COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Spanish Program

Diagnostic Test - Ninth Grade

Nombre:____________________________ Fecha:________________________

Instructions: Read the reading carefully and answer the questions below.

Taino Medicine

1 The bohíque, in addition to being a priest or religious minister, was also a doctor or
healer. His art mixed the experimental and rational with the ceremonial and magical, as is
the case among today's healers. Among his methods, some are still valid for modern
science. The value of others resided mostly in suggestion or faith, as can be seen below:
Fasting. (As effective today as yesterday).
Cold water bath. (Still in use. Today science accepts and practices hydrotherapy).
Massage or "sobo". (Still in use. Modern medicine calls this method physiotherapy).
Purgantes. (Still in use in certain and specific cases).
Guarapos or infusions of medicinal plants. (Still in use in home medicine).
Sahumeries. (Equivalent perhaps to modern methods of fumigation or disinfection).
Bleedings. (Method used in Europe until the 19th century).
Prayers. (Method of faith, always in use).
"Passes" or magic pantomimes. (Related, no doubt, to the method of hypnosis or
suggestion, even in certain cases).

2 The bathroom was a must. The Borikans who were in good health bathed three or four
times a day, so that when they became ill it is natural that they would require one or more
baths daily. Bathing was for them an act of purification, as well as a body cleansing
routine.

3 Medicinal plants, effective for fevers and stomach and liver ailments, abound in the forests.
Therefore, in many cases the Indians did not even have to resort to the bohíque, as they already
knew which plants to choose and how to use them. The tau-tua, for example, was never missing
in the small garden of the Taino house. Other medicinal plants used by the Borikenses were
guayacan, elder, prickly pear, bejuco, masa, curia and jagua.

4 The juice of the jagua was also used to bathe the legs and feet when they were swollen or
sore from a long walk. Possibly the relief they felt was due to the astringent effect of this fruit.
5 If a sick person was evicted or declared incurable, he asked to be removed from the house
and taken to the forest. There he was brought food and water until his death (or, as with so many

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of the terminally ill, until he was cured, in which case he would pick up the hammock and return
home). Such a practice, perhaps of religious origin, had positive effects, since in the case of
contagious diseases, the sick person was removed from the yucayeke or village, thus avoiding a
possible epidemic.
6 If at the death of the patient it was judged that the bohíque had failed to care for the patient
properly, the relatives of the deceased were authorized to punish the healer. They would lead the
bohíque to the nearest forest and there they would beat him with sticks. This does not reveal that
the medical profession among the Tainos was not without its risks.

René Marqués

A. Reading Comprehension

CL.9.1 Develop vocabulary appropriate to their cognitive level using context clues, the
dictionary, and other reference sources.
CL.9.4 Analyzes, synthesizes, and evaluates the content of texts.
CL.9.6 Evaluates details that are useful in proving or disproving an idea.

Instructions: Read each premise and choose the best alternative.

1. Paragraph 1 deals with

a. the art of bohíque

b. bohíque methods based on the ceremonial and the magical
c. Taino medicine
d. the validity, for modern science, of the methods of Taino medicine

2. The underlined word in paragraph 1 refers to

a. virtue, disposition and industry to do a thing.

b. act or faculty by which, using matter, image or sound, man imitates or expresses the material
or immaterial and creates by copying or fantasizing.
c. set of rules and precepts for doing something well.
d. caution, cunning, cunning.

3. Paragraph 1 concludes with the enumeration of nine elements of a set. Which of the
following concepts represents that kind of thing?

a. Rational and experimental based bohíque methods

b. Methods used by the bohíque
c. Methods of bohíque based on suggestion or faith
d. Taino medicine methods valid for modern science

4. The underlined word in paragraph 2 means

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 a. excessive, too frequent
b. optional
c. ceremonial
d. unavoidable, very necessary

5. According to the author, for the Tainos, the bath fulfilled the following functions

a. ceremonial and magical

b. religious and hygienic
c. ceremonial and religious
d. hygienic and medicinal

6. In paragraph 5, the underlined expression refers to the custom of

a. evicting or declaring a sick person incurable

b. taking the sick person who has been evicted from the house and leading him to the forest
c. care for the patient until death or cure
d. bringing food and water to the terminally ill patient

7. What aspect of Taino medicine does paragraph 5 deal with?

a. Isolation of the terminally ill

b. Incurable diseases
c. Feeding of terminally ill patients
d. Patients who have been evicted

8. The penultimate sentence of the reading includes the phrase "sovereign tunda de palos".
If "sovereign" means "unsurpassed," the full sentence refers to.

a. a great beating
b. a punishment with blows or sticks
c. a beating
d. the punishment meted out to healers

9. Paragraph 6 deals with

a. the care that the bohíque was expected to provide to incurably ill patients
b. the punishment imposed on the bohíque by the relatives of the sick who had been
evicted from the hospital when they died
c. the beating of the Taino medicine man with sticks when one of his patients died
d. the punishment imposed on the bohíque when a patient was deemed to have died
for lack of proper care

CL.9.7 Analyzes the purpose and messages of a piece of writing.

