Hispanic literature lesson plan

Poetry and Culture

Primary text: Cool Salsa, edited by Lori M. Carlson.
Supplementary texts: Stories That Must Not Die, by Juan Sauvageau; The Making of a Poem, by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland.
Objectives: use poems by Hispanic authors to investigate poetic forms, symbolism, metaphor, and various other poetic conventions. Use poems by Hispanic authors as well as Hispanic folk tales to investigate the Hispanic experience in the U.S.A. and Hispanic culture, as well as how Hispanic culture and history affect the immigrant experience and how that experience affects and is affected by experiences outside the primary culture. Excerpts from The Making of a Poem will be used to define and give more examples of poetic forms.
Michigan E.L.A. High School Content Expectations met (throughout unit): 1.1.3, 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.3.3, 1.3.7, 1.5.1, 1.5.4, 2.1.1, 2.1.3, 2.1.4, 2.1.5, 2.1.7, 2.1.11, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.3, 2.3.1, 2.3.6, 2.3.8, 3.1.1, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.1.5, 3.1.6, 3.1.7, 3.1.8, 3.1.9, 3.1.10, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.4, 3.2.5, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4, 3.3.5, 4.1.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3, 4.2.5.
Grade level: any high school class, though some work may be modified for lower grades.

Overview

I'd like to begin this lesson by having students do a mini research paper (just a couple paragraphs of information gleaned from Google searches completed in a class period in the school library or computer lab) on an author of choice. Cool Salsa is the product of many poets (Gina Valdes, E.J. Vega, Sandra Cisneros, Johanna Vega, Alberto Ambroggio, Sandra M. Castillo, Cristina Moreno, Abelardo B. Delgado, and many more) and I'd like each student to choose an author (to the exent that all authors are represented) and then take just a couple minutes to introduce that author to the class. Paragraphs will be turned in for points.

The unit will treated primarily like a traditional poetry unit. Students will be introduced to form poems (including free verse) and we'll discuss how the forms and words work together, we'll discuss symbolism, metaphor, allusion, and other poetic conventions, we'll work on discussing meaning and how it is created through words and line breaks and punctuation (explication). Assessments will be done periodically to ensure that students can identify forms (given a poem, identify the form from one on a list) and will ask students to share what they think a poem means and why. As homework, students may be asked to rewrite a free verse poem as a form poem while preserving meaning and using the author's words and tone.

The unit will also be used to discuss how poetry conveys experience. Cool Salsa includes poems about family, revolution, and tradition. These themes will be coupled with stories from Stories That Must Not Die so we can discuss how the authors' history and experiences have affected how they view and write about their experiences and how the immigrant experience is affected by the home culture. Both Cool Salsa and Stories That Must Not Die are presented in English and in Spanish. This will allow students to discuss translation (Spanish speakers can help this conversation by sharing alternate translations of some words). Some poems have Spanish words peppered in. Students can use context to decipher the meaning of these words. The book also includes a glossary and appendix to help students gain meaning.

Day plan: As part of the culminating activity, students will read and the class will discuss George Ella Lyon's "Where I'm From" and will craft their own poems guided by the discussions we've had about inserting culture and using poetic conventions in poems. Extra credit will be given for presenting the poem in a form.

Materials: projector and tools to write on transparency or paper, copy of "Where I'm From" for each student, students need pen/pencil and paper.

Introduction (10-minutes): place poem on projector and read it aloud, then read it again while students read it silently. Ask students to share first thoughts.

Explication (10- to 15-minutes): discuss with students the language used and what some of the images mean, how is the speaker "from" these things?

Brainstorming (5-minutes): have students, individually or in pairs, brainstorm three things or places that they are "from." Ask volunteers to share a thing/place with the class (this will help others come up with ideas).

Examples (10-minutes): share with the class examples of student "Where I'm From" poems (if you don't have any from previous classes, many are available Online). Sharing your own poem may be extra beneficial, especially if you take a few extra minutes to begin crafting it in front of the class.

Getting started (remainder of class period): students begin writing their own "Where I'm From" poems (individually or in groups). Keep examples available for students to look at during this process.

Homework: complete poem. Extra credit should be given for poems written in a form instead of free verse.

