Before cell phones, tablets, and computers with access to YouTube, before gleaming multiplexes and even before television, there were small theaters with Saturday night black and white movies. Alberto Ríos's poem "When There Were Ghosts" recalls these yesterdays. Class members revisit those times by first watching a clip from Enamorada, a 1946 film about the Mexican Revolution, and then reading Ríos's poem.

Concepts

hispanic culture, immigration, poetry, poetry analysis, narrative poetry, the mexican revolution, reading poetry

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Instructional Ideas

• Queue the video to 32:23 and end at 33:51
• Use the lesson during Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 through October 15
• Encourage those who speak Spanish to provide translations of the video clip
• Asks pupils to consider the many types of ghosts Ríos references in his poem

Classroom Considerations

• Requires projection equipment for the video clip
• The link to the video within the lesson does not work; however, a link is provided in the Included Materials section of this review

Pros

• The lesson captures the close nature of the community

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.6.10 RL.7.10 RL.8.10 RL.9-10.10a RL.9-10.10b RL.11-12.10a RL.11-12.10b