BeingDifferent

=**Being Different/ Coming to a New Place **= =** Books **=

This book is about a Puerto Rican girl called Negi who lives in rural Puerto Rico. At age 13 she moves to Brooklyn New York, where she explains in her story, the experience of going to school there and the hardship she had with the language barrier. In this story we see Negi join the Performing Arts school, graduating and eventually attending Harvard. We see the journey of this young women growing up and finding her identity through the struggles of being Puerto Rican and living in America. This book is about a Mexican girl called Esperanza who moved to a house in Mango Street. Through the story Esperanza dislikes being from Mango Street: refusing to belong. However, the book is mainly about stories from neighbors in that street as well as her own. We see Esperanza grow and develop as a young women and a writer, who eventually realizes that Mango Street is her home, the place where she became a storyteller. This book is about a half Cuban girl called Caroline who is about to start her freshman year of college. In look of her identity she decides to die her hair brown, speak Spanish and names herself Carolina. She does this with her Grandmother in mind. Carolina goes through a series of experiences filled with a number of twists and turns. Ultimately she goes to Miami and ends up back in Ohio, where she realizes that her life is just as exciting as her Grandmother. This book is about a story of a Dominican family who moved to United States. However, this story starts in an interesting manner; it started in reverse chronological order. Where the first chapter of the book talks of Yolanda’s (one of the Garcia’s Sister) is in Dominican Republic and then it goes back to the time that the Garcia Family moved to United States. This book goes from the hardship of moving to a new country, and adapting to completely assimilating to the American culture. It mainly focuses on the sisters: Yolanda, Carla, Sandra, and Sofia and their particular stories and experiences. A beautiful Graphic Novel that portrays the story of a man leaving his family in search of a new home. After a painful goodbye the man travels to a weird new place, where everything is new. He finds himself out of place without understanding the language and everything else in this environment. He meets other people that share with him their stories of leaving their homes. He is able to get settled and have his family with him once again. This movie portrays a story of an old undocumented man who lost his wife and is trying to find his identity after this loss by searching for work and trying to stay united with his daughter in law who also is a widow. Lupe also is struggling with the loss of her husband and refuses to redo her life. =  ** Activities ** =
 * Extra !! **
 * ** Objects and Memories **** : ** Ask students to bring in an item from their childhood that makes a vivid memory. Students will then write the memories made by their objects, taking them through the writing process, and then share both article and memoir with the class.


 * ** Culture Sharing **** : ** Ask students to bring in one item, non-fragile, that represents their culture. Put all the items in a bag. Give out the items in the bag to the students, making sure that no student receives the item that they brought. If the student thinks that he or she is familiar with the item, then they must write a paragraph discussing what they feel is the item's cultural significance. If the student is unfamiliar with the object, then he or she must generate three questions to ask about the item. Then, students share their items and their writings. To conclude, students can write a paragraph about the items’ true significances and then use those to create a display for the classroom.


 * ** Scrapbook Sharing ** : Students can make a scrapbook containing pictures, magazine clips, letters, and journal entries of things that describe where they come from. The scrapbooks can be shared to other students in a presentation.