Page 165 - The Language of Composition 4e Teacher Edition Sample.indd

from Home Country: What Does It Mean 4
to Be Latino? TRM ELL Essential Guide Handout
An ELL Essential Guide for this reading
Héctor Tobar An ELL Essential Guide for this r eading chapter 4
can be found in the T
can be found in the Teacher’s Resource
s Resour
eacher’
ce
Materials.
Héctor Tobar (b. 1963) was born in Los Angeles to Guatemalan Materials.
immigrants and is a novelist, journalist, and university professor. He ©Philippe MATSAS/Agence Opale/Alamy Other Voices / Héctor Tobar
has authored five books, including his latest novel, The Last Great TRM Vocabulary Handout
Vocabulary in Context exercises based on
Road Bum (2020). Tobar is a contributing writer for the New York Times Vocabulary in Context exercises based on
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs have been used for this sample chapter.
and an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine. His challenging words from this reading can be
challenging words from this reading can be
writings typically focus on the experiences of Latin American immigrants found in the Teacher’s Resource Materials.
found in the Teacher’s Resource Materials.
and the relationship between Latin America and the United States.
KEY CONTEXT Shortly after the 2020 presidential election, Tobar traveled to several places in
the United States to interview Hispanic and Latino people about their opinions, values, and BUILDING CONTEXT
identities. The following is excerpted from an essay published in Harper’s magazine in 2021.
Tobar discusses some of the news stories
T obar discusses some of the news stories
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
about the Latino vote in the 2020 presiden-
about the Latino vote in the 2020 pr esiden-
tial election in paragraph 4, but you might
LOS ANGELES tial election in paragraph 4, but you might
eview the essay by having students do
pr
49% HISPANIC preview the essay by having students do
some quick research into the stories and
BIDEN 71%, TRUMP 27% some quick r esear ch into the stories and
the data, some of which suggests the vote
the data, some of which suggests the vote
When I was growing up in Los Angeles, I didn’t grandmother, a lifelong domestic worker, had benefited Biden and some T rump. Y ou
benefited Biden and some Trump. You
call myself “Latino,” and neither did anyone never learned to read or write. By that time I could also have them see if their sear ch
could also have them see if their search
ent labels, such
else I knew. My father was born in a verdant vil- was Latino, at least according to the house style r results vary if they use different labels, such
esults vary if they use dif
fer
obar mentions in pars. 1–4
lage in Guatemala’s banana- growing region; my adopted by my then employer, the Los as those that Tobar mentions in pars. 1–4
as those that T
(Hispanic, Chicano, Mexican-American,
mother was raised in Guatemala City. In the Angeles Times. (Hispanic, Chicano, Mexican-American,
Latinx). You could ask them if they can
California of the Seventies, when hyphenated The many English dictionaries I own tell me Latinx). Y ou could ask them if they can
ethnic identifiers were all the rage, I described that the term “Latino” refers to a person who has make any valid generalization about the
make any valid generalization about the
myself as Guatemalan- American. In 1980, I roots in Latin America, but that’s a huge spec- voting patterns based on their preliminary
voting patterns based on their preliminary
marked the box labeled “Hispanic” on my fami- trum of humanity: descendants of more than a (and probably cursory) searches.
(and probably cursory) searches.
ly’s census form, attaching that term to my dozen countries and territories; Jews, Catholics,
name for the first time. In college, I took a Muslims, and Mormons; people with blond
course called Spanish for Spanish Speakers, hair and those with dark skin; folks whose first BUILDING CONTEXT
placed an accent over the e in my given name, language might not be Spanish but Quechua,
and hoped to embrace my inner guatemalteco. K’iche’, or even English. It’s a term so capacious T obar structur es his essay with sections
Tobar structures his essay with sections
noting population and voting statistics. You
Later I lived in Mexico City and learned how to that it can mean almost anything, and it can feel noting population and voting statistics. Y ou
1
cuss like a local chilango, which mortified my empty to those of us forced to use it. If you ask might have students skim those bold head-
might have students skim those bold head-
ing and see what conclusions they might
mother. I became the editor of a bilingual news- so-called Latinos about their ethnicity, they’ll ing and see what conclusions they might
draw about the Latino vote in the 2020
paper, and then a novelist preoccupied with all usually say something like “I’m Mexican” or draw about the Latino vote in the 2020
election. Y
ou might have them pay atten-
things Latin American. Only after I published “I’m Cubano,” or use any number of other election. You might have them pay atten-
tion, also, to which locations are urban or
my third book did my father reveal that my late national or regional identifiers. tion, also, to which locations ar e urban or
rural, and their differing geographic regions
But when you hear a label repeated so often, rural, and their dif fering geographic r egions
1 A slang term for people from Mexico City. It holds associations you can’t help but get used to it. I married into a of the country (it might be useful to find
of the country (it might be useful to find
similar to those that come to mind about people born and raised in
the locations on a map and trace Tobar’s
New York City. — Eds. Chicano family, and my wife and I have three the locations on a map and trace T obar’ s
oute). They could make a hypothesis
r
route). They could make a hypothesis
271 about it, and then see if the essay pr oves
about it, and then see if the essay proves
or disproves their impression.
oves their impr
or dispr
ession.
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DIFFERENTIATION
Connections to Text
®
®
AP Teaching Tip. The 2022 AP Language Noe-Bustamante, Mora, and Lopez excerpt
rhetorical analysis prompt used future on pages 272–273. To what extent do the
Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor’s three texts agree on their view of the terms
speech “A Latina Judge’s Voice” in which she Latina / Latino / Latinx? What is problematic
defines her Latina identity. You could have about the designation, and are the problems
students read the prompt and compare her unique to that culture or do they apply to
definition of ethnicity with Tobar’s definition in other pan-ethnic identity labels?
paragraphs 1–3. You could also include the
Other Voices / Héctor Tobar 271
05_sheatlcte4e_46921_ch04_170a_315_2pp.indd 271 1/20/23 7:51 PM