and the man called out to break up playground fights, and to escort violently angry teenagers to the office. And Mr. DePalma was the man who called your parents in for “a conference.” Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 14 That day, he stood in front of two rows of mostly black and Puerto Rican kids, brittle from their efforts to “keep moving” on a November day that was turning bitter cold. Mr. DePalma, to our complete shock, was crying. Not just silent adult tears, but really sobbing. There were a few titters from the back of the line where I stood shivering. 15 “Listen,” Mr. DePalma raised his arms over his head as if he were about to conduct an orchestra. His voice broke, and he covered his face with his hands. His barrel chest was heaving. Someone giggled behind me. 16 “Listen,” he repeated, “something awful has happened.” A strange gurgling came from his throat, and he turned around and spat on the cement behind him. 17 “Gross,” someone said, and there was a lot of laughter. American History 41  18 “The President is dead, you idiots. I should have known that NOTES wouldn’t mean anything to a bunch of losers like you kids. Go home.” He was shrieking now. No one moved for a minute or two, but then a big girl let out a “Yeah!” and ran to get her books piled up with the others against the brick wall of the school building. The others followed in a mad scramble to get to their things before somebody caught on. It was still an hour to the dismissal bell. 19 A little scared, I headed for El Building. There was an eerie feeling on the streets. I looked into Mario’s drugstore, a favorite hangout for the high school crowd, but there were only a couple of old Jewish men at the soda-bar talking with the short order cook in tones that sounded almost angry, but they were keeping their voices low. Even the “You are going out traffic on one of the busiest intersections in today?” The way she said Paterson—Straight Street and Park Avenue— seemed to be moving slower. There were no “today” sounded as if a horns blasting that day. At El Building, the usual little group of unemployed men were storm warning had been not hanging out on the front stoop making issued. it difficult for women to enter the front door. No music spilled out from open doors in the hallway. When I walked into our apartment, I found my mother sitting in front of the grainy picture of the television set. 20 She looked up at me with a tear-streaked face and just said: “Dios mio,”5 turning back to the set as if it were pulling at her eyes. I went into my room. 21 Though I wanted to feel the right thing about President Kennedy’s elation (ee LAY shuhn) n. great death, I could not fight the feeling of elation that stirred in my chest. happiness and excitement Today was the day I was to visit Eugene in his house. He had asked me to come over after school to study for an American history test with him. We had also planned to walk to the public library together. I looked down into his yard. The oak tree was bare of leaves and the Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. ground looked gray with ice. The light through the large kitchen window of his house told me that El Building blocked the sun to such an extent that they had to turn lights on in the middle of the day. I felt ashamed about it. But the white kitchen table with the lamp hanging just above it looked cozy and inviting. I would soon sit there, across from Eugene, and I would tell him about my perch just above his house. Maybe I should. 22 In the next thirty minutes I changed clothes, put on a little pink lipstick, and got my books together. Then I went in to tell my mother that I was going to a friend’s house to study. I did not expect her reaction. 23 “You are going out today?” The way she said “today” sounded as if a storm warning had been issued. It was said in utter disbelief. 5. Dios mío (DEE ohs MEE oh) Spanish for “My God!” 42 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  Before I could answer, she came toward me and held my elbows as I clutched my books. NOTES 24 “Hija,6 the President has been killed. We must show respect. He was a great man. Come to church with me tonight.” 25 She tried to embrace me, but my books were in the way. My first impulse was to comfort her, she seemed so distraught, but I had to impulse (IHM puls) n. sudden meet Eugene in fifteen minutes. urge to act or do something 26 “I have a test to study for, Mama. I will be home by eight.” 27 “You are forgetting who you are, Niña7. I have seen you staring down at that boy’s house. You are heading for humiliation and pain.” My mother said this in Spanish and in a resigned tone that surprised me, as if she had no intention of stopping me from “heading for humiliation and pain.” I started for the door. She sat in front of the TV holding a white handkerchief to her face. 28 I walked out to the street and around the chainlink fence that separated El Building from Eugene’s house. The yard was neatly edged around the little walk that led to the door. It always amazed me how Paterson, the inner core of the city, had no apparent logic to its architecture. Small, neat, single residences like this one could be found right next to huge, dilapidated apartment buildings like El Building. My guess was that the little houses had been there first, then the immigrants had come in droves, and the monstrosities had been raised for them—the Italians, the Irish, the Jews, and now us, the Puerto Ricans and the blacks. The door was painted a deep green: verde, the color of hope, I had heard my mother say it: Verde- Esperanza.8 29 I knocked softly. A few suspenseful moments later the door opened CLOSE READ just a crack. The red, swollen face of a woman appeared. She had ANNOTATE: In paragraphs a halo of red hair floating over a delicate ivory face—the face of a 29 and 30, mark details that describe Eugene’s doll—with freckles on the nose. Her smudged eye make-up made mother’s appearance and her look unreal to me, like a mannequin seen through a warped store behavior. window. 30 “What do you want?” Her voice was tiny and sweet-sounding, like QUESTION: Which details suggest softness or Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. a little girl’s, but her tone was not friendly. sweetness, and which 31 ‘’I’m Eugene’s friend. He asked me over. To study.” I thrust out my suggest hardness or books, a silly gesture that embarrassed me almost immediately. harshness? 32 “You live there?” She pointed up to El Building, which looked particularly ugly, like a gray prison with its many dirty windows and CONCLUDE: What is the effect of these contrasting rusty fire escapes. The woman had stepped halfway out and I could details? see that she wore a white nurse’s uniform with St. Joseph’s Hospital on the name tag. 33 “Yes. I do.” 34 She looked intently at me for a couple of heartbeats, then said as if to herself, “I don’t know how you people do it.” Then directly to me: “Listen. Honey. Eugene doesn’t want to study with you. He is a smart 6. Hija (EE hah) Spanish for “daughter.” 7. Niña (NEE nyah) Spanish for “child,” used here as an endearment. 8. Verde-Esperanza (vehr day ehs pay RAHN sah) Spanish for “green-hope.” American History 43  boy. Doesn’t need help. You understand me. I am truly sorry if he NOTES told you you could come over. He cannot study with you. It’s nothing personal. You understand? We won’t be in this place much longer, no need for him to get close to people—it’ll just make it harder for him later. Run back home now.” 35 I couldn’t move. I just stood there in shock at hearing these things said to me in such a honey-drenched voice. I had never heard an accent like hers, except for Eugene’s softer version. It was as if she were singing me a little song. 36 “What’s wrong? Didn’t you hear what I said?” She seemed very angry, and I finally snapped out of my trance. I turned away from the green door, and heard her close it gently. 37 Our apartment was empty when I got home. My mother was in someone else’s kitchen, seeking the solace she needed. Father would come in from his late shift at midnight. I would hear them talking softly in the kitchen for hours that night. They would not discuss their dreams for the future, or life in Puerto Rico, as they often did; that night they would talk sadly about the young widow and her two children, as if they were family. For the next few days, we would observe luto9 in our apartment; that is, we would practice restraint and silence—no loud music or laughter. Some of the women of El Building would wear black for weeks. 38 That night, I lay in my bed trying to feel the right thing for our dead President. But the tears that came up from a deep source inside me were strictly for me. When my mother came to the door, I pretended to be sleeping. Sometime during the night, I saw from my bed the streetlight come on. It had a pink halo around it. I went to my window and pressed my face to the cool glass. Looking up at the light I could see the white snow falling like a lace veil over its face. I did not look down to see it turning gray as it touched the ground below. ❧ 9. luto (LOO toh) Spanish for “mourning.” Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 44 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  Comprehension Check Complete the following items after you finish your first read. 1. On what memorable day in history does this story take place? 2. How does the narrator first become aware of Eugene? 3. Why does the narrator like Eugene even before she meets him? 4. According to her mother, how does Elena seem to feel about Eugene? 5. How does Eugene’s mother react to Elena’s visit? Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 6. Notebook Write a summary of “American History.” RESEARCH Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the text. Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed light on an aspect of the story? Research to Explore Choose something from the text that interested you, and formulate a research question. American History 45  MAKING MEANING Close Read the Text 1. The model, from paragraph 1 of the story, shows two sample annotations, along with questions and conclusions. Close read the passage and find another detail to annotate. Then, write a question and your conclusion. AMERICAN HISTORY ANNOTATE: This clause includes strong, emotionally charged language. QUESTION: What do these words suggest about the nature of life in El Building? ANNOTATE: These two CONCLUDE: Whatever and currently suggest words are especially that the people had many different problems, colorful. while the word enduring suggests that they faced long-term struggles with no easy QUESTION: What solutions. picture of El Building is the narrator painting with these word At almost any hour of the day, El choices? Building was like a monstrous CONCLUDE: jukebox, blasting out salsas from Monstrous open windows as the residents, suggests El Building is large, strange, mostly new immigrants just up and dangerous. Blasting from the island, tried to drown suggests loudness out whatever they were currently and aggression. It is a enduring with loud music. big, fierce place. 2. For more practice, go back into the selection, and complete the Tool Kit Close-Read Guide and close-read notes. Model Annotation 3. Revisit a section of the text you found important during your first read. Read this section closely, and annotate what you notice. Ask yourself questions such as “Why did the author make this choice?” What can you conclude? Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE Analyze the Text to support your answers. Notebook Respond to these questions. 1. Compare and Contrast Explain the contrast in Elena’s feelings toward her own home and Eugene’s house. Cite descriptive details that reflect these feelings. 2. Analyze In what ways does this story reflect social issues facing America in the 1960s? Consider descriptions of Elena’s school and neighborhood, as well as Eugene’s mother’s reaction to Elena.  STANDARDS Reading Literature 3. (a) What subject is Elena planning to study with Eugene? Analyze how complex characters (b) Interpret What other reasons might Ortiz Cofer have for calling this develop over the course of a text, story “American History”? interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the 4. Essential Question: What does it mean to be “American”? What theme. have you learned about American identity from reading this selection? 46 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What does it mean to be “American”? Analyze Craft and Structure Narrative Structure Every story is driven by a conflict, or struggle between opposing forces. Characters in stories may face two different types of conflict—internal and external. In an internal conflict, a character grapples with his or her own beliefs, values, needs, or desires. For example, a character may know something is wrong but still be pulled to do it. In an external conflict, a character struggles against an outside force. This force may be another character, nature, or society. For example, a character trying to survive a hurricane at sea is experiencing an external conflict. A character’s efforts to resolve, or fix, a conflict form the basis for the plot of a story. In “American History,” the main character, Elena, experiences both internal and external conflicts. CITE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE Practice to support your answers. Notebook Respond to these questions. 1. (a) What is the main conflict in this story? (b) Is that main conflict primarily external or internal? Explain. 2. Use the chart to identify conflicts Elena faces in addition to the main conflict. For each conflict you note, identify at least one story detail that supports your answer. Elena vs. an Outside Force Elena vs. Herself Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 3. (a) In the last scene of the story, why does Elena say that her tears are just for herself? (b) In what ways does the assassination of the president both add to and minimize the importance of Elena’s suffering? Explain. American History 47  LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT Concept Vocabulary anticipated enthralled elation infatuated devoted impulse AMERICAN HISTORY Why These Words? The six concept vocabulary words from the text all involve having a fascination with or an attraction to something. For example, Elena is enthralled by the book Gone With the Wind. She is captivated by the story, which is set in a romantic and tragic place. 1. How do the vocabulary words help the writer describe characters’ emotions? 2. Find two other words in the selection that describe a strong emotion. Practice Notebook The concept vocabulary words appear in “American History.” 1. Use each concept vocabulary word in a sentence that demonstrates its meaning. 2. Rewrite each sentence using a synonym for the concept vocabulary word. How does the replacement change the meaning of the sentence? Word Study Cognates When two words in different languages share a common origin,  WORD NETWORK they are called cognates. Often, they are spelled and pronounced similarly Add interesting words in the two languages and still share a common meaning. Recognizing related to American identity when two words are cognates can help you determine an unfamiliar word’s from the text to your Word Network. meaning. If you know Spanish, for example, you can quickly guess the Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. meanings of the English words bicycle and paradise from knowing their Spanish cognates: bicicleta and paraíso. 1. For each Spanish word in the chart, write its English cognate. Then, write  STANDARDS the meaning the pair of cognates shares. Language Use various types of phrases and Spanish word English COGNATE Meaning clauses to convey specific meanings and add variety and interest to anticipación writing or presentations. Consult general and specialized reference materials, both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of pasión a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, or its etymology. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word 2. Look back at paragraph 11 of “American History.” What English word relationships, and nuances in word is a cognate of the Spanish word enamorada? Write the word and its meanings. definition. Consult a bilingual dictionary if necessary. 48 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What does it mean to be “American”? Conventions Types of Phrases A preposition is a word such as of, in, to, for or with that relates a noun or a pronoun to another word in the sentence. CLARIFICATION A prepositional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition Refer to the Grammar and ends with a noun or pronoun, called the object of the preposition. Handbook to learn more about these terms. When a prepositional phrase modifies a noun or a pronoun, by telling what kind or which one, it is an adjective phrase. When it modifies a verb, an adjective, or an adverb, by pointing out where, why, when, in what way, or to what extent, it is an adverb phrase. In the chart, the prepositional phrases are italicized, and the words they modify are underlined. SENTENCE TYPE OF PHRASE HOW PHRASE FUNCTIONS Let’s take a picture of the Eiffel Tower. adjective phrase tells what kind The snowball on the table melted. adjective phrase tells which one I left my wallet in the car. adverb phrase tells where The other team played with more skill. adverb phrase tells in what way Read It 1. Mark every prepositional phrase in each of these sentences. Then, indicate whether each phrase is an adjective phrase or an adverb phrase. a. Elena’s mother was unhappy in Paterson. b. When Elena sat on the fire escape, she was above Eugene’s backyard. c. The boys tossed basketballs through a hoop in the yard. Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 2. Reread paragraph 29 of “American History.” Mark one adjective phrase and one adverb phrase. Then, note which word each phrase modifies. Write It Notebook Add either an adjective phrase or an adverb phrase to each sentence. Label each phrase you add. Example We drove. We drove to the suburbs. (adverb phrase) We drove to the suburbs of Paterson and Clifton. (adjective phrase) 1. Elena observed Eugene. 2. I could see the snow falling like a lace veil. American History 49  effective expression Writing to Sources A story can be a way of exploring and even of explaining a topic. The conflicts a writer chooses to address in a work of fiction often reflect issues people encounter in real life. The resolutions to those conflicts may suggest authentic solutions. AMERICAN HISTORY Assignment Consider the conflicts Elena faces in “American History” and the choices she makes as she faces them. Ask yourself whether she could have made different choices and whether those other options might have had a better or, perhaps, a worse result. Then, write an alternative ending to the story. Start your ending after Elena knocks on Eugene’s door. Consider how you will either resolve or leave open the main conflicts Elena faces in the story. Your new ending should flow logically from the story’s earlier events. Your new ending should be consistent with your understanding of the characters. Your new ending should either provide a resolution to the conflict or demonstrate a realization Elena experiences. Vocabulary and Conventions Connection Consider including several concept vocabulary words in your alternative ending. Also, consider using prepositional phrases to make your writing more precise. anticipated enthralled elation infatuated devoted impulse Reflect on Your Writing After you have written your alternative ending, answer these questions. Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 1. How did you make your portrayal of the characters consistent with the earlier part of the story? Explain. 2. Did you include any prepositional phrases in your writing? If so, how did they help you be more descriptive or precise?  STANDARDS Writing 3. Why These Words? Which words in your writing do you feel are Write narratives to develop real especially effective in portraying characters’ thoughts or feelings? List a or imagined experiences or events few of these words. using effective technique, well- chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. 4. Essential Question: What does it mean to be “American”? What Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is have you learned about American identity from reading this selection? experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative. 50 UNIT 1 AMERICAN VOICES  ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What does it mean to be “American”? Speaking and Listening Assignment Write and present a monologue from the point of view of a character in “American History” other than Elena. A monologue is an uninterrupted speech often used in drama. It is delivered by one character to an audience of silent listeners and allows the character to present his or her version of events. For example, your monologue may present Eugene’s thoughts and feelings after his mother sends Elena away. 1. Choose a Character Other than Elena, which character in the story would have something interesting and important to say? When choosing your character, consider the following elements: the character’s knowledge, attitude, and feelings about the story’s events the character’s relationship to Elena and connection to the main events of the story 2. Plan and Write Brainstorm for ideas, perceptions, experiences, and thoughts your chosen character would have and might want to explain to others. Then, write your monologue. Adopt the character’s point of view and write using first-person pronouns—I, me, us, and we. Create an authentic voice by working to “hear” the character’s voice in your head as you write. Include details that show how he or she sees the setting, events, and other characters. Remember that your character’s knowledge is limited. Include only what he or she actually knows about the events of the story. 3. Prepare and Deliver Practice your delivery before you present to the class. Speak clearly without rushing. Employ body language and gestures to add drama or create emphasis. Try to be true to the type of movements or speech patterns your character would use. Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. Vary your speech cadence and emphasis to express your character’s ideas. 4. Evaluate Use the evaluation guide to evaluate your classmates’ monologues. MONOLOGUE EVALUATION GUIDE  EVIDENCE LOG Rate each item on a scale of 1 (not demonstrated) to 5 (demonstrated) Before moving on to a for each speaker. new selection, go to your Evidence Log and record The speaker spoke clearly and effectively. what you learned from “American History.” The monologue sounded authentic and accurately reflected the story’s setting and events. The speaker varied tone and cadence to enhance meaning. The speaker’s body language helped express ideas. American History 51