HVG 3 - Snow by Julia Alvarez - 2223

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 3

Lesson Aims:

- describe situations in the stories in your own words;

- introduce characters from the stories to other people;

- identify elements from the stories that contribute to setting;

- organize elements of a plot in a story;

- analyze a scene to help you understand the characters in a story;

- you can rewrite parts of a story from a different point of view;

- explain to a classmate how your characters are built up throughout a story;

- compare setting, characters, and theme from different stories;

- choose stories that you find interesting;

- visualize situations from the story;

- predict how stories will develop;

- discuss your writing with a classmate;

- rephrase short paragraphs in your own words;

- name the stages of a plot diagram.

Instructions:

First there will be a listening and reading exercise, then there will be some multiple choice and open questions based on the plot diagram in the short story. 

Synopsis:

A young girl is attending Catholic school her first year in the United States. She learns some English words, the wonder of a young immigrant girl from the Dominican Republic who has never seen snow before.

Open question: What is different about the protagonist compared to the other children in her class?

Open question: What kind of a person is Sister Zoe? List 2 different characteristics and explain.

The setting of "Snow" takes place in...

1. Dominican Republic
2. New York
3. Cuba
4. Russia

In the opening sentence, to whom is the narrator referring when she says “Our”?

1. herself and her classmates
2. herself and her teacher
3. herself and her family
4. herself and the Sisters of Charity

According to the passage, this scene takes place when Yolanda is in what grade?

1. kindergarten
2. 4th
3. 1st
4. 6th

In paragraphs 1 and 2, words in italics are...

1. new words Yolanda was trying to learn in English
2. words in a song Yolanda was singing
3. words in the rosary
4. words Yolanda’s mother couldn’t pronounce

During an air-raid drill, Yolanda and her classmates imagined:

1. their hair falling out
2. they got a snow day
3. saying the rosary
4. that the school burned down

Which of the following happened last?

1. Sister Zoe explained that Russian missiles were aimed at New York City
2. Yolanda and her family prayed for world peace
3. President Kennedy explained that the U.S. might have to go to war with the Communists
4. there were air-raid drills at school

Which word is the closest in meaning to “ominous”:

1. disruptive
2. melodic
3. enormous
4. threatening

What causes Yolanda to scream suddenly?

1. hearing a nuclear bomb
2. touching bits and pieces of a mushroom
3. seeing what she thought was radioactive fallout
4. seeing a flurry of chalk-marks

At the end of the passage, Sister Zoe describes snowflakes for Yolanda. What was she saying about Yolanda and snowflakes?

1. that Yolanda needed to get used to the idea of living in America
2. that Yolanda is also beautiful and irreplaceable
3. that Yolanda is melodramatic
4. that Yolanda is a very funny student

What is the author’s main purpose in writing this passage?

1. to help the reader see life from someone else’s perspective
2. to caution the reader about the dangers of nuclear war
3. to portray life in the Catholic schools of New York City
4. to show the reader how hard it is to learn another language