“Pepita Talks Twice” by Ofelia Dumas Lachman

1. “Pepita Talks Twice”by Ofelia Dumas Lachman Theme 6

2. Awards • Skipping Stones Honor Award • Tomas Rivera Children’s Book Award Nominee

3. Genre: Realistic Fiction • A realistic fiction story is about realistic (could happen in real life, but they aren’t real) people, things, and events. • The plot-including events, problem, solution-is made up (fictional).

4. Summary Pepita, who can speak both English and Spanish, decides that she doesn’t want to “speak twice” anymore. When her decision creates problems she hadn’t thought of, Pepita realizes that sometimes it can be a good thing to understand two languages.

5. Background Information People who live in different countries, speak different languages. If you live in Spain, Mexico, South America, and several other countries in Latin America you could speak the language called “Spanish”. Here are some Spanish words to try: uno-(u-no)-one si-(see)-yes espanol-(es-pan-yul)-Spanish

6. Key Concept speaking two languages

7. Key Vocabulary • language • Spanish • enchilada • salsa • tortilla • tamales • taco

8. language spoken or written human speech

9. Spanish a language

10. enchilada tortilla rolled around a filling, then covered with a spicy sauce

11. salsa a spicy sauce usually made of tomatoes, onions, and peppers

12. tortilla a round, flat, Mexican bread

13. tamales fried chopped meat and crushed peppers rolled in cornmeal dough and steamed

14. taco tortillas folded around a filling such as ground meat or cheese

15. Strategy Focus: Evaluate • You will use this strategy during and after reading to help you form an opinion about what you’ve read. • When you evaluate, you tell how you feel about the story. • Did you enjoy the story? Why? • Were the characters interesting and believable? • How did the story make you feel? Why?

16. Strategy Focus: Evaluate Let’s try it! Do you think Pepita made a good decision to only speak English? ~or~ Do you feel speaking 2 languages would be good or bad?

17. Comprehension Skill Focus: Problem Solving • When you problem solve, you: • define the problem • list possible solutions • determine pros (positive/good things) and cons (negative/bad things) for each possible solution • choose the best solution • There can be more than one “good” solution. Choose the one that works best for you!

18. Graphic Organizer Fill in the organizer with details from the story. Problem-Pepita doesn’t like having to talk twice. Possible Solutions: Pros (+) and Cons (-): 1.________________________________________________ 2.________________________________________________ 3.________________________________________________ +_____________________________ - _____________________________ + ____________________________ - _____________________________ + ____________________________ - _____________________________

19. Meet the Author Ofelia Dumas Lachtman was born in California, but her parents were from Mexico. As a child, the author learned to speak English and Spanish at the same time. When she was only twelve, Ofelia Dumas Lachtman's first work was published. It was a poem included in a book of children's poetry. Later, she worked in the medical field. She also directed an association for young people. Today she writes for children, for young adults, and for adults. (from www.eduplace.com)

20. Link to Houghton Mifflin If you enjoyed reading “Pepita Talks Twice” and would like to check out some more information and activities, click below to go to www.eduplace.com, Houghton Mifflin’s web site. Click Here!