Assessment: a minimum number of stanzas should be set (four may be sufficient), though this may have to be "forgiven" for some forms. Students can be required to include specific conventions (simile, metaphor, imagery, rhyme scheme, meter) or to include a certain number of conventions (i.e., any combination, but at least three). Students can be required to include a cultural reference (a way that a certain holiday or event is celebrated (some cultures celebrate at funerals or wear white at funerals), perhaps a loved one was involved in a war or revolution, some students themselves may have lived in and have memories of war zones that took civilian prisoners (concentration camps from Bosnia)).

Presentation: teacher should compile the class poems into a chapbook (the cover can be construction paper and poems can be copied or typed and stapled in) and volunteers (though preferably all students) should orally share their poems with the class.

My heritage

It's really difficult for me talk about my heritage. My family comes from all over the world. The short list includes Swiss, English, Danish, French Canadian, and Native American ancestry. While that's not an exhaustive list, it covers the most recent branches of the family tree.

Really, there haven't been any traditions passed down that I consider of a particular culture. What I mean is, I share most traditions and holidays with most other people whose families have spent multiple generations in the United States. There's no ethnically specific food (lots of comfort food, though - goulash, etc.), no religion stemming from a particular geographic ancestry, no special Christmas ritual that's not shared by most of the citizens of this country. And I don't really mind that.

I have a very small family (me, Mom, Grandma) and I feel as if that's where my culture lies. The three of us have crafted traditions that span almost three decades. Sometimes my grandma's brother and his family show up for Christmas dinner, sometimes my grandma's friends, the Gonzaleses, come over, sometimes we visit my mom's coworkers Han and Vahn, but usually it's just the three of us, and we're pretty close.

I also feel as if part of my culture is crafted by the microcosm in which exists my skydiving family. I've spent the last six years with these people. We are together for 48 hours a week (every weekend) from April through the end of October, often with additional time during the week. Sometimes we vacation together or go to skydiving events for days to weeks at a time together. We try to gather at least once a week in the winter. We are responsible for each other's lives. Literally. We teach each other how to stay alive, we help each other inspect gear for safety, we share weddings, funerals, birthdays, engagements, injuries, babysitting duties, personal triumphs and tragedies. The circle consists of lawyers, cops, military personnel, construction workers, store owners, hospital lab technicians, factory workers, phlebotomists, teachers, nurses, hippies, entrepreneurs, you name it. The circle crosses state lines and oceans.

I know that when we talk about culture and heritage we talk about experiences and ways of believing or doing rooted in a history associated with a place. But I feel as if my history exists, in some senses, outside of place.

Sure, I've acquired the general U.S. amalgamation of seemingly heterogeneous "cultural" traits. But what comes from my small biological family - independence, confidence, lack of concern for what others think about what I do, loyalty, speaking out for/against a thing - as well as from that larger family of people I've come to be a part of - a family that gives me unending new lenses through which to view the world, that has shown me compassion, taught me hard lessons, shared its pain and happiness and love with me - are crafted traditions, deeply held values, and the roots from which I will draw a geographically mute sense of place to pass along.

"Panel" post

Our panel, which ended up being one man, was great. I loved that he could speak from classroom experience not just about the language aspect of an immersion program, but about how students, Hispanic and nonHispanic, learned various subjects and learned about each other's cultures.

I also really liked that he shared with our class how his teaching experience in the immersion classroom at El Sol changed his views on some things (books with Spanish and English instead of two separate copies of the same book, one in each language). Sometimes I think that people want so badly to not be "wrong" that they won't even admit to themselves that their opinion has changed, but I think that gaining new information and adjusting your position based upon it is what lifelong learning is all about - it's how we grow.

I want to get an ESL certification myself. While I don't plan to teach in an immersion setting, I feel that an ESL certification will help me be a more effective teacher and some of the practices and experiences our guest described have really helped me think about how to best help all of my students. What an invaluable day in class!

Book Choice

For my final project for this unit I've chosen to use Cool Salsa by Lori Marie Carlson and Stories That Must Not Die by Juan Sauvageau.

I know that the assignment was to choose one book, but I think these two will go nicely together.

