Benchmark Advance Study Guide Un4 Wk3

Paired Text Questions

"Peaches" and "Free At Last: A Kurdish Family in America" (from CommonLit.org)

Peaches

Read the poem and annotate.

Multiple Choice

Question 1: PART A: Which statement identifies the main theme of the poem?

• A - Being the child of immigrants can lead a person to feel confused about their identity

• B - Food has the ability to bring people together, no matter what country they are from

• C - It can feel isolating when someone asks where you’re originally from.

• D - It is difficult for immigrants to feel accepted in a new country and new community.

Multiple Choice

Question 2: PART B: Which detail from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

• A - “A crate of peaches straight from the farm / has to be maintained, or eaten in days.” (Lines 1-2)

• B - “But where are you from originally, / I’d like to reply The homeland of the peach” (Lines 9-10)

• C - “Chinese in that part of America, both strangers / and natives on a lonely, beautiful street” (Lines 14-15)

• D - “but so was everything else my parents did. / Their lives were labor, they kept this from the kids” (Lines 31-32)

Multiple Choice

Question 3: What does stanza 8 reveal about the speaker?

• A - The speaker had to work just as hard as their parents, being a child of immigrants.

• B - The speaker does not think their life has been any different from the lives of children born in America.

• C -The speaker never realized how hard their parents had to work as immigrants in America.

• D - The speaker does not understand why their parents stored so much food.

Multiple Choice

Question 4: Which sentence describes the speaker’s relationship with food in the poem?

• A - The speaker rejects food commonly eaten in America and is more drawn to Chinese food.

• B - The speaker has a lot of food in the house, but they realize later it’s a sign that their family didn’t have a lot of money.

• C - The speaker primarily eats peaches because they remind them of their family’s roots in China.

• D - The speaker tends to eat American food to avoid people further questioning their origins.

Multiple Choice

Question 6: In line 7, what is the meaning of the word devour?

• A - To store goods

• B - To eat slowly

• C - To eat quickly

• D - To purchase

FREE AT LAST: A KURDISH FAMILY IN AMERICA

Read the short story and annotate.

Multiple Choice

Question 7: PART A: Which statement identifies the central idea of the text?

• A - Karen O’Connor didn’t understand what a refugee was before she learned about the Ahmet family’s experiences

• B - The Ahmet family was surprised by how difficult it was to relocate to America and the less than friendly welcome they received when they arrived.

• C - Karen O’Connor developed a close friendship with the Ahmet family and learned about their challenging experiences as refugees.

• D - While Karen O’Connor was hesitant to make friends with the Ahmet family, sharing a meal brought them together.

Multiple Choice

Question 8: PART B: Which passage from the text best supports the answer to Part A?

• A - While Karen O’Connor was hesitant to make friends with the Ahmet family, sharing a meal brought them together.

• B - “Taha and Amina had brought their children to America to get away from the bombs and the fighting in their homeland of Kurdistan during a war with Iraq.” (Paragraph 7)

• C - “Kurdistan’s people have fought for many centuries to make the region their own country but haven’t been able to do so.” (Paragraph 7)

• D - “‘My cousins taught me to speak English,’ he said proudly, ‘but I taught myself to ride a bike.’” (Paragraph 14)

Multiple Choice

Question 9: Which of the following describes the author’s purpose in the text?

• A - to share the Ahmet family’s experiences as refugees

• B - to describe the traditional food the Ahmet family prepared

• C - to emphasize the poor conditions of refugee camps

• D - to describe her experiences acting as the family’s American grandmother

Multiple Choice

Question 10: Which of the following describes how the information is organized in the text?

• A - The author describes her desire to help the Ahmet family and then how she was able to help them stay in America.

• B - The author describes how the Ahmet family moved away and then details how they came to America to begin with and the friendships they developed.

• C - The author compares the Ahmet family’s positive experiences coming to America with their negative experiences.

• D - The author describes what she knew about refugees before meeting the Ahmet family, and then what she learned from them.

Multiple Select

Question 11: Select 3 sentences to create a summary of the passage.

• They lived in a refugee camp for 4 years.

• They didn't have enough food or medicine.

• The family fled Kurdistan because of the war in Iraq.

• Amma's brother helped them move to the U.S.

• The kids enjoyed seeing their mom smile again.

Compare Texts

Use both the poem "Peaches" and the story "Free at Last: A Kurdish Family in America" to answer the following questions.

Multiple Choice

Question 12 : What do the parents in both text have in common?

• A - Both thought their children were lazy.

• B - Both escaped persecution.

• C - Both worked very hard to make a better life for their children.

• D - Both wanted new jobs.

Multiple Select

Question 13: We can infer from both texts that: (choose 2)

• A - both families were glad to be in America.

• B - life for both families was difficult as American immigrants.

• C - it is easy to become an American citizen.

• D - leaving your home country is fun.