Chapter 1

Chapter 1
MEXICO
El alfabeto, los saludos y los números de 0 a 30
Letter Letter Name Pronunciation
aaah
bbebay
ccesay
chchechay
ddeday
eeay
fefe
effay
ggehay
hhache
ach-ay
iiee
jjota
hota
kka
kah
lele
el-lay
llelle
ay-yay
meme
eh-may
nene
eh-nay
ñeñe
en-yay
oooh
ppepay
qcukoo
rere
er-ray
sese
eh-say
tte tay
uu
ooh
vve bay
w
doble vedobe-lay-bay
xequis
eh-kees
y
i griega
ee gree-ay-gah
zzeta
say-ta
Photo by Peter Menzel
The Castillo Balderas family and all of their possessions.
The Spanish consonants
The Spanish alphabet is made up of consonants and vowels and is very similar
to the English alphabet; it shares many of the same letters. However, there
are some letters that English does not have. See if you can spot them in the
list.
For example:
Spanish has the letters ch, ll and ñ.
Although English does not have the letter ñ, there are English words that have
the sound, like “canyon” and “onion.” The letters ch, ll and ñ are found in
Spanish words like:
llama
cañón
chaleco
English and Spanish both have the letter “r,” but it is pronounced differently.
If you roll your tongue you might be able to make the sound in Spanish. If
you roll your tongue once, you can make the Spanish r sound. If you roll your
tongue for a bit longer, you can make the Spanish rr sound.
Try rolling your tongue to say:
cara guitarra
Like English, some Spanish consonants have hard and soft pronunciations. The letter c can be pronounced two ways: like
the hard “c” in the English word “car,” as in carro, and like the soft “c” in the English word “city,” as in ciudad.
The letter g also has two pronunciations. It can be a hard “g,” as in the English word “good,” as in gato. The Spanish g
also has a soft pronunciation that sounds a lot like the English “h,” as in “hello.” The Spanish words álgebra, gente and
generación all have the soft Spanish g.
The letter j and the letter x in some words in Mexico are also
Previous Page:
Serena López celebrates
Benito Juárez’s birthday.
2
The alphabet, Greetings and Numbers 0-30
Nhutalu weaves an intricate pattern.
pronounced like the soft Spanish g, like the words Júpiter, junio
and México.
In Spanish, the letter h is not pronounced. The h is in words like
hola and hotel. Remember that the h is silent. It is very tempting to say hotel the
English way because the Spanish word for “hotel” is spelled the same!
About Voces
The Voces stories
throughout this book are
by real people in their own
words. Many are just
learning English, so you will
notice some awkward
sentences. When you do,
it's a good idea to remember
that we are all learning.
Sometimes the b is referred to as be alta, and the v is referred to as ve corta.
In many words the letters b and v are pronounced the same way. At the beginning
of words, the v is pronounced like the English letter “b.”
vaca burro
The Spanish vowels
Spanish has only five vowel sounds. Each vowel has only one sound: a, e, i, o and
u. It makes Spanish spelling pretty easy!
EXAMPLE:
Each Spanish vowel is pronounced the same way. Practice pronouncing them:
FUN STUFF!
As you work your way
through each chapter,
click the buttons you see
to hear the dialogues and
vocabulary spoken by
native Spanish-speakers
and to watch movies filmed
in each country.
Like the “a” in the English word
“father”:
papá
mamá
pasta
Like the “e” in the English word “eight”:
Pepe
bebé
gente
Like the “i” in the English word “kiwi”:
mil
minifalda
Like the “o” in the English word “no,” but
shorter:
foto
moto
coco
a
i
¡Buen viaje!
Like the “u” in the English word “fruit”:
cucú
Lulú
tú
u
3
e
o
El alfabeto, los saludos y los números de 0 a 30
Some Spanish words have accent marks. This means that you
should stress the vowel when you pronounce it. An accent mark
can make a difference in the meaning of the word. For example,
the word sí with an accent mark means “yes,” and si without an
accent mark means “if.”
If you want to know how to spell a word, you can ask:
Photo by Peter Menzel
Two farmers harvest some edible caterpillars in Pueblo.
¿Cómo se escribe? (How is it written?) or ¿Cómo se deletrea? (How is it spelled?)
Greetings / Saludos
Hola.
Buenos días.
Buenas tardes.
Buenas noches.
¿Cómo está usted?
¿Cómo estás?
¿Cómo andas?