I chose Cool Salsa because I love poetry and because a book like this is an opportunity for students to see things from multiple perspectives. The book features many authors who write on many themes, including racism, revolution, family, and life in general. Also, poems are presented in Spanish and English. This helps English language learners (native Spanish speakers who may not be totally comfortable or fluent in English) fully understand the text (and may allow them to be the experts at explaining the differences in translation or bringing out some of the emotion that may be lost in translation), it helps students learning Spanish to practice, it allows students to share the poems with relatives who may not speak English, and it gives non-Spanish speaking students a look at the text in another language.

I chose Stories That Must Not Die because I think it provides a wonderful cultural tie in to the poetry. Again, it is presented in both Spanish and English, and it presents folktales. One Amazon reviewer said that the book even contained stories her grandmother had told her when she was a child. There is available a version of the book that contains discussion questions, and it could be used to get kids to start thinking about their own folklore (stories they remember, stories from their own lives - self, family, friend, community, school).

Perhaps we'll see the stories influencing the poems, or at least catch glimpses of a recognized history in each.

"Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers: Using Latino Children’s Literature in Teacher Education," Kathy Escamilla and Sally Nathenson-Meija

For the most part, I enjoyed this article and found it worthwhile.

I thought that some of the teacher candidate (T.C.) responses were sort of misguided.

For instance, multiple T.C.s expressed concern over the religious holidays presented in the books they were asked to read. Maybe some laws are different in Colorado (one T.C. mentioned a music teacher who could only use religious songs at a time other than that in which the holiday was occurring), but I wonder if these T.C.s would've expressed the same reservation at using books that dealt with Christmas or Thanksgiving (which isn't religious, I know) or Easter. (Or books in which these holidays take place. What about A Christmas Carol?) And do they plan on avoiding books like Night, which certainly deals with religion? Or Lord of the Flies, which has tons of Christian themes?

One T.C. commented that she wouldn't teach a book because death was not portrayed as a somber event, but as a time for gathering and celebrating life. The T.C. thought this would scare students (even though over half of the students are Hispanic). Doesn't s/he realize that this celebration is part of her students' lives? Doesn't s/he realize that part of the purpose of reading these books is to learn about other cultures? This T.C.'s own upbringing and ideas kept him/her from appreciating the culutral differences and seeing them as a way of understanding another group, as a way of understanding his/her students.

_The House On Mango Street_, Sandra Cisneros

I'm not really certain what to say about this book. I really enjoyed The House On Mango Street and think I would have a great time teaching it. Cisneros's language is often poetic (she is a poet) and always understandable.

Part of what I find appealing about this book has to do with its understandability. The book is great for many reading levels, but it doesn't skim on content to accomplish that goal. Students of all levels will be engaged and able to take home lessons from the story. I also like that the book looks appealing to students. What I mean is that the book is short, has many brief chapters, chapters begin just over half way down the page. Physically, the book is inviting, not intimidating.

One worry I have is that men are portrayed somewhat negatively in the book. Most of the men in the book are portrayed just as characters that come and go - Esperanza's family, Geraldo (?), neighborhood boys, friends' cousins, the shop keeper, etc.. But some men, even boys, in The House On Mango Street are abusive (even sexually so) - one of Esperanza's coworkers, the boys who assault her, a friend's father, a young friend's husband, a neighbor - or think poorly of women. While not all males are portrayed this way, several memorable ones are.

Overall, though, I try to look at this as a representation of the things a young girl notices. While it may seem harsh to show numerous bad men, sometimes that's how things are. While Esperanza is considerably too young for her older coworker to try to kiss (not that his trick would be O.K. if she were older), it's not uncommon even in the dominant culture here for men to ogle teenage girls and it's certainly not unheard of that one partner becomes overly protective/jealous of the other to the point that it becomes abuse. And the sexual assault of a young girl is something that may be good to discuss in the classroom.

I can see how some men may be turned off by the book's presentation of some male characters, but I don't think Cisneros set out to villify men.

There are many themes to explore in Cisneros's The House On Mango Street and I hope we get to talk about some more in class. I'm particularly interested in how others viewed Esperanza's desire to make a "better life" for herself away from Mango Street while recognizing that it will always be a part of her. (Is this assimilation, or is the the desire for more or "better" universal? What about when Esperanza says she wants to live like a man?)

"Appreciating Ethnic Diversity with _When I Was Puerto Rican_," Colleen A. Ruggieri

I really enjoyed this article. I liked that Ruggieri addressed not only Hispanic students but all minority students, that she gives great activity and discussion suggestions, that she suggests many texts, that she quotes and explains the pertinence of When I Was Puerto Rican, and that she even points to Antonio Novello as a person to bring up to and discuss with students.

