Tag Archives: hispanic history

Cultural Literacy: Remember the Maine

If you know anything about the Spanish-American War, (if not, see the post above this one) you know that it began with the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine, which was anchored in Havana Harbor. The yellow press in United States, looking to push the nation into war with Spain, contrived the expression “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” I suppose it probably sounded as idiotic as today’s crowds chanting “U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!,” only slightly more literate. At least it rhymes and contains verbs, eh?

So, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the slogan “Remember the Maine.” This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences and four comprehension questions. What the reading fails to mention is that the Maine probably exploded internally–that it wasn’t sabotaged by Spanish operatives.

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.

Guillen de Castro y Bellvis

“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.

Cultural Literacy: Valencia

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.

Somoza Family

“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.

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

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.

Luis Carlos Prestes

“Luis Carlos Prestes: (1898-1990) Brazilian revolutionary. In 1924 he led a rebel force on a three-year trek through Brazil’s interior in an effort to spark a rebellion in the countryside. Though the effort failed, he became a romantic hero. He went on to lead the Brazilian Communist Party, which advocated ending payments on the national debt, nationalization of foreign-owned companies, and land reform. Imprisoned after a violent uprising in 1935, he was released after World War II and later served briefly as a senator.”

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

Cultural Literacy: Sancho Panza

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Sancho Panza, Don Quixote de la Mancha’s sidekick in Cervantes’ masterpiece (which I reread constantly) Don Quixote. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. As is characteristic of the work of the editors of The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, this is a cogent, informative squib on an important character in the history of literature.

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.

Antofagasta

“Antofagasta: Seaport (population 2017 388,545), capital of Antofagasta region, northern Chile. Located on Moreno Bay, it was a Bolivian city until it was ceded to Chile in 1879. Its early growth resulted from a nitrate boom that began in 1866 and from the Caracoles silver discovery in 1870. The largest city in northern Chile, it remains a supply source for the mines and is a communications center on the Pan –American Highway.”

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

Cultural Literacy: The Santa Fe Trail

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Santa Fe Trail. William Becknell pioneered this road in 1821 as a commercial route between St. Louis, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico (which wasn’t, of course, a state at that time–it became a state in 1912). Along with the freight that moved along this road, inevitably, settlers began to follow. This was the beginning of the United States’ endeavor to help itself to territory that was at the time part of Mexico–which of course culminated in the Mexican-American War.

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.

Alcides Arguedas

“Alcides Arguedas: (1879-1946) Bolivian novelist, historian, and diplomat. Although Arguedas spent many years in Europe, especially in France, where he was Bolivian consul, his best-known writings reflect his abiding concern with the problems of his homeland. He is remembered primarily for three works, each in a different field. Pueblo enfermo (1909) is a pessimistic and controversial analysis of Bolivian society. One of the most famous of the Indianist novels, Raza de bronce (1919) describes the exploitation of Bolivian Indians by inhuman landlords. Arguedas’s most enduring work may be his five-volume Historia de Bolivia (1920-29), which covers that country’s history from 1809 to 1872).”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.