Luis Valdez

Professor Lawson
English 113A
10 September 2014
Summary of article
Word Count: 346
Cuidando Los Chivos by Lizeth Avalos
Lizeth begins her essay by quoting phrases her dad would say to her or her sisters when they
would struggle with homework or school work in general. That first paragraph is full of those quotes
which all had a positive effect on her as they scared her with threats of having to trabajar vendiendo
elotes(PG 36), work selling corn, in the streets of LA. That paragraph gave us readers a sense of what
her parents were like. On the second paragraph she begins to introduce us, the readers, to the problem
she faced growing up. She states it was hard going to school because she didnt know English one bit,
and she informs us why this is. Yet she doesnt blame her parents for not knowing English, she even
admires they came here for the better opportunities for their kids. By the third and fourth paragraphs
she begins to get into deeper details about the problems she faced though school. First she felt out of
place, this was because of other kids speaking in a language she didnt understand, this had a grasp on
me as a reader as it related to me and it also does to other readers in some kind of way. She then adds
her and her sister were sometimes clueless on homework and their parents couldnt help them at all but
that never stopped her mom, even if she was tired from work and had to do house chores she would
somehow manage for her kids to finish the homework. In the concluding paragraph she once again
praises her parents claiming they are both hard workers and dedicated parents (pg. 37). She is
thankful to them for having guided her through tough times, and because they are the reason why she

speaks two languages. She concludes her English is not perfect but she can make it so and even jokes
about probably going to Mexico to see what all the hype is about; taking care of los chivos her father
always reminded her about.