The Color of My Words

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.

“Letter to the Editor”

This persuasive essay writing exercise allows students to practice argumentative writing skills while drawing on components of the novel’s central plot.

In the novel, Ana Rosa writes persuasive articles to raise awareness about her village losing their land. Pretend that you are Ana Rosa and you are tasked with writing an article about stopping the development in your community. Work together with your group to develop an argumentative and persuasive written case for why the government should not sell your land to hotel developers, a piece that could serve as a letter to the editor in the local or national newspaper. Consider the following questions as you formulate your essay:

• Who is your audience (i.e., the people you want to persuade)?
• Where will this newspaper article be published?
• What is the main problem?
• Why is this problem important?
• How can other people help your problem?

Utilize peer editing strategies or peer critique circles to help in revising and editing your work.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity supports students with developing persuasive writing skills from the perspective of the novel’s protagonist. Students should understand that their audience is other people living in the Dominican Republic and that the article will be published in national newspapers during election time, hopefully to influence the electoral outcome. The main problem is that Ana Rosa’s land will be sold to tourism developers since the government owns their land, a problem that could potentially affect any low-income community in the Dominican Republic. Within the structure of this information, the content of students’ arguments will not change; however, students will have the opportunity to develop creative responses through persuasive language. This activity is also a good opportunity to introduce basic persuasive writing skills to the class.

Differentiation Suggestion: For more advanced students, this activity can be a segue into discussing the argumentative forms of persuasive writing, namely pathos, ethos, and logos argumentative structures. Each group can be assigned one of the three structures to incorporate into their persuasive essay.