Casi se muere is an novel by Lisa Ray Turner and Blaine Ray, written in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

. It is the sequel to Blaine Ray's novel Poor Ana. The story depicts Ana's homestay

Homestay

Homestay is a form of tourism and/or study abroad program that allows the visitor to rent a room from a local family to better learn the local lifestyle as well as improve their language ability. While homestays can occur in any destination worldwide, some countries do more to encourage homestay...

 in Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and her experiences in her Chilean school. This book was written for beginning language learners, and has a small vocabulary. It was intended to be used with the TPR Storytelling

Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling

TPR Storytelling is a method of teaching foreign languages. TPRS lessons use a mixture of reading and storytelling to help students learn a foreign language in a classroom setting...

 method of language teaching. It has been translated into French and many other languages.

Characters

• Ana Silva: She attends West Torrance High School in Hermosa Beach, California, but then she sends a petition to New York trying to get the opportunity to go to Chile. She is accepted and then goes. Ana's favorite class is Spanish because she likes to learn new words and she likes her teacher.
• Pepe Ayala: Boy from Chile that speaks some English. Friends with Ana.
• Teresa: Her friend in Chile. Also is her host sister.
• Alice (Alicia): Her real name is Alice but everybody calls her Alicia because that is her name in Spanish class. Ana writes her letters about her every day experiences.
• Jaime Campo: He is the bully that lives in Chile.
• Senora Hawkins: Ana's Spanish teacher in California. She is Ana's favorite teacher. She is the one who tells Ana about this opportunity.
• Ana's parents: They are both nice and they both work at Mercy Hospital.

Plot

• Chapter 1: Ana is 16 years old, she has blue eyes and brown hair. She goes to West Torrance High school. Ana lives in Hermosa Beach, California with her younger brother Don, younger sister Patty, mom who is a secretary at Mercy Hospital and dad, who is a doctor at the hospital. Ana's Spanish teacher tells her about an opportunity to travel to Chile. She will travel for three months.

• Chapter 2: Chapter 2 describes Chile. The national dance is the Cueca. Independence day is September 18, where Chile won its independence from Spain. The national food is the empanada. The capital of Chile is Santiago. The climate of Chile is similar to that of California, but it is summer in Chile when it is winter in California and vice-versa. It rains a lot in both places. It has the Andes and the Atacama Desert.

• Chapter 3: Ana's "exchange parents" are Victoria and Pedro. They have two daughters: Elena and Teresa. Teresa becomes friends with Ana. In chapter 3, they all go to Hotel Alcazar to visit Teresa's cousins, Enrique and Monica. In this chapter, Ana starts writing letters to her friend Alicia that describe each day's events.

• Chapter 4: In Chapter 4, a student named Pepe Ayala is choking on a piece of meat. Pepe is new to the school and has no friends. Ana saves him, but the piece of meat goes flying and hits Jaime Campo, a bully. He gets mad and threatens them. Pepe thanks Ana. She writes a letter to Alicia and says that she thinks about Pepe a lot but she does not know why.

• Chapter 5: In Chapter 5, Pepe and Ana talk. They talk about the differences between Chile and California, as well as many other things. At the end of the chapter, Ana writes another letter to Alicia.

• Chapter 6: Ana does not talk to Pepe for two weeks as they do not see each other. The 18th of September (Chile's Independence) comes around and there are a lot of parties. There is a party at Jaime Campo's house, Pedro Gomez's house, and Monica Krause's house. Teresa and Ana decide not to go to these; they decide to go to a party at the school instead.

• Chapter 7: In Chapter 7, the girls prepare for the party, while Teresa's dad questions what they are doing. They tell him about the party and he makes Teresa's little sister, Elena, go with them. They see Pepe there and Ana and Pepe dance and have a great time until Jaime Campo goes there, as no one went to his party, which disappoints them, but after a while Ana feels bad for him, because he has no friends and he is a meanie.

• Chapter 8: In chapter 8, Ana sees that there is something wrong with Jaime. He is alone, of course, but his face is purple. She alerts Pepe and Pepe performs the Heimlich Maneuver on Jaime, and saves Jaime. Jaime apologizes to Pepe, and then the next day Ana goes back to California. Many of her classmates are present and say farewell to her.

See also

• List of TPR Storytelling resources