¿Qué tal?
¿Qué hay de nuevo?
No mucho.
Estoy bien/muy bien.
Estoy mal/muy mal.
Así así.
Regular.
Más o menos.
Yo también.
¿Y tú?
¿Y usted?
Hi./Hello.
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Good evening./Good night.
How are you? (formal)
How are you? (informal)
How’s it going? (informal)
How are you?
What’s new?
Not much.
I’m fine/very well.
I’m bad (not well)/very bad.
So-so.
So-so.
More or less.
Me too.
And you? (informal)
And you? (formal)
¿Cómo te llamas?
¿Cómo se llama?
¿Cómo se llaman?
Soy…
Mi nombre es…
Me llamo…
Mucho gusto.
Encantado./ Encantada.
Un placer.
Igualmente.
Tengo que irme.
Chao.
Hasta luego.
Hasta pronto.
Nos vemos.
Hasta mañana.
What is your name? (informal)
What is your name? (formal)
What are your/their names?
(formal)
I’m…
My name is…
My name is... (I call myself...)
It's a pleasure.
Pleased to meet you.
It's a pleasure (to meet you.)
Likewise.
I have to go.
Bye.
See you later.
See you soon.
See you. (We’ll see each other.)
Until tomorrow.
Adiós.
Saludos a…
Goodbye.
Say hello to…
4
The alphabet, Greetings and Numbers 0-30
In Spanish, people greet each other either formally or informally.
Friends, family members, relatives and people who are close in
age can be addressed informally. Adults and people you do not
know very well should be addressed formally.
CULTURAL NOTE
The Culture of Corn!
Sra. Hortencia Loya Zaragoza
makes homemade corn
tortillas in her street-side
stand. Tortillas–very thin, flat,
corn pancakes—wrap up meat,
veggies, fish or chicken to
make tacos. You hold plain
tortillas in your hand while
eating – they are like the
bread of Mexico. Tamales are
made of steamed corn masa
wrapped in corn husks.
Enchiladas are tortillas swimming in chili sauce. Quesadillas
are cheese tacos. Tostadas are
flat, crunchy tortillas, piled
with whatever. Sopes are…
well, you get the idea.
Tortilla factories are in
every town, and the richest
guy in the world is not Bill
Gates, but Carlos Slim Helu,
the tortilla magnate. Ancient
Mexicans bred corn from native grasses over 10,000 years
ago.
• For example, to ask your sister how she is doing, you might say:
¿Cómo estás? (How are you?)
• To your teacher or your parents’ friends you might say: ¿Cómo está?
They both mean the same thing, but notice that you say estás with your sister
and está with your teacher.
The pronoun tú means “you” (informal). We can say ¿Cómo estás tú? (“How are
you?”). Many times we leave out the tú when we are speaking because it is
obvious from the word estás that the speaker is addressing a friend, a relative or
someone younger.
The pronoun usted means “you” (formal). We can say ¿Cómo está usted? (“How
are you?”) We can also leave out the usted in conversation.
Would you use tú or usted with the following people?
•
•
•
•
•
Your brother
Your cousin
Your teacher
Your parents’ friend
Your classmate
Click the button to watch
tortillas being made in Tizmin.
Punctuation
Spanish punctuation is mostly the same as English punctuation. Commas are
used to separate items in a list and separate parts of a sentence in much the
same way that English uses commas. Periods are also used at the end of sentences.
In Spanish, the exclamation point follows an exclamation, but there is also an
upside-down exclamation point at the beginning of the sentence:
¡Qué bonito!
5
COUNTRY
INFO
Flag
Carlos cheers for the “El trí” fútbol team.
The same is true of question marks. Spanish questions
have an upside-down question mark at the beginning and
then are followed by another question mark at the end:
¿Cómo te llamas?
The upside-down question mark also comes at the beginning of a
clause:
Area: 761,600 square miles, about three times the size of Texas
Capital: Mexico City
Terrain: Coastal lowlands, central high plateaus and mountains up to 18,000 ft.
Climate: Tropical/temperate/desert
Population: 111.2 million
Ethnic Groups: Mestizo (60%); indigenous (30%);
Caucasian (9%); other (1%)
Languages: Spanish
Major Industries: Food and beverages; tobacco;
chemicals; iron and steel; petroleum; mining; textiles; clothing; motor
vehicles; consumer durables
Agriculture: Corn; wheat; soybeans; rice; beans;
cotton; coffee; fruit; tomatoes; beef; poultry; dairy products; wood products
Eres de España, ¿verdad?
