Almost a Woman
Teacher Resources Follow the links below for teaching guides and lessons created for teachers by teachers! If you are interested in writing
lesson plans for this website, contact us today. For a printer-friendly version of a lesson plan, click the "Get the PDF" link
provided with each lesson plan description. To view and print the PDF file, you MUST have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Click
here
to download and install the Acrobat Reader.
Viewing Guide for Almost a Woman:
Teacher Susan Thurman once again creates a comprehensive guide for teaching both the written text and the film in this viewing guide for
Almost a Woman. Discussion questions, writing prompts, online resources, lists of literary devices and both a Spanish and English vocabulary list are included. Get the PDF
.
Online Teacher's Guide:
A useful tool to organize the resources on the site for every teaching combination of the film and novel. Get the PDF. Lesson Plans
Thematic Threads in Almost a Woman:
Students pick out passages in the memoir to create a thematic microcosm of Santiago's life as a young girl. Get the PDF.
Esmeralda's Dream:
This lesson helps students understand the feelings experienced by
Santiago, the power of retelling stories from childhood, and the dynamics of memories. An accompanying essay and resource section is also offered. Get the PDF.
Decima Poetry:
Although this type of poetry is especially geared toward the Spanish language, students learning the Spanish in school may also learn and experience the beauty of Decima poetry, "the little sonnet." Get the PDF
.
Descriptive Memoirs:
Taking the opening passages of Almost a Woman, students write their own descriptive memoirs as an introduction activity to reading the novel. Get the PDF.
Mother/Daughter Relationships: Students analyze the complex relationship between Mami and Negi in this post-viewing lesson. Students will examine hypocrisy and their own relationships in
a culminating essay. Get the PDF.
Santiago and Rodriguez: Different Stories, Common Ground:
Students compare and contrast the experiences of Esmeralda Santiago and Richard Rodriguez by examining the problems both faced living in two cultural worlds. Students will use both Hunger of Memory and
When I Was Puerto Rican in addition to viewing Almost a Woman. Get the PDF.
The Corrido:
Students are introduced to this Latin poetry, which can be easily adapted in either English or its native Spanish. Get the PDF.
The Poetry Slam: Students and teachers take their original poems of corrido, decima or other
forms, and create a Poetry Slam Contest in their classroom or school.
Get the PDF.
Essays
Esmeralda's Dream: This essay pulls excerpts from several Santiago writings to create a thematic
look into Esmeralda's thoughts, feelings, development into the woman she is today. The essay reflects on Santiago's life and relationships from her earliest memories in Puerto Rico to her current endeavors in América.
Get the PDF.
The Poetry Heritage of Puerto Rico: Read this overview essay on the background and development of the unique genres of Puerto Rican poetry. Get the PDF
.
To read this essay in Spanish, click here
.
|
