Monthly Archives: October 2024

Guillen de Castro y Bellvis

Posted on October 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Guillen de Castro y Bellvis: (1569-1631) Spanish playwright. Of his 50-odd plays, the best remembered is Las mocedades del Cid (“The Youth of the Cid”; c.1599), on which Pierre Corneille based his Le Cid (1637). Castro’s play is notable for its naturalistic dialogue. He was one of the earliest playwrights to deal with the difficulties of marriage, as in Los mal casadas de Valencia (“The Unhappy Marriages of Valencia”). He drew heavily on traditional Castilian ballads and based three of his plays on novels by Miguel de Cervantes.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Posted in English Language Arts, Quotes, Reference

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Cultural Literacy: Valencia

Posted on October 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Valencia. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one extremely short (i.e. eight words) sentence and one comprehension question. I would use this with struggling or emergent readers, then help them find Valencia on a map: in other words, find a correspondence between word and image.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Posted in Independent Practice, Social Sciences, Worksheets

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Somoza Family

Posted on October 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

“Somoza family: Family that maintained political control of Nicaragua for more then 40 years. The dynasty’s founder, Anastasio Somosa Garcia (1896-1956), became head of Nicaragua’s army in 1933 and, after deposing the elected president in 1936, ruled the country with a firm and grasping hand until he was assassinated. He was succeeded by his elder son, Luis Somoza Debayle (1922-1967), and later by his younger son, Anastasio Somoza Debayle (1925-1980), whose corrupt and brutal rule (1963-79) led to his overthrow by the Sandinistas. Somoza looted the country before leaving for Miami; he was assassinated in Paraguay.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 4 October 2024, Hispanic Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on President James Monroe

Posted on October 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

You probably know, particularly if you teach United States History, that the Monroe Doctrine (1823) bears the name of President James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine held that any foreign powers that intervene in political affairs in the Americas commits a potentially hostile act against the United States. Conceived, as most historians apparently agree, as an act of solidarity with the emergent republics across the Americas–what we also call Latin America.

During the Cold War, alas, the doctrine was perverted in such a way that it became a justification for United States Imperialism in Latin America (I’ve written about this here). All of this ratiocination is to introduce, and articulate the relevance of this reading on President James Monroe along with its vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet to Hispanic Heritage Month 2024.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Posted in Independent Practice, Social Sciences, The Weekly Text, Worksheets

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