You can listen to Judith Ortiz Cofer as she gives the assignment.
Listen to the audio.
Play
"And so my challenge to you is to do what Maria Alegre, sometimes Maria Triste, did and to find a way to use and teach the English language by writing a few sentences that are declarative sentences, interrogative sentences, exclamatory sentences. In making the list of sentences, say something, tell a story or be an anecdote."