Social Justice and Figurative Language in

Latino Literature

Latino Identity in New YorkBrence Pernell

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Unit Overview• Unit focus on analyzing poetry through the lens of Latino poets• Particular focus on rebellion, revolution, or general reaction to indentified social injustice or negative

issue. • Selected literary works will include those by authors Pedro Pietri, Reinaldo Arenas, Julia Alvarez, and

Rhina Espaillait. • Final Assessment: 5-paragraph expository essay

– Prompt: What issues of social justice do 20th century Latin American poetry address in their poetry? You must discuss at least three different authors. Be sure to also discuss the various types of figurative language these authors used to convey their message on a theme of social injustice.

_________________________________________________________________Corresponding Standards – Massachusetts

Reading Poetry - 14.5-poetryELL Benchmark-R.4

Identify, respond to, and analyze the effect of sound, form, figurative language, graphics, and dramatic structure of poems: Sound (alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme, consonance, assonance); Form (ballad, sonnet, heroic couplets); Figurative language (personification, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, symbolism); And dramatic structure.

Writing Poetry -19.25-WritingELL Benchmark-W.4

Write poems using a range of poetic techniques, forms (sonnet, ballad), and figurative language.

Unit Sample Lesson

Objectives – SWBAT:

• Identify examples of personification, metaphor, and simile in given poetic works. (Classswork)

• Construct at least one written example of personification, a metaphor, and a simile on a selected theme of injustice.

Lesson Walkthrough Agenda:

• Do Now: Poem General Analysis (Mercado’s Going to Work) and Figurative Language “Survey” – What do students already know?

• Development: (Intro, Motivation/Essential Question, and Do-Now Whole-Class Review)

• Mini-Lecture: Figurative Language Review and Modeling/Practice (Identifying figurative language in Mercado’s Going to Work).

• Medial Summary: Check for Understanding

• Independent Practice and Whole-Class Review: Differentiation Ideas

• Lesson Closure: Summary, HW Intro, and Exit Ticket

Examples of Figurative Language-Review Notes-

Metaphor

Figure of speech in which a comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common. Frida Kahlo was a prolific Mexican-American

artist. What is a metaphor presented in this image?

Examples of Figurative Language-Review Notes-

Simile

Figure of speech in which “like” or “as” is used to make a comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something in common.

Describe this image using a simile.

Examples of Figurative Language-Review Notes-

Personification

Giving human traits (qualities, feelings, action, or characteristics) to non-living objects (e.g., animals, things, buildings) What is being personified in this image?

Pedro Pietri: Puerto Rican Obituary

Lesson Walkthrough Agenda:

• Do Now: Poem General Analysis (Mercado’s Going to Work) and Figurative Language “Survey” – What do students already know?

• Development: (Intro, Motivation/Essential Question, and Do-Now Whole-Class Review)

• Mini-Lecture: Figurative Language Review and Modeling/Practice (Identifying figurative language in Mercado’s Going to Work).

• Medial Summary: Check for Understanding

• Independent Practice and Whole-Class Review: Differentiation Ideas

• Lesson Closure: Summary, HW Intro, and Exit Ticket

Differentiation, Technology, and/orPotential Accommodations

Quizlet.com - This online tool might be used to allow students to review literature, types and examples of figurative language reviewed in class (e.g., metaphor, simile, Pedro Pietri, etc.) before moving on to the challenge of identifying examples in selected works.

Challenge “Row” – Students who find it simple to identify figurative language might go on to explain how figurative language adds to poem. By creating an “extra column row” in their own notebooks, students might discuss the literal meanings of the figurative language examples used (1-2 sentences) and the affect this use of figurative language could have on the audience.

Citations

Pedro Pietri Biography. The Latino Poetry Community, 2011. Web. 29 July. 2011. <http://www.latinopoetrycommunity.org/pedro-pietri-biography.php> Copyright 2011

Poems. Voices e/Magazine letras. Hunter College, 2011. Web. 29 July. 2011. Copyright 2010Web. <http://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/voices/letras/nancy-mercadosbio>

Rhina P. Espaillait. Poems and Poets. The Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 29 July. 2011. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/rhina-p-espaillat

The Little Deer. Frida Kahlo: The Complete Works. The Frida Kahlo Foundationm, 2011. Web. 29 July. 2011. <http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/The-Little-Deer.html>