Rachel Roloff

3/1/17
Text Analysis

Cisneros, S. (1984).Chanclas. The House on Mango Street (pp. 46-48). New York, NY: Random
House.
Cisneros, S. (1984).Hips. The House on Mango Street (pp. 49-52). New York, NY: Random
House.
Cisneros, S. (1984).Those Who Dont. The House on Mango Street (pp. 28). New York, NY:
Random House.

Task 1: Key concept identification

A. List major concepts, ideas, and/or events from the material.

Racism
Feminism
Transition from child to young adult
Expectations of women
Desire to grow uprealization of what that means
Sexuality
Wordspower words can have

B. List supporting concepts, ideas, and/or events.

Difference between us and them
o All brown all around, were safe (28).
Othering
o They think were dangerous. They think we will attack them with shiny knives
(28).
A daughters intuition, but family doesnt see or understand
o You are the prettiest girl here, will you dance, but I believe him, and yes, we are
dancing, my uncle Nacho and me, only I dont want to at first (47).
No longer seen as a child
o I have science on my side (50).
o She is in a world we dont belong to anymore. Nenny. Going. Going. (52).
Jump rope/ jump rope songs
Task 2: Experience and knowledge

A. List three experiences that would help your students connect key concepts to their lives.
Not belonging
A party
Jump rope

B. List 3 pieces of knowledge that would help your students connect key concepts to their lives.
Feeling like an outsider
Feeling uncomfortable about how someone looks at you
Growing up and seeing the difference between the younger kids and yourself

Task 3: Barrier identification

Answer these questions as specifically as possible:

Is the material presented in a register that students are familiar with, or is it more or
less formal than they are used to? Give examples.
The material is a bit on educational English side (meaning interpretive English and
words/terminology that students are expected to know and understand in high school and middle
school English classrooms) because of the figurative language that is used: But watch us drive
into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get
rolled up tight and our eyes look straight (28).
My feet swell big and heavy like plunged, but I drag them across the linoleum floor straight
center where Uncle wants to show odd the new dance we learned (47).
She is the color of a bar of naphtha laundry soap, she is like the little brown piece left at the
end of the wash, the hard little bone, my sister (52).
 With what specific language structures or grammar might students have difficulty? Use
the Andrews book to explain.
The creative use of grammar will be difficult for students. What Cisneros has done in her book is
create this poetic language that is used throughout. She uses punctuation to help her theme and
stories come alive. She ends on cliff hangers at the end of chapters. This is grammar because of
the way she is organizing her sentences. If she was to organize her sentence so the theme was
said at the beginning, the effect wouldnt be there. Instead she saves key words for the last
sentence of the paragraph, and at the end of that sentence. This could be difficult for ELL
students because they may not catch the main part of the sentence, as well as not be able to
follow the creative language and punctuation and why it is used in that way. Especially because
they may be expecting it to be Standard English, but what Cisneors does is show good English
at its best. Andrews explains these sort of things when he explains how Americans have different
standards for oral and written language, the punctuation and organization of sentences may seem
easy to understand when someone is telling a story, but when written down it may be hard for the
reader to understand or follow.
From whose point of view is the material presented? What difference might this make
to comprehension?
The point of view is from Esperanzas stand-point. It shows her grow up from a young Spanish
girls point of view of life and her town, to a young adult Spanish girls point of view of the world.
This is seen through the tone, events, and word choice. Spanish dialect is used throughout, as
well as the age of Esperanza s foreseen through the dialect she usesit gets more and more
professional. The author pulls this from her own point of view. Cisneross family is from Mexico
and she brings her Chicano identity into this novel and shows it through Esperanza. Because of
this, this book is useful for Spanish students, and less useful for white students (which never
happens and isnt actually not useful for white students, just showing them a different
perspective then they are used to.

What vocabulary in the materials might ELLs have trouble with? Why?
The language structures that would be difficult include arbitrary phrases, euphemisms, figurative
language, and contractions.
This novel is full of themes that are hidden behind the words. If a student doesnt understand
arbitrary phrases, euphemisms, or figurative language it will be difficult to comprehend the
meaning. All of these work with Andrews idea that meanings of words can be shaped by the
context and the speakers intent (119). If ELL students dont understand the context and the
figurative language used, then they will not be able to understand the authors intent.
Crooked, shakity-shake, baptism, Precious Blood Church, tamales, saddle, scuffed, wad, swell,
communion, scientific, skeleton, bloom, authority, lullaby, rhythm, hoochi-coochie, heebie-
jeebie, Tahiti, merenguen, tembleque, Christopher Columbus, soggy, naphtha, and light years.
The words need to be understood in context, for example, if a student doesnt understand rhymes
for jumping rope it could make it more difficult. They are also formal words or words about
American history, and euphemism.

What cultural aspects of the book might ELLs find challenging? Why?
Seeing knives, Baptism, dancing, jumping rope, talking with boys. These are examples because
Andrew says things that happen in one culture may not happen in another. So although a white
teacher may think certain things always happen in the US this is not accurate. Everyone in the
US has different cultures and ways that they live.
Task 4: Comprehension demands
A. Based on your answers to the previous tasks, describe what kind of student might succeed in
understanding this material.
Both young and old Spanish Americans as well as people of color that feel victimized and like
outsiders.

B. Based on your answers to the previous tasks, describe what kind of student might fail in
understanding this material.
White students, ELL students, students who have never felt like outsiders or like they dont
belong, and students who dont understand the jargon and dont spend the time to look it up.
Reflection:
What might you as the teacher do to help students who face challenges with the material you
selected? List at least 3 strategies that might help, who they might be helpful for, and how you
could tell (assess) whether they helped.

1. Discussion on culture and go over other students different cultures. I would be able to
tell by doing an exit slip to see what students respond and use student voice to see if I
need to go over the material again or if in a different way.
2. Candyland Activity in groupsquestions about the readings are around the room and
students work as a group to answer the questions. This will help ELLs talk through
questions and work with people. I would be able to tell if this helped by discussing the
questions after the activity and look to see what teams responded. I would also walk
around and see if my ELL students are participating or not and do an exit slip to see what
students struggled with and understood.
3. Think-Pair-Share where students are given a question they work on, then they talk
through the answer and then share with the class. Before it would also be useful to have
students read sections of the book out loud to a partner. I would be able to see if it helped
by walking around and listening to the pairs working together and hear their
conversations. I would also be able to see if it helped with the discussion after.
4. Schema where students read chapters and write about something they can pull from their
schema that goes with the text. If they dont have schema from it previously students can
also write about what they can now add to their schema.
5. Vocab checks to make sure students understand the vocab. I would be able to see if this
helped by seeing what vocab words students need to work on and talk as a class why this
book uses certain language and what the context of the words are.
6. Readers Workshop for figurative language. Students write down what the definition for
figurative language terms are, then they find examples in the book. The teacher will then
walk around and have the students read the examples out loud. I would be able to see if
this helped my students because I would walk around after they are complete with the
activity and talk it through with them. I would also give students time to work on the
activity during soft start and go around to see if students need help.