Ruggieri's observations are often keen and she packs tons of information and ideas into a short article without losing sight of her thesis. I think one of the most important things she addresses is the idea of assimilation. Is there such a thing as too much assimilation? I remember Ruggieri's discussion of Negi (When I Was Puerto Rican's protagonist) and her feelings of guilt about enjoying pizza and "American life," as well as her opening discussion of a Puerto Rican student's wish that his parents had taught him Spanish instead of wanting him to "'be more American.'"

There are so many good ideas in this article, and I think many of them can be applied not only to English classes, but also to social science and history classes, especially the parts that deal with assimilation, the melting pot theory, immigration in general, and the immigrant experience regarding work, school, language, and prejudice.

Ruggieri's activity and discussion recommendations allow teachers to offer their students an avenue to express and share with other students their personal experiences and help them see the prejudices with which minorities are faced and the social choices they must make. There is a great balancing act taking place for many of our students and allowing them to share those experiences not only teaches whole student populations (and teachers, too), it provides the opportunity for immigrant students (or children of immigrants) to see that they are not alone and that they can, indeed, be successful both personally and professionally.

"Arturo's Flight" (From _An Island Like You_)

If I were Johann and I had learned about Arturo's life and situation, I would've told him not to worry. Arturo feels like an outcast in his school because of his home life and he feels like an outcast in his neighborhood because he enjoys some of his school subjects and wants to do well, but tries to hide this because he knows/fears that he will be ostracized for it.

Johann seems like the type of guy that would give some genuine consideration to Arturo's plight and then help him see it positively and recognize its temporary nature. Arturo, he would say, you have parents who love you, you are smart and talented, you have beautiful hair...you're just confused. Johann would have said to Arturo exactly what Ms. Rathbone told him: "'For what care I who calls me well or ill?'"

Johann's age allows him to help Arturo look into the future and see that he will always have what really matters and that those who wish him ill will also get what they choose to work toward...

Using Hispanic Literature

Before we ended last class, Jeff brought up an interesting point: why should we bother teaching Hispanic literature when it doesn't pertain to any of our students except the Hispanic ones? What if we don't have any Hispanic students?

***This is not a personal attack on Jeff. It is not an attack on anyone or anyone's ideas. Our conversation just got me thinking about some things.***

Jeff also mentioned having a bad experience with a piece of Hispanic literature.

Here's what I think (because it's the most important thing ever):

I think the bad experience can be chalked up to book choice. If we judged all literature by authors of a certain ethnicity by an experience with a book by one author, nobody would read anything. If you (the general, all encompassing "you") have a disagreement with a black person, does that mean you'll never associate with another black person? Or does a fight with your parents mean you'll never associate with white parents again? Think of books as people.

As for the books' being meaningless to other students, I think that's crazy. If you pick a good book, it will be culturally relevant, it will contain symbolism, metaphor, allusion, interesting syntax and word choice, many literary devices, et cetera. I hated Lord of the Flies, but I know that reading it was worthwhile and I still got something out of it. Beyond that, we must recognize that we are a nation of immigrants and that we already read literature from all over the world, the difference is that Hispanic authors/characters are noticeably "other." I'm not Irish, but I've still read and enjoyed James Joyce and Flannery O'Connor. We ask our students to read literature by Tolstoy and Golding, Austen and Wiesel - none of these authors is an American, they're just all white. And we feel that their literature will benefit all people. So, we've had Hispanic and Chinese and Japanese and Middle Eastern people living in the United States since its inception. These people are immigrants (just like all white people) and they're United States citizens. They deserve a voice. They're no more "other" than Elie Wiesel (Transylvanian) is, they're just more obviously not white (our idea of American). And each of our white students knows someone who is not white and will continue to meet people who are not white, so seeing another culture will benefit white students. Additionally, Hispanic does not always equal immigrant. There are Hispanic people in this country who were born here, whose parents were born here. And they, too, deserve to see their cultural history represented.

