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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. How does Rodriguez describe himself now?

2. Once Rodriguez takes the reading class, how does he feel about reading and books?

3. What does Rodriguez do in Aria, Chapter 2, that gives him the confidence to speak up in class?

4. Where do Rodriguez's parents speak Spanish and where do they speak English?

5. How does Rodriguez feel about his family background?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rodriguez feel about bilingual education?

2. How does the parents' desire for a good education end up hurting their family?

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. Beyond the simple accomplishment of learning another language, what importance does Rodriguez place on learning English?

6. What is Rodriguez's initial attitude about reading? What happens to him because of that attitude? What do his parents think about reading?

7. Why does Rodriguez talk about how the rich people pronounce his name?

8. What does Rodriguez say about how bilingual education affects the intersection of public and private languages?

9. How does Rodriguez view his parents' use of English?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rodriguez repeatedly describes his experience of moving from a small, sheltered, or narrow world to a larger, less protected, more broad-minded world as he grows up. As he grows up, his views change on:

1) Skin color

2) Religion

3) The importance of language as a way to develop intimacy

4) Books

Choose at least two of those. Identify what Rodriguez's original opinion or idea was, what he later starts to believe, and what events in his life led him to change his perspective.

Essay Topic 2

Rodriguez is told that men behave in one way and women behave in another way. He is embarrassed because based on those standards, he acts more like a woman than a man.

Part One: How does Rodriguez's family define male and female behavior? Why do you think they have those opinions?

Part Two: Do the characters in the book follow those guidelines for male and female behavior? What happens to characters who do not follow the guidelines? What happens to characters who do follow the guidelines? What is Rodriguez saying about gender roles?

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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