“I”
When talking about yourself, use the pronoun yo. Yo is the
equivalent of “I” in English.
For example:
Map
Yo soy María.
Yo hablo inglés.
Yo estoy bien.
I am María.
I speak English.
I am well.
In conversation, the context allows you to leave out the
yo. Sometimes you can use yo to emphasize that you are
talking about yourself.
For example:
Yo soy María is the same as saying, “Soy María.”
Click the button to
watch Mexican fútbol
fans cheer on their team.
6
The alphabet, Greetings and Numbers 0-30
Photo by Peter Menzel
The Casales family with a week’s worth of food.
Numbers
The numbers 0–30 are easy to remember in
Spanish if you put them in groups. Cero is similar to
the English word “zero.”
For example:
One way to remember the names for the numbers
11–15 is that they all end in –ce.
0 cero
1 uno
2 dos
3 tres
4 cuatro
5 cinco
6 seis
7 siete
8 ocho
9 nueve
10 diez
11 once
12 doce
13 trece
14 catorce
15 quince
16 dieciséis
17 diecisiete
18 dieciocho
19 diecinueve
20 veinte
21 veintiuno
22 veintidós
23 veintitrés
24 veinticuatro
25 veinticinco
26 veintiséis
27 veintisiete
28 veintiocho
29 veintinueve
30 treinta
Numbers 16–29 are all made up of two numbers.
For the number 16, we say dieciséis, or “ten and six.” For the number 28, we say veintiocho, or “twenty and eight.”
Hay
To say “there is” or “there are,” use the word hay.
Hay una estudiante de México en mi clase. Hay un gato en el salón de clase.
Hay veinte estudiantes en la clase.
There is a student from Mexico in my class.
There is a cat in the classroom.
There are twenty students in the class.
You’ll notice that when you want to say there is one of something, you use un or una. You’ll learn more later about how
to know which one to use (Chapter 2, pg. 37).
To ask someone for his/her telephone number, say:
¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? (informal)
¿Cuál es su número de teléfono? (formal)
Most of Mexico sits at a
very high altitude, and it’s
cold in winter!
7
El alfabeto, los saludos y los números de 0 a 30
EXAMPLE:
It is the first day of school, and Liliana introduces herself to a new
classmate.
Liliana: Hola, soy Liliana Gonzales. ¿Cómo te llamas?
Gustavo: Me llamo Gustavo.
Liliana: Mucho gusto. ¿Cómo estás?
Gustavo: Muy bien, gracias. ¿Cómo se deletrea Gonzales?
Liliana: Ge, o, ene, zeta, a, ele, e, ese.
EXAMPLE:
Hernán is meeting his teacher for the first time.
Sr. López: Buenos días.
Hernán: Buenos días. ¿Cómo está usted?
Sr. López: Muy bien, gracias. ¿Cómo te llamas?
Hernán: Me llamo Hernán Coval.
Sr. López: ¿Ce, o, be, a, ele?
Hernán: No. Con ve corta. Ce, o, ve, a, ele.
Sr. López: Ella se llama Srta. Olivares.
Hernán: Con ve corta, ¿verdad?
Sr. López: ¡Verdad!
María and Luz celebrate el Día de la Independencia.
EXAMPLE:
Isabel and Julia are exchanging phone numbers.
Julia: Hola Isabel, ¿qué tal?
Isabel: Estoy mal, tengo que irme.
Julia: Te llamo por teléfono. ¿Cuál es tu número
de teléfono?
Isabel: Seis, ocho, seis, cinco, nueve, seis, cuatro, uno.
Julia: Perfecto. Hablamos.
Me llamo Capitán Español.
Earl Miller from Ohio. I’m going to
learn Spanish, move to Guadalajara
and become Mexico’s most famous
lucha libre* fighter.
¿Cómo te llamas,
for real?
Buena suerte*, gringo.
*Lucha libre is Mexico’s version of the WWE. Most
wrestlers wear masks and are called los enmascarados.
*Buena suerte means “good luck.”
8
The alphabet, Greetings and Numbers 0-30
VoLectura
The Mayan archaeological site of Chichén Itzá
Nombre
Camila Serrano
Mateo Hernández
Antonio Vázquez
Clara Rodríguez
Mónica Quiñones
Click the button to watch a
video of Paulina
telling her story.
