Free Essays on Latin American Writers

Before 1960 it was very uncommon to hear of the "contemporary Spanish American novel": there were Uruguayan, Ecuadorian, Mexican or Venezuelan novels. However, during this decade, a literary explosion of Latin American literature took place named â€Å"The Boom.† El Boom "was simply the discovery of a new literary language in which to express Latin American reality with, for the first time, complete authenticity1." This genre of literature has become known as magic realism, a movement characterized by the dreamlike and fantastic elements, which are mixed into fiction. There are many reasons why the â€Å"Boom† literature occurred when it did. All the ingredients necessary for a social change were there; social and economic dissatisfaction, new cultural ideas and an opening of opportunities for Latin American writers. Gabriel Marquez gave an example of the social and economic injustices committed in his home country, Colombia, in his Nobel Prize speech: â€Å"There have been five wars and seventeen military coups; there emerged a dictator who is carrying out, in God’s name, the first Latin American ethnocide of our time. Twenty million Latin American children died before the age of one. Those in exile near one hundred and twenty thousand.†2 These problems are common throughout Latin America, a factor in creating a sense of unity because of these common concerns. New cultural ideas often emerged from writers who had been living in Europe, mostly in exile. Mario Llosa said in Interviews with Latin American Writers, that by living in Europe, he received â€Å"a broadened education† and a â€Å"comprehensive perspective, which helped me understand the things in my own country.†3 Other major factors in the change of cultural ideas surfaced from the revolutions and wars that occurred right before and during the twentieth century. Numerous internal movements had been crushed, although they were successful for a time in Mexico and th... Free Essays on Latin American Writers Free Essays on Latin American Writers Before 1960 it was very uncommon to hear of the "contemporary Spanish American novel": there were Uruguayan, Ecuadorian, Mexican or Venezuelan novels. However, during this decade, a literary explosion of Latin American literature took place named â€Å"The Boom.† El Boom "was simply the discovery of a new literary language in which to express Latin American reality with, for the first time, complete authenticity1." This genre of literature has become known as magic realism, a movement characterized by the dreamlike and fantastic elements, which are mixed into fiction. There are many reasons why the â€Å"Boom† literature occurred when it did. All the ingredients necessary for a social change were there; social and economic dissatisfaction, new cultural ideas and an opening of opportunities for Latin American writers. Gabriel Marquez gave an example of the social and economic injustices committed in his home country, Colombia, in his Nobel Prize speech: â€Å"There have been five wars and seventeen military coups; there emerged a dictator who is carrying out, in God’s name, the first Latin American ethnocide of our time. Twenty million Latin American children died before the age of one. Those in exile near one hundred and twenty thousand.†2 These problems are common throughout Latin America, a factor in creating a sense of unity because of these common concerns. New cultural ideas often emerged from writers who had been living in Europe, mostly in exile. Mario Llosa said in Interviews with Latin American Writers, that by living in Europe, he received â€Å"a broadened education† and a â€Å"comprehensive perspective, which helped me understand the things in my own country.†3 Other major factors in the change of cultural ideas surfaced from the revolutions and wars that occurred right before and during the twentieth century. Numerous internal movements had been crushed, although they were successful for a time in Mexico and th...

Teach Skills for Content Reading With Developmental Reading

Teach Skills for Content Reading With Developmental Reading Developmental Reading is the name given to a branch of reading instruction designed to support students in content area classes, such as  social studies, history, and the sciences. Developmental reading programs teach students strategies for engaging content texts, such as textbooks, articles, and resource books that they will encounter in high school and beyond, in higher education settings.   Developmental reading does not address basic reading skills, such as phonemic awareness,  decoding, and vocabulary.   Many community colleges offer developmental reading courses to help students who are not really prepared for the rigors of college-level courses, especially technical textbooks. Strategies for Success in Developmental Reading Often students with disabilities are so overwhelmed by the amount of text they see in their content (social studies, biology, political science, health) classes that they will sometimes just shut down without even looking for information they need.  Their typical peers may never actually read a text since they can often use text features to find the information they need.  Teaching students, especially students with a history of difficulty with text, how to use text features will give them a sense of command over the text and help them read strategically as part of test preparation and study skills. Text Features Helping students recognize and learn to use text features is a foundational part of developmental reading.  Teach students to first scan the text, reading captions and titles and subtitles, and they will be better able to understand and remember the content of the text.   Illustrations:  the pictures, of course.  Photographs: yes, they are photographs rather than illustrations.Maps:  often to be found in social studies texts, and can typically be pivotal to understanding content.Captions:  found under illustrations, photographs, and maps, captions usually label what the student sees, often offering import information for unlocking the meaning.Titles:  tells specifically what the author intends you to find in the chapter or article.Subtitles.  the subtitles show how the author organized the information and can help students find the specific information they need.Index:  in the back. Very important to know how to use it.Glossary:  often word (new content-specific vocabulary,) will be boldfaced in the text, and students need to know that the glossary has a definition. Prediction Getting students to prepare for approaching a text is an important part of success in reading.  SQ3R  was the standard for many years:  Scan, Question, Read, Recite and Review.  In other words, scanning (using text features) was to lead to questions:  What do I know?  What do I want to know?  What do I expect to learn?  Yes, that is prediction!