GCC/RCC 10/17

QuickWrite

Reflect on Essay 2.

What is one thing you think you did well with Essay 2?

What is one area that still needs improvement?

The Distance Between Us - Prologue

Grande, Reyna

In groups of 3 discuss the following question:

What traditions do you practice in order to celebrate your culture? Are there traditions that have been forgotten but were once practiced by older family members? What are they? Do you miss those traditions, or are they outdated in today’s society?

The Distance Between Us - Prologue

Grande, Reyna

In groups of 3 discuss the following question:

What people in your life have had the most influence on the person you are? Explain how their influence has shaped who you are today.

The Distance Between Us - Prologue

Grande, Reyna

In groups of 3 discuss the following question:

Describe how you felt when you were left behind or abandoned. How did you react? What did you do to assuage your feelings?

The Distance Between Us - Prologue

Grande, Reyna

In groups of 3 discuss the following question:

Study the map provided in the front of the book to locate the route Reyna and her family took in order to immigrate to the United States. What can we infer from this map about their journey?

The Distance Between Us - Prologue

Grande, Reyna

La Guadalupe, city of Iguala de la Independencia, state of Guerrero

https://goo.gl/maps/6mrDiktcP1n

The Distance Between Us - Prologue

Grande, Reyna

Based on what you have learned about Reyna’s country, could you have made this trek at age 9 to the United States?

The Distance Between Us - Book I, chapters 1-10

Who is “ The Man Behind the Glass,” and what does he symbolize?

The Distance Between Us - Book I, chapters 1-10

Discuss Mago, Carlos, and Reyna’s relationship with Abuela Evila and Abuelo Augurio. In your response include the siblings’ original expectations and then their disappointments. Why do you suppose they were treated as such by their grandparents?

The Distance Between Us - Book I, chapters 1-10

In a group of 3, take out a piece of paper and write all 3 group member names at the top. Then discuss the following questions, providing textual support for your responses.

1. Who is Élida and how do Mago, Carlos, and Reyna feel about her? Why does Élida behave the way she does toward the three siblings? Use specific examples from the text for support.

2. Discuss the relationship the siblings have with Tía Emperatriz. What does she do for them? Could she do more than she does? Support your opinion with examples from the text.

3. How is El Otro Lado, or The Other Side, personified for Reyna and her siblings throughout the first seven chapters? Provide examples from the chapters to support your answer.

The Distance Between Us - Book I, chapters 1-10

In the last sentence of this chapter Reyna is sitting at her desk in school. She reaches for her pencil and “clutched it tightly” in her left hand (54). What do Reyna’s actions tell the reader about who she is becoming as a person, even though she is only in first grade?

The Danger of the Single Story

Pre-View

What judgments might people make about you before they get to know you? Why?

The Danger of the Single Story

Pre-View

Have you ever been guilty of stereotyping others? In what ways? Explain.

The Danger of the Single Story

Pre-View

Have you ever been guilty of stereotyping others? In what ways? Explain.

The Danger of the Single Story

While we watch consider the following questions:

• What does Chimamanda Adichie mean by “the single story?”

• What examples does she give to support her argument?

• What does she say about stereotypes?

• What parts of her speech stand out to you as particularly interesting or powerful?

The Danger of the Single Story

Adichie, Chimamanda - "The Danger of a Single Story"

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?utm_campaign=tedspread--a&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

The Danger of the Single Story

Your Turn

Consider the role that the “single story” has played in your own life.Perhaps you have had the experience of being judged or treated based on the “single story” version of some aspect of who you are. Or perhaps you have also had the experience of judging or treating others based on expectations created by a “single story” of who they are.

Write briefly about either or both experiences and how they have impacted you and/or your view of the world around you.

The Danger of the Single Story

Your Turn

Based on what you have read so far, how does Reyna Grande seem to be combating the “single story” of Mexican culture in the novel?