There was a beautiful, vain, village girl named Maria. She thought she was too good for the men in the village. She tricked a wealthy, handsome, man into marrying her. She had 2 children with him. He started to ignore her and only pay attention to the children. One day she went on a walk with her children (by the river). Her husband rode by in a carriage with a beautiful woman next to him. He only acknowledged the children. Maria became enraged and threw both of her children into the river- where they drowned. When she realized what she had done – she killed herself. When she was buried – the villagers said you could hear Maria wailing over the loss of her children.

1. What was the beautiful woman’s name? 2. How many children did she have? 3. What did she do to her children? 4. What do the villagers say she does – from the grave?

 Explain why Maria felt that she deserved a rich and handsome man?  Discuss why she got so mad at her husband?  Tell us what she did with her kids.  Identify the main idea of this story?

 Choose a character, in the story, that you identified with and write a journal entry as that character.  Dramatize a scene from the story.  Sketch a picture of Maria showing the difference between her inside and outside beauty.

 Differentiate between the words vanity and self-confidence.  Examine Maria’s motives for killing her children.  Compare Maria’s actions with what you think she should have done.  Distinguish how the outcome could have been changed.

 Compose an alternative ending to the story La Llorona.  Arrange the sequence of events and formulate an opinion about where things went wrong.  Write your own version of the story -- incorporate more details about the characters.  Propose an idea for a story that will keep kids from being out too late.

 Take the side of Maria or her husband – argue their side of the story.  What circumstances do you think would lead to a breakdown like Maria’s? Support your opinion with 3 examples.  Defend Maria’s husband’s behavior.  Choose several character weaknesses of Maria’s and evaluate which ones caused the most damage?