Text Set: Mexico

Emily Pleasants
26 August 2016
Longwood University
Grade Level: 6

Read Aloud Text

Little Roja Riding Hood by Susan Middleton Elya

This story is the Spanish version of Little Red Riding Hood. It follows the same storyline
as the typical fable: Little Red Riding Hood is taking a basket to her grandmothers house when
she is sidetracked and the wolf steals her cape and attempts to convince the grandmother that he
is her granddaughter. Little Roja Riding Hood shows up in the nick of time to save her grandma
(or Abuela). Not all of the words are translated, but a good portion are written in Spanish. The
text also provides a glossary of the translated words at the beginning. This text has a grade level
readability of 2.5, which is far below grade level, but it is still applicable to the sixth grade class.
I believe this is the case because, as we learned in previous classes, lower level texts are
extremely relevant in middle school courses. This text allows all of the students to be at the same
level. I also like it because it will give the student from Mexico confidence that he/she knows a
vast majority of the words within the text. The English language learner can become the expert
during this read aloud. Also, by sixth grade many students are taking Spanish 1. This will allow
them to find a connection with the ELL student and realize that they can communicate on a basic
level even if the other student does not speak much English.

Read Aloud Text

Fiesta Fireworks by George Ancona

The Lexile level of this text is 930, which aligns with the sixth grade range. This
surprised me because the text is mostly pictures with a narrative story. The story follows a girl
named Caren Reyes Urban in Tultepec, Mexico. Through her visit to her grandfathers
workshop, we learn about a Mexican tradition of making large bull bamboo frames and Papier
Mache. Fireworks are placed on top of the bull and set off at the festival after dark. This tradition
is unique and will allow students to learn more about the country from which their classmate
comes. I like that this text incorporates both English and Spanish to make native speakers of both
feel included in the read aloud. I think that it would be a neat idea to have the ELL student
partner with a confident English speaker to read this text aloud to the class if they are
comfortable. The ELL student could focus on the Spanish parts, and the native English speaker
could read the English sections. I also like that this text reveals a tradition in Mexico and could
open up a conversation on similarities and differences to traditions here in the United States (like
Fourth of July). Fireworks were not created in Mexico or the United States, but both cultures
have adopted them as an integral part of celebrations.
SOL Support - Mexico City's Recycling Incentive: More Food by Mike Maciag

http://www.governing.com/topics/economic-dev/sustainable-
communities/gov-mexico-city-recycling-incentive-more-food.html

6.9 The student will investigate and understand public policy decisions relating to the
environment.
Key concepts include:
a) management of renewable resources;
d) cost/benefit tradeoffs in conservation policies.

This article explains a program that was implemented in Mexico City to encourage
recycling household items. The program is designed to have citizens trade in their recyclables for
food vouchers. This encourages individuals to reduce trash being sent to the overwhelmingly
large landfills. The program has been successful but creates a monetary loss for the government,
so it has been expanded to include electronic recyclables and other types of recyclables. The
city still has a long way to go, but this is a great start. This article is an excellent source for
discussion. The program can be easily compared to recycling initiatives attempted in the United
States as well as other countries. The students could debate the costs versus benefits for this
program easily because the details are outlined so clearly in the article. I would love to have my
students compare recycling programs for multiple cities and then create a realistic program of
their own utilizing the information they have found through this resource.

SOL Support Stories from Mexico by Edward W. Dolch and Marguerite P. Dolch

English 6.7 The student will write narration, description, exposition, and persuasion.

This text is admittedly very old, but I think that its relevance is still high. The book
contains twenty stories that come directly from Mexican oral traditions. The stories are all folk
tales that have been passed down from generation to generation. My idea for this text is to have
students Jigsaw the stories and then each group would explain one story to the class. I would
then have the students complete an assignment in which they would interview their grandparents
or an older member of the community to have them share some stories that have been passed
down in their household or family. While this tradition is not as prevalent as it used to be, I am
still confident that these individuals will have stories to pass on that are similar to the Mexican
stories. This activity allows us to practice writing narratives as they will write their paper as they
are now the person telling the story. Using Stories from Mexico as the starting point makes it
accessible to all students and Jigsaw-ing the stories ensures that all of the students have the same
introduction to the writing style. The text level of this book varies throughout he text, but the
average score was 950L which is on the sixth grade level.
Leveled Student Text

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

This text is one of my favorite of the text set. It follows a young boy, Tyler, who lives on
a rural, Vermont farm. His family must hire temporary help, who just happen to be Mexican
workers. Tylers experience is limited with people from other cultures, so he is unsure of how to
react to these new individuals, especially their oldest daughter, Mari. Mari and Tyler find a bond
that is unique going on their journey to friendship with them may give students ideas on how to
better work alongside our ELL students. It is also just a great read that happens to include culture
from both types of students in this imaginary classroom. I would utilize this text as a small group
reading text with whichever group it best aligns with. For the ELL student, I would provide
supports to assist them in reading the text. I think that they will be able to make more
connections with this text than other options often offered at this grade level. The Lexile level of
this text is 890, which is slightly below sixth grade, but I am confident that it would be
applicable to the reading level of one of the small groups in a sixth grade class.

Professional Development

Mexico: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture by Culture Smart

This text provides the teacher with valuable information about the culture in Mexico.
While it seems as though we all feel that we have a general idea of what Mexico is like, it is
important to be prepared with legitimate, factual information. What I think is most useful about
this resource is that it provides information of what topics may be sensitive for people from
Mexico. This could be important information to make sure I do not mention a topic or put the
student in a situation that would make them uncomfortable. I want my ELL students and my
other students to view my classroom as a safe space and that is not possible if I am not well
informed about their culture. The text also includes common courtesies and basic manners which
are obviously incredibly important for the same reasons I stated above. I know that this text is
written to be a guide for people who are about to travel to Mexico, but I think that the
information is still relevant and applicable to teaching ELL students.