Academic Language Examples Chart

Title: The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros Grade Level: 9 Content Areas: ELA, History/Social Studies

Aspect of
Academic Language Example Why Might This Be Challenging?
Language

This section got me thinking about the overall difficulty posed by place names.
“We didn't always live on Mango Street. Before that The structure of the first sentence makes it fairly clear that Esperanza is talking
about streets she’s lived on, but English speakers don’t always use nouns like
we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that
“street” or “building” to talk about locations. Capitalization may clue EBs in on
we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, the fact that these are proper nouns, but how easy is it for them to tell the
and before that I can't remember.” (3) difference between place names and people names, like “Paulina?” This just
seems like an opportunity for misconception or an invitation for re-reading.

“Down to the corner where the men can't take their Cisneros uses “Christmas” in a couple of metaphors and similes in this book,
Vocabulary
eyes off us. We must be Christmas.” (40) and her meaning is slightly different each time. This is an example of a term
What
academic which many EBs will already be familiar with, but whose usage could be
words are confusing in context. It might be a challenge for EBs to discern when these
used that “Everything is waiting to explode like Christmas.” terms are used literally, when they are part of figurative language, and what that
may be (73) figurative language might convey.
challenging
for “I want to shake like hoochi-coochie, Lucy says. She I honestly have no idea what these words would look like to an EB, since they’re
Emerging barely English. I have deep sympathy for anyone who starts learning this
Multilingual is crazy.
language only to find that they must also master the Nursery Rhyme Dialect.
Learners? I want to move like heebie-jeebie, I say picking up
Fortunately, the definitions of these terms aren’t necessary for the reader to
on the cue.” (50) understand the scene. Unfortunately, terms like these might be confusing enough
to interrupt an EB’s reading process.

“Earl is a jukebox repairman […] In his apartment
are boxes and boxes of 45 records…” (71)
This just made me realize that our future students might know very little about
older technologies like jukeboxes and records. Young EBs may look up these
words and get definitions that require them to learn about entirely novel
concepts. This seems more difficult than learning the English word for
something familiar, maybe because it’s harder to develop meaningful context.

Grammar “But my mother's hair, my mother's hair, like little

What
 sentence rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty
structures The length of this sentence might be intimidating for EBs. The main verb
because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put
are used appears halfway through and could be easily overlooked, so readers might find
that may be your nose into when she is holding you, holding you
themselves doubling back and picking through the clauses to figure out what the
challenging
and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before central idea is here. I could see a beautifully constructed sentence like this one
for
Emerging you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for being very frustrating for an EB just because it’s so long.
Multilingual
you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin,
Learners?
and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and
Papa snoring.” (6-7)

In this exchange, Cisneros is making a deliberate character choice using

“We come from Texas, Lucy says and grins. Her was
born here, but me I'm Texas.
You mean she, I say.
No, I’m from Texas, and doesn't get it.” (15)
grammatical errors: there are several other instances where five-year-old Lucy
misuses pronouns later in the book. It’s possible that this nuance would be
missed by someone who isn’t yet intimately familiar with the rhythm of English
grammar. These lines might also just be confusing to an EB who is unsure of
whether they are reading the sentences correctly. And Cisneros’s choice to omit
quotation marks throughout the book could make the end of this exchange
challenging: since Lucy has just been established as someone who violates
grammatical rules, the reader might assume the entire last line is a quote from
her, including “doesn’t get it.”

“A very fat lady crossing the street says, You sure got This isn’t really a challenging sentence structure, but it is an example of (rude)
quite a load there. wordplay. I’m not sure how well this exchange would work in other languages;
an EB who reads by translating in their head might not know what to make of it.
Rachel shouts, You got quite a load there too.” (16)
It’s possible sentences like this will only make sense to EBs if they talk them
over with a native speaker.

