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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Rodriguez see as the value of a book?
(a) Its plot or storyline.
(b) Its vocabulary and use of language.
(c) Its characters.
(d) Its theme.

2. How does Rodriguez's mother react to his educational accomplishments?
(a) She is embarrassed because her smart son does not speak Spanish well.
(b) She asks questions and is pleased when he wins awards.
(c) She tries to help him with his homework.
(d) She does not care if he does well in school.

3. What does his mother think about his reading?
(a) She wishes he would read less and go play sports.
(b) She is proud of him for reading so much.
(c) She hopes that he can teach her to read better.
(d) She does not understand it.

4. Once the family has shifted to speaking English, how does Rodriguez feel when he hears families speaking Spanish?
(a) Rodriguez is frustrated because he thinks those families are making it harder for their children to learn English.
(b) Rodriguez is sad because it reminds him of the closeness his family lost.
(c) Rodriguez is pleased to know that Spanish is still being spoken in people's homes.
(d) Rodriguez is embarrassed because he thinks everyone should speak English.

5. What does Rodriguez say about bilingual education and the language of "separateness"?
(a) Bilingual education should reinforce the separation of the two languages.
(b) Bilingual students feel separated from their education in an English-only classroom.
(c) Other languages reinforce the idea that the students are separate from the larger society.
(d) Students will learn better if they feel they are separate from English-speaking students.

6. What two versions of his religion does Rodriguez say his parents had to choose between?
(a) The old-fashioned version and the modern version.
(b) The version that talks about sin and the version that talks about love.
(c) The Mexican version and the English-speaking version.
(d) The gentle, happy version and the intense, frightening version.

7. What does Rodriguez say education does to the scholarship boy?
(a) It teaches him to stand up for himself.
(b) It teaches him to be less unique and more like other people.
(c) It teaches him to look down on people who are not educated.
(d) It teaches him to fight for justice.

8. What is Rodriguez told about reading the Bible?
(a) Do not read it at all.
(b) Read it every day.
(c) Read it in the classroom with someone to guide him.
(d) Read it at mass on Sunday.

9. How does Rodriguez's grandmother affect his ideas on language?
(a) Her stubborn refusal to speak English shows him how people cling to old ideas.
(b) Translating her stories helps him realize that intimacy is not connected to one language.
(c) She tells him Spanish is the best language.
(d) Translating her stories shows him how things get lost in translation.

10. How does the family's communication change as the children learn more English?
(a) Their mother talks to them a lot, but their father never speaks to them.
(b) Their mother and father speak to them, but they no longer talk to their grandmother.
(c) They enjoy speaking Spanish together more.
(d) They talk less because it is hard for the parents to understand their children when they speak English.

11. Why do Rodriguez's teachers visit his house?
(a) To talk about his bad behavior.
(b) To ask the family to practice speaking English.
(c) To meet his parents.
(d) To ask his parents to volunteer at the school.

12. What is Rodriguez's initial response to bilingual education?
(a) He thinks it is too hard on the teacher.
(b) He thinks it makes students work harder.
(c) He disagrees with it.
(d) He thinks it would have helped him a lot.

13. What does Rodriguez say about how the people around him now say his name?
(a) They say his name just like everyone else's name.
(b) They mispronounce it.
(c) They pronounce it differently than his Spanish-speaking family.
(d) They say it as if they are impressed to know him.

14. What does Rodriguez start to notice about English?
(a) Sounds and tones he previously ignored.
(b) Words he understands now that he did not understand before.
(c) How much English helps him do better in school.
(d) How much easier it is to say things in English than in Spanish.

15. How does Rodriguez describe his life as a child?
(a) Fun.
(b) Sheltered.
(c) Frightening.
(d) Boring.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Rodriguez feel when he observes the group of black teenagers on the bus?

2. As Rodriguez learns more English, what does he do about his parents' English skills?

3. As Rodriguez moves into college and graduate school, how does his relationship with his parents change?

4. As Rodriguez reaches the end of his education, what does he have to confront?

5. Did Rodriguez's parents get the same amount of education that he did?

(see the answer keys)

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