La Linea

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Creative Writing: Elena and Miguel’s Family Reunification”

In this activity, students will write an additional chapter to Jaramillo’s novel detailing the reunification between the protagonists and their parents.

Although the novel focuses on Elena and Miguel’s desire to reunite with their parents in California, Jaramillo chose not to include this scene in her story. For this Activity, you will write Chapter 31 of the novel which details Elena and Miguel’s first meeting with their parents in California.

Using the same narrative style and language as Jaramillo, and maintaining characterization, consider the following questions as you draft your chapter:

• How do Elena and Miguel locate their parents?
• Where do they meet them?
• How do both the children and the parents react upon seeing each other?
• What do they speak about? Do Elena and Miguel share their journey? Why or why not?
• What are Elena and Miguel’s hopes and dreams for the future in the US?

Finally, share your chapter with the class. Read a brief excerpt aloud or add your draft to a class library of original work.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity assesses students’ understanding of the novel in a creative writing exercise. Students’ responses should be creative as well as realistic since their “Chapter 31” responses should fit thematically between Jaramillo’s Chapter 30 and Epilogue. Additionally, this Activity may work either as a group or an individual assignment, depending on the level of the class. For more group work differentiation, please see the Suggestion below.

Differentiation Suggestion: English language learners often develop the ability to listen to and read English before they can speak and write it. If an English learner has difficulty with this creative writing assignment, they may be able to demonstrate the activity’s goals either through drawing their Chapter 31 or writing it in their first language. They could then work to translate a portion into English.

Alternatively, if this Activity is assigned as group work, students might include a dialogue portion in their family reunification narrative that is read out loud in the class. Working in groups of four, each student is responsible for writing a character’s “script” and performing as this character in the dialogue in front of the class.