ELEVEN by Sandra Cisneros

(on transparency)

1. Can you recall what you were like when you were eleven years old?

Jot down on a page what you recall you looked like and felt like when you were 11 years old. Did you have many friends or were you a loner? What was your relationship with your siblings and your parents?

2. Share your memories with a partner.

3. Teach new vocabulary

lap
rattling
tin
collar & sleeves
skinny
raggedy
to squeeze / eraser & ruler
to shove
itchy
germs
to be invisible
have the hiccups

The following sentences are taken from the story “Eleven”. Read them and then arrange them in the order you think they appear in the story.

“Mrs. Price takes the sweater and puts it right on my desk….”
“ ‘That’s not, I don’t, you’re not…. Not mine,’ I finally say in a
little voice that was maybe me when I was four.”
“Maybe because I’m skinny, maybe because she doesn’t like me,
that stupid Sylvia Saldivar says, ‘I think it belongs to Rachel.’ ”
“ ’Whose is this?’ Mrs. Price says, and she holds the red sweater
up in the air for all the class to see.”

“It’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and

sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.”
“That’s when everything I’ve been holding in since this morning,
since when Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets
go, and all of a sudden I’m crying in front of everybody.”
“ ‘Of course it’s yours ,’ Mrs. Price says. ‘I remember you wearing
it once.’ “
“ ‘Rachel,’ Mrs. Price says…. ‘You put that sweater on right now
and no more nonsense.’ “
This is the correct order of the sentences taken
from the story. Check your answers against the
transparency. (on transparency)
a. “ ’Whose is this?’ Mrs. Price says, and she holds the
red sweater up in the air for all the class to see.”
b. “It’s an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a
collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could
use it for a jump rope.”
c. “Maybe because I’m skinny, maybe because she
doesn’t like me, that stupid Sylvia Saldivar says, ‘I
think it belongs to Rachel.’ ”
d. “Mrs. Price takes the sweater and puts it right on
my desk….”
e. “ ‘That’s not, I don’t, you’re not…. Not mine,’ I finally say in a little voice that was maybe me when I was four.”
f. “ ‘Of course it’s yours ,’ Mrs. Price says. ‘I
remember you wearing it once.’ “
g. “ ‘Rachel,’ Mrs. Price says…. ‘You put that sweater
on right now and no more nonsense.’ “
h. “That’s when everything I’ve been holding in since this morning, since when Mrs. Price put the sweater on my desk, finally lets go, and all of a sudden I’m crying in front of everybody.”

I tell class about Sandra Cisneros’ life history.

I read the story to the class and then discuss text explicit

facts and events.

Students analyze the story in pairs according to the circles and the table

provided.

Mapping Out the Story “Eleven”

Story Analysis

1. To analyze a short story, the reader needs to think of the following:

When?

(Time of the story)
Where?
(Place of the story)

Who?

(Characters: main & secondary)
What?
(Plot: problem/conflict, rising action, crisis/climax, falling action, resolution)
Why?
(Theme: what the idea behind the story is, why the author wrote this story)
How?
(Point of view: who tells the story and how)

2. Summarize the story in your own words. Write out the events in the order they happen chronologically.

3. Describe the protagonist in the story. Write between 1 – 2 paragraphs.

4. Draw the metaphor Rachel uses in the story to describe what it is like to grow up.

Then explain what she means in your own words.

Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree

trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the

next one. That’s how being eleven years old is.

5. Read the biography of Sandra Cisneros. Then write down 3 important details from her biography. Is there any connection between her biography and the story?

6. Write an essay of 100 words about a memorable event in your life.

Revision of vocabulary.

Eleven/ Sandra Cisneros

A. Match the words on the left with their definitions on the right.

Words /

Definitions

1. lap
2. collar
3. germs
4. itchy
5. ruler
6. eraser / a. part of clothing that fits round the neck
b. something used to rub out pencil writing
d. something that makes you want to scratch your skin
e. very small organisms that can cause disease
f. a long, straight piece of metal used for measuring length
g. the front part of a person from the waist to the knees,
when sitting

Answers:

1____ 2____ 3____ 4____ 5____ 6____

B. Crossword Puzzle

Across
1. make a series of short, sharp sounds
2. push
3. very thin
4. part of clothing that covers the arms
6. cannot be seen / Down
1. badly torn
3. get juice by pressing hard
5. soft, white metal