#
83598314
62178299
45267341
28825009
74102315
Read the list of the telephone numbers of some of the students
in Graciela’s class. Write each student’s name next to his or her
telephone number.
1.
dos, ocho, ocho, dos, cinco, cero, cero, nueve _____________________________________
2.
cuatro, cinco, dos, seis, siete, tres, cuatro, uno _____________________________________
3.
siete, cuatro, uno, cero, dos, tres, uno, cinco
_____________________________________
4.
ocho, tres, cinco, nueve, ocho, tres, uno, cuatro
_____________________________________
5.
seis, dos, uno, siete, ocho, dos, nueve, nueve _____________________________________
Paulina Veracruz, Mexico
Voces
I remember vividly the first time I had to prepare for the Day of the Dead on my
own. It was the last days of October. I started by setting up an altar in memory
of my loved ones and decorating the house with all that is representative of
the day. I am not talking about figures of ghosts and witches, but of the flowers
called “cempasúchiles,” or marigold flowers, which only blossom during the
last half of the year, and which I was lucky to find in my local supermarket.
I took out the skeleton figurines made out of papier mâché my mother had
given me as wedding gifts, a lady skeleton dressed in a long blue dress wearing
a feather hat and a male skeleton dressed as a mariachi. I looked in my picture albums
for photographs of my grandparents who had passed away in earlier years and of my beloved grandmother who’d died the
previous month. I added the photographs to the altar and beside them I placed the sweets my grandmother loved to eat and
a sample of my grandfather’s favorite meals. I arranged the flowers on the altar... Doing this for the first time on my own gave
me a deep understanding of what the holiday truly represents. The Day of the Dead is a celebration that bridges the past to
the present and life with death. And one that allowed me to do something for my loved ones once more, even if they were no
longer physically with me. Mexico is a country built on various beliefs and superstitions passed on to us by our indigenous ancestors and on faith
engraved on us by our conquerors. The celebrations of the Day of the Dead, also known as “All Souls Day,” are a compilation
of these superstitions and religious traditions. The Day of the Dead is the day where those who have died come back to be
among the living who haven’t forgotten them.
My name is Paulina Shedid. I was born and raised in Mexico City. Since July 2008, I have been living in Veracruz, Mexico. 9
El alfabeto, los saludos y los números de 0 a 30
Vo-
¡VAMOS A CHARLAR!
After your teacher has put the class into pairs, practice greeting
your partner, spelling your name and saying your phone number
with the following exercises:
Una puerta antigua
1. Act like you are meeting your partner for the first time. Ask each other’s
name, and say that you are pleased to meet each other. Ask your partner
how (s)he is doing, and then say goodbye.
2. With your partner, act as if one of you is the teacher, and the other is new to
the school. Greet each other, and ask each other’s names and how to spell
each other’s last name. Remember the rules for formal and informal
greetings.
3. Ask your partner for his/her telephone number. Write it down and have him/
her check to see if it is correct. Take turns asking and writing down.
I got sick when I turned 10. My mom took me to the doctor. The lady doctor
diagnosed me and vaccinated me, yet the next day I woke up with high fever and
aversion to daylight, so they kept me in a dark room. Later that day, my grandmother
Mama-Lena was asked to heal me. Mama-Lena started the healing by rubbing an
egg on my face, then made me hold that egg on the palm of my hand and proceeded
rubbing it on the rest of my body. Minutes later she cracked open the egg on a cup
with water. Mama-Lena studied the floating egg and indicated: “It’s shaping like an eye.”
Voces
Octavio
Mexico
Mama-Lena continued my treatment by bringing paraffin wax candles and glass cups. She set my back on fire on six spots
and encapsulated the fires so that I didn’t get burned. Then she collected melted wax off from my back and poured it on
a plate with water and waited for the wax to harden. Mama-Lena studied the hardened wax and indicated: “It’s forming
a face figure.”
This was conclusive: I had mal de ojo. I asked what OJO was. Mom gave me this example: “When you hold a baby and say
how much you like the baby. You are casting an OJO. Because your eyes, for lack of better word, desire the baby.” MamaLena brought leafy plants, specifically the ruda, which has the power to break the spell. Mama-Lena rubbed them on my
body and asked me to rest. The next day I woke up fine.
