View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. When he was a child, what did his parents say he looked like?

2. How do Rodriguez's parents see themselves in American society?

3. Based on his conversation with his classmate, what does Rodriguez decide?

4. According to Rodriguez, who does affirmative action help?

5. Does Rodriguez believe that his mother knows about his book?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rodriguez feel about writing? How does he feel about writing about his family? How has he handled it in the past? How is he handling it now?

2. How do Rodriguez's ideas about dark skin change as he grows up? Give specific examples.

3. As a teacher, how does Rodriguez interact with these other minority students? Why does he act that way?

4. How does Rodriguez use the label "minority student"? How does he feel about it? Give specific reasons why he feels that way.

5. What does Rodriguez learn from working with the construction workers? Give two specific examples.

6. Why does Rodriguez's mother call him "Mr. Secrets"? In spite of his secretive behavior, what does Rodriguez believe she knows?

7. As a child, what does Rodriguez learn about dark skin?

8. How does Rodriguez handle applying for teaching positions?

9. What does Rodriguez think about the current system of affirmative action? Give two examples he uses to support his argument.

10. What kind of social life does Rodriguez have? Does he have lots of friends and girlfriends?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Rodriguez clearly sees books as something powerful and potentially dangerous. Early on in the book, Rodriguez describes himself as being afraid to learn to read because he was aware of the power of books. Later, he describes his mother asking him what was in all those books and why he needed to read all of them. At the end of the book, he describes his nephew, who is reading, as someone who may cause trouble.

Part One: What has happened in his life to lead him to that conclusion? Give specific examples.

Part Two: Do you think other people in the book would agree with his conclusion? Why or why not? Give specific examples.

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

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,204 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample