G. Hughes, Virgil MS

A House of My Own

Esperanza wants a house of her own, a space for herself, where she can dream and write. With courage, spirit, skill, and determination, she sets out to build a better future.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

Warm-Up #4

• Draw a picture of your dream home.

• Write 3 sentences to describe what it will be like.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

flat• apartment

Her first home alone was a flat in the city.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

landlord

• person who owns a building and takes money from others who live in it

The landlord kept bugging them about paying the rent on time.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

laundromat

• place of business with self-service washing machines and dryers

We have to go to the laundromat if we want to wash our clothes.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

own• have, or possess

Mr. Burn’s owns the nuclear power plant in Springfield.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

real• true, not imagined

• The story of Alice in Wonderland is not real.

http://brickroadproductions.net/images/AliceInWonderland.jpg

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

rent• money that is paid to

live in a house or apartment that another person owns

• We decided to rent a house until we had saved money to buy it.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

temporary• not permanent, for a limited time

• The temporary tattoo would stay on for 3-5 days.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

washroom• bathroom or

small room with a sink

• After I spilled soda on my shirt, I went to the washroom to try and clean it off.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

Reading Strategy – How To Confirm Word Meanings

• When you read, it is important to stop to try to figure out the words you do not know.

• This is confirming, or figuring out, the meaning of words you do not know.

G. Hughes, Virgil MS

How To Confirm Word Meanings

How To Confirm Word Meanings:1. Look for parts of the word that you know. Use

these word parts to help you guess what the word means.

2. Read the words around the new word. Do they give you a clues about the meaning of the word?

3. Predict the meaning of the word.4. Look the word up in the dictionary, glossary, or

thesaurus. Find the meaning that fits the sentence you are reading.

Confirm Word Meanings - Practice The House on Mango Street includes a story about

Mamacita. She and her son arrive from her country to be with her husband. Coming to this new place is painful for her. She is homesick and missies her old home. She arrives with overflowing suitcases. Then she doesn’t emerge from the building again and no one sees her. Sometimes people hear her yelling. Her son sings a commercial from the TV. Mamacita yells at him not to speak English, a language that is foreign to her ears. She feels misplaced in this country.

“Coming to this new place is painful for her.”

What does painful mean? ______________ “Then she doesn’t emerge from the building

again and no one sees her.”

What does emerge mean? ______________ “Her son sings a commercial from the TV.”

What does commerical mean? _____________

Confirm Word Meanings - Practice

Homework

Read section one (pages 192-195) of A House of My Own.

Select five difficult words from the section. Use the reading strategy to confirm the

meaning of these five words. After listing each word, write what you think

it means, and then tell which part of the strategy you used to figure it out.