Mama-Lena is a healer, more important she is a trusted elderly leader. When you have a sick child and the doctors
cannot find a cure fast enough, who do you resort to? Mama-Lena’s role on final analysis has a sound spiritual belief and
fundamental know-how about medicine. When all else fails she is to be resorted to. People trust her absolute conviction
and beliefs about medicinal healing powers.
Growing up in Mexico I excelled at school and church. After graduating elementary school I pursued further education in
the U.S. Coming to U.S. was crucial because I could study and work at the same time and get away from farm life. After
college, I got a job as a project manager. I am presently in real estate sales management.
10
Yes, it is nice! Look, we can’t call you
americano, because we are americanos,
too! Mexico is part of North America,
so norteamericano isn’t really accurate,
either. So we usually just call you
gringos. The word gringo is very
informal, but friendly, fun and 100
percent politically correct.
Get used to it.
¿OK, gringo?
VoHey, don’t call me gringo.
That’s not nice.
Tourist souveniers in Mexico City
OK!
I met Eutimio Carrasco, a Tarascan Indian from the forested mountains of
Michoacán, on the Toluca Rocket* headed for Mexico City. His lumberjack job had
so he packed up his family and headed for Mexico City, the capital. Over
as told by Skip ended,
1,000 people like him get off the bus in Mexico City every day, and stay forever.
McWilliams At a population of 22 million people, it’s nearly the largest city in the world. I
with them to the edge of town where they set up home for the night in an
¿Qué Piensas? went
abandoned washing machine box. They lit a candle and slept in blankets on the
ground. Unemployment in Mexico City is less than half that of the U.S., so he got a
job carrying bricks the very next day.
The kids were in school and Dolores, his wife, was cleaning a lady’s house by Friday. They ate fresh oranges sold by a
man with a cart across from the school, and on Sunday, Eutimio bought two pieces of used plywood for a roof and six
posts to hold it up. He dug holes for the posts with his machete. He worked six days a week, but on Sundays he began
making big, adobe bricks from mud. By the month’s end, they had solid walls and a kerosene lamp on a little shelf. By
the end of the rainy season, he had cast a cement roof and floor, and expanded the house to two rooms. A neighbor
moved out of his cardboard house and the Carrascos took over his land and built another room. He was promoted to
albañil*. His wage doubled to $25 a day. He had no rent or house payment so he began buying bright red bricks to
re-do the little home, which now had windows and flowering margaritas* in little tin cans hanging from the walls. The
boys shared a room. He bought a washing machine, which was the envy of the neighborhood, although there was no
place to plug it in and no pipes to hook it to. Dolores brought water in 5-gallon cans early every morning, before
work. When I visited three years later, I thought I was lost. The cardboard-box neighborhood had evolved
into brick casitas*. The city had brought electricity, water and sewers. Eutimio had a second story with a
big satellite dish on the roof. There was a flower garden in front and a nice small patio in back where
a little palm tree was struggling to start. There was a grey Nissan pickup parked in front. He was a
foreman now. Esteban and Máximo, his sons, were at the 130,000-student UNAM*. They invited
me to a fútbol* game at the Estadio Azteca. His story is common. What tourists see as cardboard
slums are really vibrant, exciting beginnings, constantly evolving from boxes to wood to adobe to
pleasant middle-class brick neighborhoods—all in a few years. Were the Carrascos poor? What
does “poor” mean? Does their story change your ideas of poverty? ¿Qué piensas?
Eutimio’s Story
* Toluca Rocket – Beat up, old buses
that run straight pipe for more power
as they cross over the mountains.
* albañil – mason
* margaritas – daisies
11
* casitas – little houses
* UNAM – Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México
* fútbol – soccer
México
Vo-
Click the button to visit a Day
of the Dead celebration in
Oaxaca, Mexico.
César, Miranda and Luisa enjoy a refresco after school.
Click the button
to watch a
video of Rebeca
telling her story.
When I was a child, we spent the holidays with my grandparents, who lived in a
small town nearby. Grandma, whose name is also Rebeca, knew lots of things, from
assisting women in childbirth to preparing delicious cheeses. One of the things I
learned from her was how to build piñatas in the traditional way.
Voces
Rebeca
Monterrey, Mexico
My cousins and I had decided to build a piñata by ourselves. Normally, piñatas were built from a reed armature of
carrizo, but Granny suggested we build it like in the old times: using a jar of clay. I remember the jar stained my hands
with tizne* when Grandma took it from the darkest corner of her kitchen and gave it to me. We used the hose in the
patio to wash it clean. I then helped grandma prepare engrudo—homemade glue traditionally used in Mexican crafts—
mixing water and flour in a pot and heating the mixture on the stove, stirring constantly to get it really sticky.