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 10. What was possibly the author's main purpose?
a. express your feelings
b. report on a subject
c. entertain the receiver
d. convince him of an idea

CL.9.3 Summarizes the relevant ideas of a text using sketches and graphic organizers.

Instructions: Look at the following diagram and identify the missing information.

The bohíque They lead The patient

evicts the the sick is cured or
sick person person to dies
the forest
11. What action completes the process of eviction of a sick person?

a. the bohíque visits the sick

b. the sick person's relatives punish the bohíque
c. relatives bring food and water to the sick person
d. relatives move with the sick person to the forest

CL.9.4 Analyzes, synthesizes, and evaluates the content of texts.

CL.9.6 Evaluates details that are useful in proving or disproving an idea.
Instructions: Answer the following question in the space provided.

12. Do you think that with their methods, the Tainos demonstrated civilization or knowledge in
medicine? Explain your answer with details from the reading.
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Heading
2 - The response demonstrates clear understanding of the information in the text; the reader uses
information from the text for interpretation.
1 - The reader presents limited understanding of the text and makes simple interpretations.
0 - the answer is not sufficient or does not relate to the question.

B. Written Communication

CE.9.1 Accents words correctly.

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CE.9.6 Demonstrates mastery of writing by organizing ideas in a coherent and logically
progressive manner.
CE.9.7 Produces written work free of grammatical errors.
CE.9.1 Accents words correctly.
CE.9.8 Uses appropriately and consistently the subjunctive mood verbs of the
simple times.
CE.9.9 Appropriately uses subjunctive verbs of the following tenses
compounds.
CE.9.10 Regularly writes compositions to entertain, inform, and evaluate.

Instructions: The sentences below do not pertain to any reading, read each premise and choose
the best alternative.

13. What change should be made in the sentence "El hombre se hizo pa' trabajar"?
a. change man for animal
b. change pa' to para
c. accentuate pá
d. no change

14. In the sentence "So he says, but he'll have to keep working", the accent should be placed
on
a. the
b. that
c. follow
d. no word

15. In the sentence "I hope that mistreatment is eliminated", the following should be stated
a. change delete to delete
b. change mistreatment to mistreat
c. remove the accent to ojala
d. no change

16. Which of the sentences shows the verb in the subjunctive mood?
a. It may rain tomorrow.
b. Maybe I will go on a trip.
c. It rained too much today.
d. Let's go for a walk.

Instructions: Select one of the following topics and write an expository paragraph in which you
express your ideas or knowledge

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  Physical exercise
 Sports
 Environmental contamination
 Technology
 Healthy nutrition

17.
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Rubric to evaluate the paragraph

Points - paragraph characteristics:
3 - Coherence - clear wording and relationship between sentences
3 - Organization - ideas follow a sequence (introduction, development and conclusion).
3 - Vocabulary - use appropriate and varied vocabulary.
3 - Proofreading - free of grammatical errors

Responses
1. a

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 2. a
3. b
4. d
5. b
6. b
7. a
8. a
9. d
10. b
11. c
12. open response; use rubric
13. b
14. a
15. a
16. a
17. open response; use rubric

* The exercises that make up this Diagnostic Test are examples of some of the competencies
that appear in the Standards: Reading Comprehension and Written Communication. The
purpose of these exercises is to detect the level of reading comprehension and the level of
written communication mastered by the student.
Recommendation: The teacher can use the text that appears in this Test for a deeper
analysis that takes the student through the four levels of thinking (rote, processing, strategic,
and extended) and emphasize writing various kinds of paragraphs as well as the essay,
among other exercises.1

The Spanish Diagnostic Tests for First through Twelfth Grades in this school year 2010-2011
are the effort of several people: Spanish teachers, Spanish Teaching Facilitators and UPR
Professors (Bayamón).

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Explanatory Note - For legal purposes, in connection with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the use of the terms teacher and student, as well as any
other term that may refer to both sexes, includes both the masculine and feminine.