Essential Question: “How can challenges and failures lead to success?”

Unit Overview

In this unit, you will read “Sweet, Difficult Sounds” by I.M. Desta that speaks to the essential question: How can challenges and failures lead to success? Also, you will practice analyzing how an author develops a theme. You will write a Diamante Poem based on the essential question.

Section A: Vocabulary

Adjustment	(noun) a small change Related: adjust
Apply	(verb) to use something such as a method, idea, activity, or process Related: application
Conquer	(verb) to successfully overcome something Related: conqueror
Despite	(preposition) without being affected by (something); even though
Distinguish	(verb) to set oneself apart from others Related: distinction
Inspire	(verb) to encourage or motivate someone by making them feel confident and positive Related: inspiration
Misery	(noun) great sadness Related: miserable
Relentless	(adjective) determined; nonstop; without ever stopping Related: unrelenting

Context Clues

Below is a chart with four types of context clues. Think about what information in a sentence is useful and what is not. Remember: Context clues are using words around an unknown word to figure out the meaning.

Definition

Contrast

Restatement

Inference

Often signaled by the words whereas, unlike, or as opposed to.

Often indicated by the words whereas, unlike, or as opposed to.

Other words are used in the sentence with similar

meanings.

Word meanings are not directly described but need to be inferred from

the context.

Let’s Practice: Types of Context Clues

Directions: Identify the correct type of context clue with the sentences below.

Context Clues are hints that the author gives to help define a difficult or unusual word. The clue may appear within the same sentence as the word to which it refers, or it may follow in a preceding sentence. Because most of your vocabulary is gained through reading, you must be able to recognize and take advantage of context clues.

Let’s Practice: Fill in the Blank Sentence

Directions: Fill in the blanks, using the correct vocabulary word to complete each sentence.

A synonym is a word whose meaning is the same or almost the same as that of another term in the same language. A thesaurus is merely a book of synonyms, which makes it a perfect resource for finding synonyms.

Let’s Practice: Matching Synonyms

Directions: Match the following vocabulary words to their synonyms.

We have set-up a class on CommonLit for you to receive the reading passages in multiple formats.

Below is the class code.

Section B: Analyze Theme (“Sweet, Difficult Sounds”)

The topic is what the story is about, and a theme is a message that the author wants you to learn and understand, to take it, and apply it to your own life. The topic comes directly from the book or the text, but the theme is what you have to think about and take away from that topic.

The theme is the central or dominant idea of a literary work. It's the overall generalization that a reader can make about a story's meaning and significance. Be careful not to confuse the theme with the subject. The subject is the topic, which the author has chosen to write about, while the theme makes a statement about or expresses an opinion about that topic. Sometimes the theme is stated directly by the author, but more often, the theme is implied and must be discovered, as the reader explores the passages of the text.

A theme is a broad understanding of the overall message or moral presented in work, while a topic is what the author will specifically discuss. Read each sentence and determine if it is a thematic statement or a topical statement.

Let’s Practice: Distinguishing Theme from Topic

Directions: Identify each statement as a theme or topic.

Essential Question: “How can challenges and failures lead to success?”

“Sweet, Difficult Sounds” by I.M. Desta

About the Author: I.M. Desta is a writer based in Washington, D.C. In this story, a young woman immigrates to the United States and struggles to fit in at school.

Skill Focus: In this lesson, you’ll practice analyzing themes. Analyzing themes means paying attention to topics or big ideas that come up in a text. As you read, take notes on Nothukula’s fears and challenges and what she learns through her experience.

Read the Text

Let’s Practice: Guided Questions

Directions: Answer the Guided Reading Questions based on the story “Sweet, Difficult Sounds”.

In “Sweet Difficult Sounds,” a young girl who immigrated to America from Zimbabwe struggles with confidence as she adjusts to her new school environment. The story is mainly about a girl being comfortable speaking.

“Sweet, Difficult Sounds” shows that sometimes a person needs help from others to overcome a challenge. After Nothukula’s classmates laugh at her on the first day of school, she has trouble getting past it. For example, “She didn’t want her classmates to hear her say anything ever again. She never wanted to give them another opportunity to laugh at her accent” (Paragraph 39). Because her classmates laughed at her accent, Nothukula becomes even more nervous and self-doubting and refuses to speak to any of them anymore. But when she has to recite a poem in front of the class, she finds that support from her one friend in class helps her get through it. “She continued to recite, becoming more and more composed the more she focused on Cole. She never missed another beat” (Paragraph 74). Cole’s friendship and support make it possible for her to get through this challenging experience with confidence. Through the help of a caring friend, Nothukula can overcome her challenges and succeed.

Section C: Diamante Poem

Diamante is an unrhymed seven-line poem. The beginning and ending lines are the shortest, while the lines in the middle are longer, giving diamante poems a diamond shape. “Diamante” is the Italian word for diamond, so this poetic form is named for this diamond shape.

There are just a few rules to writing a diamante:

1. Diamantes can be about anything.

2. They are seven lines long.

3. The word count is simple: 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1

4. Your lines should have nouns, adjectives, verbs, nouns, verbs, adjectives, nouns.

Below is an example of an Antonym, Diamante. The first and last words have opposite meanings.

You will write a Diamante Poem based on the story “Sweet, Difficult Sounds,” and the essential question, “How can challenges and failures lead to success?”