Grandma put the engrudo on the table along with a bunch of old newspapers. We then pasted several layers of paper
onto the jar to create a crust around it. When we were done, Grandma told us we had to wait until next morning to let
it dry. I felt disappointed, but I soon forgot about it, because we had hot chocolate and spent the rest of the day playing outside.
The next morning we were ready to continue. Granny made five paper cones and taped them to the jar. We then used
fringed strips of paper of different colors to decorate it. We had to let it dry one more day, but it already looked like a
piñata. On the third day grandma tied a string to the piñata. We stuffed it with peanuts, sugarcane, candies and also
mandarins we cut from her garden. I don´t remember the moment when we broke it. But it must have been fun.
My name is Rebeca. I was born in Monterrey, a city in northern Mexico.
12
*tizne - soot
Mexico
Click the button to watch
Mayan women weave
textiles in the highlands of
Chiapas, Mexico.
Dos cocineros
Click the button to
watch a video of Miguel
telling his story.
I used to think that I had to go to a different continent to learn new things and see
different cultures, but in my first missionary field trip to Calabacillas while I was in
college, I was proved wrong. It made me realize how much there is to learn from
my own country.
Miguel
Mazatlán, Mexico
Calabacillas is an “ejido,” an agriculture-centered little town in the northeastern
state of Tamaulipas. The villagers own small pieces of land which were handed to
their families after the 1910 Mexican Revolution. Agriculture in Mexico is currently
very unproductive; there is very little financing, training and support from the
government. People are very poor in this ejido. Despite the economic realities, I
learned many things during the week I spent there, but one night in particular has
been very valuable to me.
Voces
In Calabacillas, the electric supply was intermittent at times, so they often played “Lotería” (a.k.a. Mexican Bingo). Some neighboring families got together and started mini-tournaments. Instead of placing chips on top of the cards,
they use raw beans; it was cheap and convenient (I call it efficient). One time a very poor family invited me to play with
them; they also made dinner for me, they cooked massive amounts of the most delicious gorditas I have had in my life.
Gorditas are a small, flat and thick corn tortilla cut open longitudinally and stuffed with the stew of choice (pork, beef,
chicken, mole, veggies, etc.). I felt a little guilty at first, because I knew they were very poor. I ate slowly at first; they
noticed that and they encouraged me to eat as much as I wanted, to feel at home. They said it was their gift to me and
they gave it to me from their hearts. I was their guest; they made me feel at home, with their smiles and comforting
words. I was able to forget my remorse and embrace their gift of hospitality, I enjoyed the night fully, without thinking
of scarcity, ripped sweaters and worn-out shoes. I had the time of my life; I fully enjoyed the night.
That is a lesson I still carry with me. Whenever I let the circumstances and worries distract me from embracing
the moment, learning and having fun, I think of my Lotería teachers at Calabacillas and smile.
My name is Miguel Lira. I am a mechanical engineer from Mazatlán, Mexico. I love pizza and mole.
13
México
Voces
Stereotype = Misinformation
“All adolescents are troublemakers” is a stereotype.
It’s simply not true.
Frida, Lucía and Silvia celebrate El Día de la Independencia.
It’s a stereotype to say “all,” “everyone,” “always” or “never” about a group of people. Think about it.
“All Mexicans like spicy food” is a stereotype. It’s simply not true. A lot of Mexicans don’t like spicy food, and many
can’t eat it. Most Mexican food has no chili at all.
“All New Yorkers are in a hurry.” “Everyone from the Midwest is uncool.”
“Californians never stop partying.” “Southerners always live in small towns.”
These are all stereotypes. Think about it. How could these statements possibly be true?A common stereotype about
Americans is that they are all rich. This is not true about most. Is it true about you? If you met someone from another
country and they just assumed you were rich, and you couldn’t convince them otherwise, wouldn’t it be really
annoying? You want people to know you, the individual you are, and not just see the misinformation of a stereotype.
Prejudice = Misinformation in Action
You and your friends are hanging out at the end of the hall, and a bunch of posters are lying on the floor. The new
assistant principal sees you and gets all squinty-eyed and says you are all getting detention for knocking down
the posters.
You protest, “Why do you think we knocked them down?”
