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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do Rodriguez's parents respond when he wants to go to Stanford?
(a) They refuse to pay for his education.
(b) They are proud of him, but they worry about how expensive it will be for him to go away to school.
(c) They worry about him going so far away.
(d) They brag to everyone about their son, the Stanford student.

2. How does Rodriguez explain his success to people?
(a) He had good teachers.
(b) He worked very hard.
(c) He went to a good school and had supportive parents.
(d) He was just very lucky.

3. What does Rodriguez start to believe about intimate conversations?
(a) He can no longer have an intimate conversation in Spanish.
(b) He will never be able to have them with his family because of the language barrier.
(c) He can have them with his family in spite of the language barrier.
(d) Intimate conversations are hard to have in the "public" language.

4. How does the family's use of the word "gringo" change as the children learn more English?
(a) The children do not like their parents to use that word any more.
(b) It starts to mean "a non-Hispanic American" as opposed to the "other" or "outsider" that it used to imply.
(c) They use it to compliment each other on how well they speak English.
(d) They stop saying it because they no longer use Spanish words.

5. How does mass help his family?
(a) They all go out to eat afterwards and have a good time.
(b) They all participate in the mass together.
(c) They go to mass together, even as they are growing more distant.
(d) They pray for family closeness.

6. What does Rodriguez realize about language and intimacy?
(a) That he can express himself better in English than in Spanish.
(b) That intimacy is about the relationship between the people, not about what language they speak.
(c) That Spanish is always a more intimate language that English.
(d) That language is how a person maintains their intimacy with other people.

7. What does Rodriguez say would be the disadvantage of bilingual education?
(a) It would limit the things he could study in school.
(b) It would make him lazy about learning English.
(c) It would make it easier to cheat on tests.
(d) It would mean he was only in class with other people who spoke Spanish.

8. How does Rodriguez get involved in his church?
(a) He becomes an altar boy.
(b) He studies to become a priest.
(c) He goes to mass every week.
(d) He reads the Bible aloud in church.

9. What does Rodriguez say education does to the scholarship boy?
(a) It teaches him to fight for justice.
(b) It teaches him to look down on people who are not educated.
(c) It teaches him to stand up for himself.
(d) It teaches him to be less unique and more like other people.

10. Why is the picture of Christ with a punctured heart important?
(a) It frightens Richard and gives him nightmares.
(b) It is the first gift his family gets from a priest.
(c) It symbolizes everything his family believes about God.
(d) It symbolizes the intersection of church, school, and home.

11. Where does Rodriguez start school?
(a) In Sacramento, California.
(b) In St. Paul, Minnesota.
(c) In New York City.
(d) In Miami, Florida.

12. What does Rodriguez's family seem to think about Spanish and English?
(a) Richard needs to remember his Spanish, even if that hurts his education.
(b) Richard should learn to speak only in English to be more successful.
(c) Richard should speak only Spanish.
(d) Spanish and English are equally good languages.

13. What does Rodriguez say he gains because of learning to speak English?
(a) Better grades.
(b) A place in public society.
(c) A chance to go to college.
(d) More friends.

14. How does Rodriguez's father react to his educational accomplishments?
(a) He does not care if Richard does well in school.
(b) He throws away Richard's diploma.
(c) He says college is a waste of time.
(d) He teases him, but is still proud of him.

15. Where do Rodriguez's parents speak Spanish and where do they speak English?
(a) Spanish at home, English in public.
(b) English at home, Spanish in public.
(c) English everywhere.
(d) Spanish everywhere.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Rodriguez say would be the benefit of bilingual education?

2. What does Rodriguez say is the real reason for his success?

3. Rodriguez has acknowledged that his relationship with his family changed as he became more educated. What does he say about how that affected his success?

4. As a child, how does Rodriguez feel about speaking English?

5. How does Rodriguez describe the sound of English?

(see the answer keys)

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