Try this logic: why do we teach the Holocaust? World War II sure, we participated in that, but we didn't have concentration camps (well, not for Jews anyway). So why do students need to know about it? It has nothing to do with the U.S., and our joining the war could be justified by talking about Hitler's literal attempt at world domination and Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor. So why all this Holocaust stuff? It doesn't affect most of our students, does it? What would happen if we left it out?

Hispanic authors in world literature classes, certainly. But in American literature classes, too. Because immigrants are United States citizens. Most of the Authors we talk about reading in secondary classrooms are U.S. citizens with Hispanic heritage, people who grew up in the States, people who experienced hardship (which translates to all students who've experienced it). These people are members of our country and our culture. They just haven't choked their own cultural history to death the way most whites have (unless there's a celebration that involves drinking, then we're proudly Irish or Polish or German or whatever we normally shrug off for "American").

If nothing else, we should teach Hispanic and other literatures because they help our students. Those who struggle the most are often those facing language and cultural barriers. Remember the statistics from our last class. Hispanic dropout rates, almost across the board, are much higher than they should be. If bringing Hispanic literature and culture into the classroom helps these students succeed, then is it not worth it? The nonHispanic students aren't going to fall behind because of it, they'll learn too, and using Hispanic literature may help your "worst" students to succeed. And isn't that really the job of teachers? To help our students learn how to succeed?

We also talked about how immigrant students should learn "our" way of life because they're in our country now. And this is true. To be successful in this country, students must know the societal and cultural norms of our country, they must know their new home's history (which they are a part of), they must know how the professional world expects them to act (though I would argue that we need to explicitly teach this one to all students). But more and more companies and secondary schools and universities express in their mission statements and goals the need for global citizens. Culturally diverse literature is good for everyone.

"The Culturally Diverse Classroom: A Guide for ESL and Mainstream Teachers," Katie Brigaman

When I began reading this "article," I was a little put off by and worried about the sweeping generalizations the author makes about other cultures and their educational systems (to the point of tackling continents - not even countries). But then, at the bottom of page 11 (or is it 10?). Brigaman writes: "It is important to keep in mind that all students are individuals. No matter what the ethnic background, each student has needs that must be met. Stereotyping and generalizing the needs of students due to 'ethnic grouping' only leads to misrepresentation and misunderstandings" (10-11 or 11-12). Some of what Brigaman says after that seems contradictory and written (perhaps, at times, miswritten) confusedly. But nonetheless, an important point is made: while culture is important and certainly informs a student's needs and expectations, we mustn't be blind to students as individuals with their own unique situations, needs, responsibilities, and personalities.

Additionally, I enjoyed some of the contradictions about U.S. culture that arise from McElroy's observations. For instance: "Each person is responsible for his own well-being" paired with "Helping others helps yourself." So, I need to be responsible for my own well-being and expect others to do the same, except that I should help them... Also, "God created a law of right and wrong . . . As a society, Americans have continued to believe that the Almighty God created humanity . . . The separation of church and state values the idea..." And finally, "Almost all human beings want to do what is right/Human beings will abuse power when they have it." No wonder it's so difficult for immigrants to find their place here. These kids are being pulled between two ideals already, and here we go throwing around contradictions like they're confetti. McElroy also talks about how Americans value hard work (manual labor specifically) and recognize that one earns one's place on the fiscal and social hierarchy through hard work, not birthright. This must be difficult to understand for people who see our country through media, where we celebrate successes like Bill Gates, but where Paris Hilton is the real celebrity (through no hard work), where we put down factory and labor jobs as employment of a lower class in favor of medicine and law and finance and business (jobs to which we give prestige even though our nation really is built on labor).

So Brigaman is right. We need to recognize our students as individuals. Imagine if teachers tried to give us what we need using McElroy's summary of U.S. culture. We wouldn't know what to do; it'd be one thing today and another tomorrow! We'd all find human development tied to Adam and Eve this week and to evolution next. But when we see our students as individuals among a larger group, we can begin to understand how the group influences the individual and vice versa.

"Expanding the Circle: Hispanic Voices in American Literature," Patricia Ann Romero and Don Zancanella

"It's hard to question a mountain." This sentence stayed with me throughout my reading of the article, and I'm sure it will be with me for a long time. But the thing about mountains is that they do evolve. Slowly with the weather, faster with prodding.