“Everybody laughing except me, because I'm wearing It must frustrate and confuse some students that they are taught “proper
the new dress, pink and white with stripes, and new grammar” and penalized for incomplete sentences in their own writing, only to
be assigned classic texts which use fragments stylistically. Students need to learn
underclothes and new socks and the old saddle shoes
when to use “improper grammar” and how to do so effectively, but in order to
I wear to school, brown and white, the kind I get break rules creatively, they need to know them in the first place. For EBs, this
every September because they last long and they do. learning curve might be steeper since they are still familiarizing themselves with
conventionally constructed English sentences. For those who are consciously
My feet scuffed and round, and the heels all crooked
 that look dumb with this dress, so I just sit.” (47) thinking about grammatical patterns while figuring out sentences, reading may
become more difficult if those patterns break down. In that case, stylistic
fragments might end up being more of a challenge for those learning English
than for those acquiring it in social or non-academic settings.

Discourse “Anita, Stella, Dennis, and Lolo...

What forms
Who you calling ugly, ugly?
of text (e.g.
lab report, Richie, Yolanda, Hector, Stevie, Vincent...
interviews,
Not you. Your mama, that's who.
plays) are
used that My mama? You better not be saying that, Lucy In the section titled “And Some More,” Esperanza and her friends are talking
may be about clouds and Eskimos, listing all the names they can think of, and trading
Guerrero. You better not be talking like that...else you
challenging insults about each other’s mothers. It’s a pretty accurate representation of how
for can say goodbye to being my friend forever. multiple simultaneous conversations occur in groups, running parallel to the
Emerging speaker’s inner monologue as well. However, I could see this being pretty
I'm saying your mama's ugly like...ummm…
Multilingual
confusing for an EB to parse. I’ve reproduced a small part of the section here
Learners? ...like bare feet in September!
using the original formatting, which is just plain text occasionally separated by
That does it! Both of yous better get out of my yard line breaks. Cisneros doesn’t use quotation marks or italics, so some readers
before I call my brothers. might struggle to tell dialogue from description from Esperanza’s thoughts. She
Oh, we're only playing. also rarely attributes dialogue to particular speakers, and this scene includes four
characters, so it is not easy to discern who is speaking when. This ambiguity is
I can think of thirty Eskimo words for you, Rachel. intentional, but it also means that the section merits close- and possible re-
Thirty words that say what you are. reading by EBs and native English speakers alike.
Oh yeah, well I can think of some more.
Uh-oh, Nenny. Better get the broom. Too much trash
in our yard today.
Frankie, Licha, Maria, Pee Wee...” (37)

“My mother and your mother were washing

clothes.
My mother punched your mother right in the nose.
What color blood came out?
Not that old song, I say. You gotta use your own
song. Make it up, you know? But she doesn't get it or The section “Hips” incorporates what appear to be nursery rhymes and double-
dutch chants. The formatting of the text differentiates between song and
won't. It's hard to say which. The rope turning,
dialogue/description, with lyrics italicized and set apart in separate lines. This
turning, turning. should be helpful for EBs who are trying to follow the plot. However, these
Engine, engine number nine, songs seem to be very specific to their setting: a Chicano neighborhood in 1960s
Chicago. I think that in particular, the age of the songs makes it less likely that
running down Chicago line.
younger EBs will be familiar with them or intuitively understand the role they
If the train runs off the track play in the story. I’d never heard of any of them, and it took me a while to figure
do you want your money back? out the nuances between them and why characters reacted to different songs the
way they did. Searching for these meanings using context clues would be much
Do you want your MONEY back?
harder for someone newer to the language.
Yes, no, maybe so. Yes, no, maybe so...
I can tell Lucy and Rachel are disgusted, but they
don't say anything because she's my sister.
Yes, no, maybe so. Yes, no, maybe so...
Nenny, I say, but she doesn't hear me. She is too
many light-years away. She is in a world we don't
belong to anymore. Nenny. Going. Going.
Y-E-S spells yes and out you go!” (50)