ENRIQUE’S JOURNEY On the Same Page 2013-2014 Janet Rachel Johns, Ed.D THE STORY OF A BOY’S DANGEROUS ODYSSEY TO REUNITE WITH HIS MOTHER LESSON 2 Chapters

ENRIQUE’S JOURNEY

On the Same Page2013-2014

Janet Rachel Johns, Ed.D

THE STORY OF A BOY’S DANGEROUS ODYSSEY TO REUNITE WITH HIS MOTHER

LESSON 2Chapters 2 & 3Sonia Nazario

Reveal one piece of the image at a time.

Make a prediction of what you believe the image is based on the evidence presented.

You may change your prediction with each new piece of evidence.

On the Same Page Curriculum 2013, Janet Rachel Johns, Ed.D. Abriendo Caminos, Migrant Education, Region 11, PVUSD






Write your first response to this photograph. What are your predictions? Support your predictions with evidence. Write down a few thoughts.


He jumps to the ground.

His head pounds; it is still swollen from being battered.

But he is free.

Enrique runs back to the cemetery, a way station for migrants.

At sunup on any given day, it seems as uninhabited as a country graveyard.

But the, at the first rumble of a departing train and the hiss of air from its brake lines, it erupts with life.

Dozens of migrants, children among them, emerge from the bushes, from behind the ceiba trees, and from among the tombs. (p. 65)


Look at the image projected. Write five questions about the image

that you believe will be answered once you read the text.



Impunity is a noun that means … a)hostilityb)libertyc)violence

The bandits are so well known and seem to operate with such impunity that Mario Campos Gutiérrez, a supervisor with Grupo Beta Sur, thinks the authorities collaborate. Many of the bandits, Campos says, are current or former police officers. (p. 76)


Wallow is a verb that means ….

a)swim or wade

b)flounder or struggle

c)scream

Coaxes is a verb that means …

a)carries

b)persuades or entices

c)sings

Threshold is a noun that means …

a)edge or border

b)illness

c)difficulty

She is impatient with those who wallow in pity. She coaxes them past the shelter’s threshold to go the ocean, which most have never seen. (p. 96)


Agree/Disagree1.Central American governments are responsible for the migrants who are crossing daily into Mexico and The United States.

2.Only the wealthy are capable and willing to help out those who are poor and in need.

3.If at first you don’t succeed, try again, and again.

4.It is important to report gangsters’ violent activities towards migrants to the local Mexican police.

5.At the rate of nearly one every other day, the Red Cross estimates, U.S.-bound Central American migrants who ride freight trains los arms, legs, hands, or feet.


Chapter 2: Seeking Mercy, p. 45-60DIALOGUE READ: Narrator, Enrique, Sirenio, Carlos Carrasco, Lesbia, Townspeople (p. 45-46): 1.What has happened to Enrique? How do the people of Las Anonas, Oaxaca come to his aide?

DIRECTED READING WITH NUMBERED HEADS2.What is the economic situation of those who live in Las Anonas? How do you know? (p. 45-47)


3. What other steps are taken to help Enrique? Explain your answer? (p. 46-48)

4. Yet, why does Adan Díaz Ruiz, mayor of San Pedro Tapanatepec balk at the plight of the migrants and those willing to help? Do you agree or disagree with him? Provide evidence. (p. 47)

5. What do you learn about the judicial police from Enrique and the mayor’s driver? (p. 48)

6. How does Father Rigoni describe the situation for migrants in Tapachula? Why is the corruption so difficult to resolve according to Father Rigoni? (p. 49)


PERSEVERANCE7.According to Nazario, what is the situation for many children traveling north to find their mothers? (p. 49-50)

JOURNEY MATRIX: IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED, TRY AGAIN.Enrique made many several attempts to cross into The United States. Describe his first attempts. Summarize each journey, including the hardships that Enrique has to endure. (p. 50-51) (p. 53-56)


First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh

8. Why is it so dangerous at the border town of Tecún Umán, Guatemala? What choices does Enrique make and why? (p. 52-53?)