Romero and Zancanella advocate the inclusion of minority (specifically Hispanic) authors in classroom canons, offer guidelines (book choice, indigenous authors and settings), discuss specific authors and their works (and why they're not as well known as they should be). The authors do little to discuss how to advocate inclusion if you meet an administrative roadblock, but that's not really their primary concern, so I don't necessarily see it as a downfall of the article. Their goal, I think, is to convince us that Hispanic literature does have a place in our classrooms and in our students' lives, and then to help us get started by sharing some authors with us and helping us figure out where to look to find more hispanic authors.

One of the Authors Romero and Zancanella talk about is Gary Soto. Here is the full text of "Oranges" (referenced in the article), and the following is a Soto poem I have been enjoying for years:

Mission Tire Factory, 1969

All through lunch Peter pinched at his crotch,

And Jesús talked about his tattoos,

And I let the flies crawl my arm, undisturbed,

Thinking it was wrong, a buck sixty five,

The wash of rubber in our lungs,

The oven we would enter, squinting---

because earlier in the day Manny fell

From his machine, and when we carried him

To the workshed (blood from

Under his shirt, in his pants)

All he could manage, in an ignorance

Outdone only by pain, was to take three dollars

From his wallet, and say:

"Buy some sandwiches.

You guys saved my life."

This poem reminds me of Steinbeck or Sinclair. It's so short, yet it addresses so much and is beautifully written, even in the "plain" language people like to give exceptional poets a hard time for.

I've personally always been a fan of the poet Pablo Neruda (Chilean poet, 1904-1973, F.K.A. Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto).

Romero and Zancanella give us an important and helpful place to start, and they do much to show the importance of Hispanic (nonwhite generally) literature to our students. The literature provides a personal connection, a cultural tool, and dynamic language and device for analysis.

Supermercado Michoacan

Yesterday, I went to Supermercado Michoacan, a Hispanic supermarket near my home. I've driven by this place many times, but since I'm typically able to get whatever I need foodwise at Meijer or the health food store, I've never stopped by.

Well, I'm making tortilla soup this weekend and needed Mexican oregano and dried ancho chiles, so I stopped by and went shopping. Being a "specialty" store, the supermercado was, of course, smaller than a store such as Meijer or even Family Fare, but it still had tons of food and even a small section of non-Hispanic foods. The one thing I was a little worried about was labeling, so I had my boyfriend teach me how to ask for help in Spanish before I went. Of course, I know what avocados (aguacate) and limes (limones verdes) look like, but what about my oregano (oregano entero), chiles (chile ancho), and random other ingredients? Clearly, the oregano and chiles were labeled in such a way that I didn't have a problem identifying them. I actually had a more difficult time identifying foods (and reading ingredient labels (I'm vegan)) when I was in Czech Republic for a month. And mostly everything I bought had ingredients in both Spanish and English, so navigating an unfamiliar store was the most difficult part.

I bought some things (adobo sauce) not for the soup but just to have on hand. When I'm at Meijer, I question the authenticity of some products: does Ortega's taco sauce taste anything like it should (mmm...high fructose corn syrup); is La Preferida (based in Chicago since its inception) really a heavily Americanized version of the product? So I bought items originating from Mexico when I could, which is really probably the same thing because preservatives always take away from what we should make ourselves. I was a little surprised to see Old El Paso and Ortega taco seasoning packets and beans and sauces right along side everything else. I also noticed that much of what the store sold was made and packaged in the U.S., often in Grand Rapids or Chicago. I guess it's the product and not its origin that's the real concern.

Some things I noticed: fruits I had never seen before (and whose names I didn't write down because I, stupidly, did not bring a pen or paper), music that ranged from traditional-sounding Mexican to something that sounded like Mexican opera, huge tomatillos (there'll soon be green salsa in my house), lower prices.

One of my friends was concerned that I'd feel out of place, but the last place I lived was 98%-99% nonwhite. When I voted in the last presidential election, the kid checking voters in (18 or 19, getting extra credit) literally said to me, "I didn't think any white people lived in this district." Figuring out the layout of the store was the hard part for me, and identifying food was easier than I had imagined.

All in all a good experience and I'll probably continue to go to this store for certain foods that aren't offered at the stores at which I normally grocery shop (one trip to the store is enough for me, so if the food's where I am, that's where I'm gonna get it). Although, the avocado I got was tastier than the ones I buy at Meijer...