Captivate Your Language Arts Students With "Esperanza Rising:" A List of Vocabulary Questions

Captivate Your Language Arts Students With "Esperanza Rising:" A List of Vocabulary Questions
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Las Uvas (Grapes)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapter one.

  1. A feeling of nervousness about a future event is ______ (propriety, a beacon, a premonition).
  2. If you are unpredictable and impulsive, you might be called ______(capricious, tormented, a premonition).
  3. A lighthouse serves as a guiding or warning signal, otherwise known as ______ (a premonition, a beacon, resentment).
  4. Socially correct or appropriate behavior is called ______ (resentment, torment, propriety).
  5. To feel dislike because of an act, remark, or person that caused insult or injury is to feel ______ (tormented, resentment, capricious).
  6. If you suffer mental or bodily misery or agony, you are ______ (tormented, a beacon, capricious).

Bright Hub Education also offers additional practice on vocabulary for <em>Esperanza Rising</em>.

Las Papayas (Papayas)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapter two.

  1. It is said Papa was ______ (encroached, wrenched, ambushed) or attacked by surprise by bandits.
  2. Mama is always friendly, sincere, and ______ (pungent, cordial, anguished) with strangers.
  3. The smell of smoke ______(wrenched, ambushed, pervaded) every room in the house.
  4. It’s not polite to intrude, trespass or ______ (encroach, ambush, wrench) on another person’s suffering.
  5. Esperanza ______ (pervaded, wrenched, ambushed) her doll from her bed and ran out of the house.
  6. The papayas smelled ______(pungent, cordial, anguished) after sitting on the porch all night.
  7. Mama frowned and turned away insulted, ______ (encroached, indignant, anguished) about Tio Luís’ request.
  8. Hortensia did not suffer worry or ______ (anguish, indignation, pungent) when Alfonso and Miguel did not return right away.

Los Higos (Figs)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapter three.

  1. To do something intentionally or to carefully think it through is to ______ (salvage, deliberate, silhouette).
  2. If you rescue something from a bad situation or save something for further use, you ______ (silhouette, deliberate, salvage) the item.
  3. A dark image outlined against a lighter background is known as a ______ (salvage, silhouette, deliberate).

Las Guayabas (Guavas)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapter four.

  1. Esperanza was completely absorbed and ______ (persistent, mesmerized, monotonous) by the sights upon arriving in California.
  2. The truck muffler poured out or ______ (spewed, mesmerized, reeked) great clouds of rolling smoke as it chugged up the mountain.
  3. Marta, always a rebel or ______, (reeked, undulate, renegade) did not accept the way migrant workers were treated in the camps.
  4. The strong and unpleasant smell from the fruit ______(reeked, mesmerized, undulated), so it was probably rotten.
  5. ______ (monotonous, persistent, renegade ), repetitive work can become depressing if you don’t have something to occupy your mind.
  6. Like Esperanza, if you never give up despite problems, you are ______ (persistent, mesmerized, undulating), and you can learn anything.
  7. The blanket ______ (reeked, undulated, mesmerized) and flapped up and down in the gentle breeze as it hung on the clothes line.

Los Melones (Cantaloupes)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapter five.

  1. A battered old car is known as a ______ (cherub, panorama, jalopy).
  2. A ______ (panorama, cherub, stagnant) is a wide view, especially of a landscape.
  3. If you wait nearby, you are said to be ______ (stagnant, hovering, demeanor).
  4. Ponds that do not flow or have running water can smell foul or stale and the water is said to be ______ (demeanor, panorama, stagnant).
  5. A child with a chubby, innocent face is sometimes called a ______ (jalopy, cherub, panorama).
  6. You can always decide on a person’s outward behavior or manner, known as their ______ (demeanor, hovered, jalopy) by the way they treat other people.

Las Cebollas (Onions), Las Almendras (Almonds), Las Ciruelas (Plums), Las Papas (Potatoes)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapters six, seven, eight, and nine.

  1. If you use beyond what is reasonable, you are ______ (scorched, extravagant, atrocious).
  2. Esperanza knew the beans were ______ (scorched, extravagant, preoccupied) because they smelled like they were burning.
  3. The living conditions at Marta’s camp were extremely shocking, or ______ (preoccupied, scorched, atrocious).
  4. Because her mother sick, Esperanza was distracted or absorbed in thought, or ______ (preoccupied, atrocious, scorched).

Los Aguacates (Avocados), Los Espárragos (Asparagus)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapters ten and eleven.

  1. If a rope is stretched tightly, it is said to be ______ (suppleness, squalor, taut).
  2. The opposite of tightly stretched is ______ (taut, suppleness, squalor) because it means to be flexible or to bend without breaking.
  3. Many people during the Great Depression lived in filthy and miserable conditions or ______ (taut, squalor, suppleness) because they had lost their homes and had no place to live.

Los Duraznos (Peaches), Las Uvas (Grapes)

Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions for chapter twelve.

  1. Esperanza made sure her home was free of germs or pollutants, or ______ (antiseptic, optimism, cacophony).
  2. A harsh, irritating mixture of sounds, like the noise at a shopping center, is said to be a ______ (antiseptic, optimism, cacophony).
  3. Miguel’s ______ (antiseptic, optimism, cacophony), or tendency to view the world in a positive manner with good outcomes, gave Esperanza a sense of hope for the future.

400px-Brehm classroom

With this Esperanza Rising vocabulary questions and statements activity, your students will be competing for answers. The activity will keep them engaged in the story, as well as assist with their level of comprehension and increase their level of enjoyment of the novel. You can also check out this additional Bright Hub Education resource if you want to teach the novel as a unit.

Article Resources

Muñoz-Ryan, Pam. Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic, Inc. 2000.