9. How does life change for María Isabel with Enrique’s absence? What decision does she make? Explain. (p. 55-56)

A MISTAKE10. Why is Enrique on of the lucky ones

according to Dr. Toledo? (p. 57)11. Read silently pages 58-60. What do you

hear in the writer’s voice? How does this information make you feel?


Chapter 3: Facing the Beast, p. 61-10012.What has Enrique learned now on his eighth attempt to reach el Norte? (p. 61-62)13. Why does Enrique feel safe in the cemetery? (p. 63)14.Why is the cemetery “filled with peril”? (p. 63-65)15.How does Enrique escape? What dangers do migrants confront? What is your response to this information? (p. 65-67)


GETTING ABOARD16.What passion drives migrants on this journey? Share some of their stories. (p. 67-68)17.What dangers do migrants confront boarding the trains? What are Enrique’s options for getting aboard? (p. 69-71)18.For some the train is called El Gusano de Hierro, or The Iron Worm. For others, El Tren de la Muerte, The Train of Death, and some call it El Tren Peregrino, The Pilgrim’s Train. To Enrique, it is El Caballo de Hierro, The Iron Horse. Explain each of these names and the rationale given. (p. 70-72)


A DREADED STOP19.How does Enrique manage to escape being captured by migra agents? (p. 72-73)Read “A Dreaded Stop.” (p. 72-81)

JOURNAL ENTRY: Write your initial response after reading this section. Although difficult to read, why are these facts important for us to consider? What power do we have to change this horrible situation?

A DECISIONDialogue Read: Narrator, Maria Isabel, Eva, Karla20.What is Maria Isabel’s plan? What final decision does she make? Explain. (p. 81)


STAYING AWAKE21.Describe how gangsters like the Mara Salvatrucha control the trains in Chiapas? What can migrants do to protect themselves? (p. 85)

22.What other dangers do Enrique and migrants confront daily? How do they struggle to survive? (p. 85-87)

23.Author Nazario juxtaposes the atrocities committed by corrupt police and gangters with the incredible scenery surrounding the train. “The train moves through a sea of plantain trees, lush and tropical.”(p. 82) “Monarch butterflies flutter alongside, overtaking his car.” (p. 87) What do you believe the author is communicating to the reader? Explain your answer.

24.What does it mean to Enrique and other migrants to reach the northern state line near San Ramón? (p. 87-88)


DEVOURED25.Who would call the train, El Tren Devorador, The Train that Devours? Explain. (p. 88)

26.Case studies inform the reader of real people who have encountered “the beast.” What is Carlos’s story? (p. 89-90)

27.CASE STUDY- Olga Sánchez Martínez. Read Olga’s story (p. 90-96) and prepare a short case study on her life and work.

28.Read pages 97-98 about the “general denigration and humiliation of Central Americans in Mexico.” What are possible solutions to these atrocities?

OAXACA29.How do migrants like Enrique try to pass off as “Mexican” once they reach Oaxaca? Why do they do this? (p. 98-100)


Synonyms or words with similar meaningsFind the synonym of each underlined word in the sentence, using the context to help you find the meaning. Write a sentence using the new word.


1. The day’s word is done at Las Anonas, a railside (1) hamlet of thirty-six families in the state of Oaxaca, when a field hand, Sirenio gómez Fuentes, sees a (2) startling sight: a (3) battered and bleeding boy, naked except for his underpants. (p. 45)

2. Díaz (4) balks. He is (5) miffed. “This is what they get for doing this journey,” he says. (p. 47)

3. When Enrique’s mother left, he was a child. Six months ago, the first time he set out to find her, he was still a (6) callow kid. (p. 49)

4. Now he is a veteran of a (7) perilous pilgrimage by children, many of whom come looking for their mothers and travel any way they can. (p. 49)


5. Loose tracks (8) flail the train from side to side. (p. 54)

6. He leaps from the train, flinging himself outward into the black (9) void. (p. 55)

7. (10) Arrayed against them is la migra, along with crooked police, street gangsters, and bandits. (p. 68)

8. Of the half-dozen checkpoints Enrique has (11) eluded in southern Mexico, he fears La Arrocera most…Enrique has (12) defied La Arrocera before. (p. 73)


Sonia Nazario, the author of Enrique’s Journey, uses lots of figurative language in her writing. Looking at the list of the different styles of figurative writing, please write what style the author is using and explain your answer.