He says, “Because I know adolescents. They are all troublemakers.”
You have just become a victim of prejudice!
He took his stereotyped idea of adolescents and applied it to you. He “pre-judged” you based on the misinformation
of the stereotype in his head. He should have looked. He should have seen that the cheap tape the school bought just
didn’t hold up the posters.
Prejudice means to use the misinformation of a stereotype to judge someone before you have the real facts.
It’s annoying, unjust and really, really unfair.
What stereotypes are there about Mexicans?
14
Mexico
Mexican pottery
What Is Poverty?
I was 18 and attending the University of the Americas in Mexico City. Long weekends took me on
roaring buses over the mountains to every corner of the Republic. My gringo eyes were shocked by the
poverty. As I learned more Spanish, my notion of poverty became confused. One bitter, cold, clear day
in Toluca, an old, hunched-over man, dressed in so many layers of torn shirts that he looked like a heap
of rags, tugged at my sleeve and mumbled something.
Being a street-smart Detroit kid, I wasn’t fooled; I knew he wasn’t asking for money for food, but was
really going to buy cheap alcohol. I finally knew enough Spanish to confront him. “¿Qué quiere?” I
demanded abruptly. “Tengo hambre” (I'm hungry). Outsmarting him, I said, “Si tiene hambre le
compro comida, nada más.” (If you are hungry, I will buy you food! Nothing more.) I grabbed one rag
with two fingers and led him to a wall where a señora was huddled out of the wind by a little charcoal
burner made of a 5-gallon tin, sellling tortas that were little more than bread spread with red-colored
lard. I paid 50 centavos for one and shoved it in his hand, expecting that he would throw it down in
anger. I was wrong. He got down on his knees and began kissing my hands. I have never been the same.
Yes, poverty and hunger are both real. But it’s complicated...
Skip
Auburn Hills,
Michigan
The Ochoas live in a one-room mud house with a roof of flattened tin cans. They have no appliances,
no TV, no running water or electricity. They walk everywhere. Sra. Ochoa sells her weavings on a straw
mat on the ground in the market. She wears sandals and her feet are dirty. Sr. Ochoa uses a burro to
open the earth and raise corn and beans on a steep, rocky hillside. He plants squash between the rows
and raises plenty to eat, entertain guests and extra to sell. The señora sweeps the hard, dirt floor two
times a day. They drink pure water that drips out of the mountainside. Their front door overlooks a
green valley just below, wooded hillsides and snow-capped volcanoes in the distance.
Voces
They built their house with local material and owe money to no one. Their family lives within sight and gather often. Each guest brings a unique
and special dish. “Estamos contentos y no tenemos jefes,” they told me. ("We are content and happy, and we have no bosses.”)
Miguel is a Tarahumara Indian living in the Copper Canyon Sierra in the Chihuahua State of Northern Mexico. He wears a zapeta, a sort of diaper
made from a large piece of white manta (cheap, white, muslin cloth). He lost one leg in his primitive crystal mine and gets along with a rough
piece of wood, tied to his stump with strips of burlap sack. He nailed a little circle of tire to the end for traction on the steep mountain trails. He
lives many miles from any sort of road. His house is under a rock overhang at the edge of a 1,000-ft. cliff. He looks down to see circling hawks. He
stacked rocks about chin-high on the ledge and made beds behind it out of hand-sewn planks piled with thick blankets his wife made from wool
from their sheep. He has about 300 goats under another overhang nearby. It really smells. He packs goat poo in 150-lb. sacks, puts a trump line
over his forehead, hunches over, pulls the sack onto his back and hauls the sacks on a scary trail to fertilize his forty-five-degree-plus bean field,
over two miles away! He owns seven big orange trees and several banana plants far below in the barranca (canyon). His family eats well. They
drink from a cool spring. In winter, they travel for several months, mostly on foot. He and his neighbors help one another in times of emergency
or shortage. Miguel has worked easy jobs for good wages in the city, but one day he came back and stayed. I asked, “Wouldn’t you like to have a
house, a TV, a car and an easy job in the city?” He replied, “No, para nada.” (No, not for anything.)
Many small farmers in the highlands of Latin America do suffer tuberculosis, hunger and worse in bad crop years. This is all too
common. And many people live in city dumps gathering food. They say, “Somos pobres.” (We are poor people.)
