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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why do Rodriguez's teachers visit his house?

2. What does Rodriguez start to notice about English?

3. How does Rodriguez's mother react to his educational accomplishments?

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

5. As he finishes his education, does Rodriguez think his parents still love him? How do you know?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Rodriguez discover about language and intimacy? What family member helps him to figure that out?

2. What do other people think of the "scholarship boy"?

3. What does Rodriguez suggest education does to the scholarship boy? Why does he say that?

4. Why does the Rodriguez family tease Richard? What do they call him?

5. Why does Rodriguez say he spent so many years in the classroom?

6. Rodriguez's family continues to speak to him in Spanish. What does that suggest about what they think about the value of Spanish?

7. How does Rodriguez feel as his education comes to an end?

8. What does Rodriguez describe as the differences between Mexican Catholicism and English Catholicism? Identify two characteristics of each.

9. How does learning to speak English change Rodriguez's mother? His father?

10. How does Rodriguez feel about his education?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Part One: What does Rodriguez argue about bilingual education? Explain his argument thoroughly and give specific examples that he uses to support his argument.

Part Two: Do you agree with Rodriguez's arguments? Why or why not? Provide your own examples to support your argument.

Essay Topic 2

Rodriguez focuses heavily on sound, particularly the sound of English versus the sound of Spanish.

Part One: How does he describe the sound of each language? Do his descriptions change as he learns more English? If so, how?

Part Two: How does he describe the sound of specific characters speaking in each language (for example, his mother speaking English versus his mother speaking Spanish)? What does that description tell you about the character? about the language?

Part Three: Rodriguez includes Spanish words throughout the text. When does he use Spanish words? Why does he use those instead of just translating them into English?

Essay Topic 3

Rodriguez claims that it is his education that made him successful. That is the reason he is writing this history of his education.

Part One: Find examples that prove his point. How is the person he is today a result of getting a good education?

Part Two: Find examples that disprove his point. What other advantages does he have (for example, where he lives, people he knows, personal characteristics) that could have led him to be successful even without a great education?

Part Three: Decide for yourself -- did Rodriguez's education make him successful? Explain your reasoning.

(see the answer keys)

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