Characters & Relationships
This character is the narrator and gymnast who translates for her parents and worries about permission to go to the Spring Fling.
Who is Maya Alazova?
At the story’s beginning, Maya takes and keeps this item that becomes central to her hope of attending the dance.
What is the permission slip for the Spring Fling?
The sentence “I was stunned” (paragraph 10) helps define this vocabulary word meaning “shocked or dazed.”
What is stunned?
The ESSENTIAL QUESTION at the top of the unit asks: What are the places that shape who you are? Name one way the family’s Kazakh background shapes Maya’s parents’ expectations.
What is the emphasis on family honor and traditional gender roles (e.g., expectation that daughters behave modestly and that insults to one family member require a family response)?
He becomes Maya’s unexpected chaperone at the dance and shows growth by helping his sister.
Who is Nurzhan?
This event (near paragraph 32–36) sends Maya to the principal’s office and starts the plot complication.
What is Mr. Walsh calling Maya to the office (Ms. Johnson wants to speak with her about Nurzhan’s suspension)?
In paragraph 61 the passage calls the fight more than a small tussle and uses this word for a disorderly fight.
What is scuffle?
Maya imagines escaping to a particular comforting place when she is afraid; what is that mental escape?
What is the bars at a beautiful gymnastics meet / a meadow of sweet-smelling flowers — her gymnastics imagination?
Name the friend who encouraged Maya to try out for the gymnastics team and lends Maya lip-gloss before the dance.
Who is Shannon Lui?
After the principal and vice-principal inform Maya, both boys receive this consequence for fighting.
What is a two-day suspension?
In paragraph 139 Maya is described as “whimpering.” Which surrounding phrase best helps define that word?
What is “trembling inside”?
Identify two themes reinforced in the story.
Choose from:
A) Family is important
B) Children of immigrants understand American culture better than their parents
C) Lying is okay in most situations
D) Strict parenting results in trouble
What are (A) Family is very important, and (B) Children of immigrants often straddle two cultures / understand American culture differently than their parents?
This adult is both the Language Arts teacher and the gymnastics coach who shows understanding after Maya misses a meet.
Who is Ms. Coe?
Identify the story moment that functions as the climax (point of greatest tension) when the main conflict begins to be resolved.
What is when Nurzhan convinces Mama and Papa to sign the permission slip so Maya can attend the dance (paragraphs ~207–212)?
Explain how Maya’s translations in the principal’s office change the meaning of the principal’s words and why she does it.
What is Maya softens or minimizes the principal’s statements (e.g., understates seriousness of Ossie’s injuries and the required punishment) to make Papa less likely to react harshly; she does this because she’s afraid of Papa’s possible anger and wants to protect Nurzhan?
Explain how the kamcha (described in the story) functions as a cultural symbol and how the narrator uses it to show family tension.
What is the kamcha is a traditional Kazakh good-luck object; its presence underscores cultural heritage, and its trembling during conflict symbolizes that tradition is not protecting the family from new stresses in America?
Identify two ways Maya’s relationship with her mother differs from her relationship with her father, using story evidence.
Who are (1) Mama—more quietly affectionate and protective (gives bracelet, defends Maya later), and (2) Papa—strict, angry, focuses on discipline and family honor?
Put these events in chronological order: (A) Mama injures her ankle and can’t work; (B) Maya changes the principal’s words when translating; (C) Maya attends the Spring Fling; (D) Nurzhan fights with Ossie Nishizono.
What is B, D, A, C? (Maya translates in principal’s office; Nurzhan fights; Mama is injured later; Maya attends dance after Nurzhan gets permission.)
Use context clues from paragraph 84 to explain the phrase “resorting to” and what it reveals about Mr. Shanaman’s opinion of fighting.
What is “resorting to” means turning to something because no other choices seem possible; Mr. Shanaman implies fighting is a last, undesirable choice and disapproves of it?
Using evidence from the ending, what does Maya mean when she says she is “struck by how much things had changed”? Provide two textual details that support your interpretation.
What is Maya recognizes changes in family dynamics and personal independence—(1) Mama gives her the gold bracelet and permits her to go, showing shifting parental attitudes; (2) Nurzhan acts maturely by volunteering to chaperone, showing growth and role reversal in the family)?