But are all people who have no TV, no showers, no cars, no stoves, no good shoes, who have to walk everywhere... are they
miserable? Are they poor? I used to say they were. Now I just ask people and let them tell me how they rate their own
lives, according to their own values.
My name is Skip McWiliams, and I used to live in Mexico.
15
México
I’m going to get one of
those big sombreros and
fit right in!
¡Ay! ¡Por favor, Capitán! Nobody
except tourists and musicians have
worn those those big sombreros since
Pancho Villa’s revolution nearly
100 years ago. For the North, your
cowboy hat fits in just fine, and a
baseball cap will do fine anywhere
else. Where do you get this stuff?
Latin America is just
like Mexico! I’m ready
to check it out!
No it isn’t, and no you aren’t,
grandulón!* I’d better fix you
up with some of my amigas to
keep you out of trouble. . .
and lose the Mexican lucha
libre outfit.
*grandulón - big guy
Marifer is wearing a modern outfit with a traditional spin, combining European and native Mexican
elements. Her silk top is reminiscent of the traditional Mayan huipil. The decorations on the blouse and
pants were stitched by doña Ana María Fernández, at her home in Zacatecas.
16
El código
Actividad
1
Use the numbers and letters to decode each message. Then, say each message out loud.
(The accents are included for you!)
1.
H
O
L A .
a
b
c
ch d
e
f
9 18 13 1 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
2. . g
h
i
j
k
l
ll
2 24 6 16 1 22 16 18 4 6 22
8
9
10 11 12 13 14
3. ¿
?
20 24 6 23 1 13
m n
ñ
o
p
q
r
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
4. ¿ 3 18 15 18 23 6
s
t
u v w x y z
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
?
14 1 15 1 22
Now it’s your turn! Make up a code in the box below. Then have a partner decode the message.
17
2
Actividad
Busca el intruso
Modelo:
de
jota
ele
doce
Circle the word in each group of words and phrases that does not belong with
the others. Then, write a word or phrase on the line that fits the group. Follow the model.
igriega
1.
siete
cero
ene
diez
2.
eñe
zeta
efe
i
3.
ele
jota
cero
equis
4.
a
de
i
u
5.
Buenos días.
¿Cómo te llamas?
Buenas tardes.
Hola.
18 18
Actividad
Los números de teléfono
3
Complete the chart by writing out the number words or numerals of the phone numbers. Follow the model.
Cinco, dos, nueve, uno,
cero, dos, uno
Telepizza
529-1021
Escuela
314-552-8199
Bicicletas
San Luis
444-125-8977
Panadería
Aranda
ocho, uno, tres, cuatro, cero, siete,
seis
Café
el draco
seis, siete, cero, cuatro, ocho,
cinco, cinco
El dorado
612-239-5719
19
4
Actividad
Saludo escondido
Unscramble each of the following greetings and write them in the spaces provided. Then, find the hidden greeting in the shaded column. Follow the model.
1. HUOCM TOGUS
2. SNOUBE ADÍS
3. TEENLAGUMI
4. IDÓSA
1
M U C H O
2
3
4
20
G U S T O
Actividad
Saludos
5
Read each of the following situations. Then, fill in the missing parts of the
dialogue to fit each situation. Be sure to use the formal and informal forms as
needed, and make sure each dialogue makes sense. Follow the model.
1.
Carlos runs into his friend Miguel at the movies. They say “hello” to each other.
Carlos: ¡Hola, Miguel!
Miguel: ¡Hola, Carlos! Carlos: ¿Cómo estás?
Miguel:
___________________________________________________________
Bien, ¿y tú?
Carlos: Muy bien. Nos vemos.
Miguel: ___________________________________________________________
Nos vemos.
2.
Irma doesn’t feel well. She is talking to Dra. Suárez.
Dra. Suárez: Buenos días, Irma.
Irma: ___________________________________________________________
Dra. Suárez: Yo estoy muy bien, gracias. ¿Cómo te sientes?
Irma: ___________________________________________________________
Dra. Suárez: Bueno, pues, voy a examinarte.
3.
Carolina has a new teacher and does not know his name. He introduces himself to her.
Sr. Martínez: Buenos días. Soy el Sr. Martínez.
Carolina: ____________________________________________________________
Sr. Martínez: Encantado, Carolina. ¿Cómo estás hoy?
Carolina:
____________________________________________________________
Sr. Martínez: Estoy muy bien también. Pues, ¡nos vemos en clase!
Carolina: ____________________________________________________________
21