1.Another blow finds the left side of his face. It shatters three teeth. They rattle like broken glass in his mouth. (p. 54)2.The train cars sway from side to side, up and down, like bobbing ice cubes. (p. 82)


Choose one quote below and write in it your literature log.

Summarize the main points of the text, rewriting it in your own words.

Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Explain.

How does this quote apply to you and your life?

What can we learn from this person’s words? How can others benefit from this knowledge?


“If you speak out too much against police corruption, you wake up with a machete in your back,” says Father Rigoni. (p. 49)

“God,” she whispers, “grant me one wish. Get Mexican immigration authorities to catch Enrique and deport him back to Honduras. Send him back to me.” María Isabel (p. 56)

Chiapas, he says, “is a cemetery with no crosses, where people die without even getting a prayer.” Priest at Migrant Shelter (p. 68)

“No one tells me something can’t be done. Everything can be cured. Nothing is impossible,” Olga says. Olga Sánchez Martínez (p. 90)

“God has a plan for you,” she says. “You will learn to live – in a different way.” Olga Sánchez Martínez (p. 91)


You will develop a case study of Olga Sánchez Martínez and the Shelter of Jesus the Good Shepherd in Chiapas, Mexico.

Refer to the following website for your research: http://www.alberguebuenpastor.org.mx/index.php/en/donations

In Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas, Olga Sánchez Martínez operates the Shelter of Jesus the Good Shepherd for migrants injured by the trains. She works for free, seven days a week, and tries to raise money to provide them with medicine and prosthesis for lost limbs. (http://enriquesjourney.com/helpphotos.html )On the Same Page Curriculum 2013, Janet Rachel Johns, Ed.D. Abriendo Caminos, Migrant Education, Region 11, PVUSD

What is Olga’s story? What do you learn about the shelter after

reading pages 90-96 and perusing the website? Where and how it all began? Who supported the project? What is the purpose? Who is served? How are the people served?

For how long? What financial support do they receive?

Read a migrant testimony. How is the shelter serving its clients?

What is the future of the shelter? Explain. What questions do you still have? What is your

personal response to Olga’s dedication and the work of the shelter?


In order to understand the social, political and economic background of Enrique’s Story, it is important to learn firsthand from primary and secondary sources of the immigration issue and to read from various points of view.

“For some journalists, research means sitting at a computer and surfing Google…For Sonia Nazario…it means leaving home for months at a time to sit on top of a moving freight train running the length of Mexico,” risking her life… San Francisco Chronicle


Compare and contrast two articles:Dominican School Hosts Mexican Human Rights Winner Giving back via Enrique’s Journey

Fill in the matrix with your interpretation of the article.


Dominican School Hosts Mexican Human Rights Winner

Giving back via Enrique’s Journey

Summarize the context of the article. (Who, What, Where…)

What is the author’s message/point of view? Explain.

Do you agree or disagree with the author? State two reasons.

What is the call to action? Explain.

Agree/Disagree1.Central American governments are responsible for the migrants who are crossing daily into Mexico and The United States.

2.Only the wealthy are capable and willing to help out those who are poor and in need.

3.If at first you don’t succeed, try again, and again.

4.It is important to report gangsters’ violent activities towards migrants to the local Mexican police.

5.At the rate of nearly one every other day, the Red Cross estimates, U.S.-bound Central American migrants who ride freight trains los arms, legs, hands, or feet.


Documents

ENRIQUE’S JOURNEY On the Same Page 2013-2014 Janet Rachel Johns, Ed.D THE STORY OF A BOY’S DANGEROUS ODYSSEY TO REUNITE WITH HIS MOTHER LESSON 2 Chapters