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Title: Esperanza Rising
Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Level: 5.5 (Ages 10-13)
Theme: Hispanic and Latino-Americans, Immigration, Courage and Honor,
Equality, Fairness and Justice, Pride and Self-Esteem, Families and Social
Structures, Social Issues and Conditions
Setting: Mostly in California on a farm labor camp
Characters: Esperanza, Ramona (Mama), Miguel, Alfonso, Abulita, Hortensia
Plot/Summary: When Esperanza and Mama are forced to flee to the bountiful
region of Aguascalientes, Mexico, to a Mexican farm labor camp in California,
they must adjust to a life without fancy dresses and servants like they were
accustomed to on Rancho de las Rosas. Now they must confront the challenges
of hard work, acceptance by their own people, and economic difficulties brought
on by the Great Depression. When Mama falls ill and a strike for better working
conditions threatens to uproot their new life, Esperanza must relinquish her hold
on the past learn to embrace a future ripe with the riches of family and
community.
Lesson Plan #1
Materials:
· Chart paper / T-Chart
· T-Chart for the students (optional)
· Markers
I plan to begin this unit with a brief conversation about immigration, and what it
means to be an immigrant. I expect that in this conversation the moving of people
from Puerto Rico to America will be brought up as well. Through these
conversations, the students and I will complete a graphic organizer (T-Chart) that
will list each emotion, and why it might occur. For example:
Emotion | Reason
Sadness | They are leaving all of their family and belongings behind.
Again, I believe that there will be some students in the room that will have
experienced these emotions first hand, and some student will use only their
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imagination skills to discover these emotions. The previous night, for homework,
the students will have had to discuss immigration and these emotions with their
family. Although not all the students are immig