more poems about voices of modern culture

As you read Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B," Pat Mora's "Legal Alien," and Diane Burns' "Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question," learn this word list. These word lists support the reading of the following texts from SpringBoard English Textual Power, Level 5, Unit 1 "Voices of Modern Culture": poems, more poems, Funny in Farsi, monologues by Debbie Lamedman
15 words 18 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. theme
    an essay, especially one written as an assignment
    Theme for English B
  2. instructor
    a person whose occupation is teaching
    The instructor said,
    Go home and write
    a page tonight.
  3. Winston-Salem
    a city of north central North Carolina
    I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
  4. Harlem
    a district of northern Manhattan
    I went to school there, then Durham, then here
    to this college on the hill above Harlem.
  5. Bessie Smith
    United States blues singer (1894-1937)
    I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
    or records - Bessie, bop, or Bach.
  6. folk
    people descended from a common ancestor
    I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
    the same things other folks like who are other races.
  7. fluent
    expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively
    able to order in fluent Spanish
    at a Mexican restaurant
  8. inferior
    of or characteristic of low rank or importance
    viewed by Anglos as perhaps exotic,
    perhaps inferior, definitely different
  9. fringe
    the outside boundary or surface of something
    sliding back and forth
    between the fringes of both worlds
  10. bilateral
    having two sides or parts
    by masking the discomfort
    of being pre-judged
    Bi-laterally.
  11. extinct
    no longer in existence
    No, we are not extinct.
  12. decent
    socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous
    It's real decent of you to apologize.
  13. peyote
    the hallucinatory alkaloid that is the active agent in mescal buttons
    No, I don't know where you can get peyote.
  14. spirituality
    concern with matters of the soul
    Uh-huh. Yeah. Spirituality. Uh-huh. Mother
    Earth. Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Spirituality.
  15. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    This ain't no stoic look.
    This is my face.
Created on Tue Jul 29 09:12:57 EDT 2014 (updated Thu Jul 31 07:27:12 EDT 2014)

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