Coming to America: Finding Your Voice After the first reading, have students reflect on and discuss the following comprehension
questions in pairs or triads, and then debrief their answers as a whole group:
1. What does here mean at the end of the first paragraph, and why do you think it is in
quotation marks?
2. Why does Hinojosa put quotation marks around the phrase "real America"? What is she
implying about that idea?
3. What details does Hinojosa include to describe the differences between her mother and
the immigration agent? How do those details support the statement, "My mom didn't
feel very powerful?
4. How did Hinojosa's mother make the big Texan feel small
5. What lesson does Hinojosa say she learned from her mother in her coming to
America" story?