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Lesson 3

We will learn about the narrative form of memoir and study a narrative essay by contemporary writer Amy Tan that is based on her life as a member of a Chinese immigrant family in America. We will read “Mother Tongue,” in which Tan reflects on the “Englishes” she uses, and examine closely her use of language to communicate her experiences and ideas.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I independently read or view a memoir-based narrative and form interpretive claims about the influence of Amy Tan’s experiences on her writing and thinking?

  • Can I analyze and emulate the ways in which Tan uses her formal English to communicate experiences and ideas?

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan, Threepenny Review, Reprinted by permission from Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency., 1990

Optional

  • Digital Access
    • Biography of Amy Tan, Amy Tan Website, Amy Tan Website, 2019
    • “Where Does Creativity Hide?,” Amy Tan, TED Talk, 2008

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will learn about Chinese-American writer Amy Tan and her development as a Storyteller.

Read a short biography of Amy Tan and participate in a discussion facilitated by your teacher about the author and her life as a Chinese-American writer of autobiographical stories, memoirs, and essays.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will read and discuss Amy Tan’s memoir and essay, “Mother Tongue,” considering a set of text-specific questions about the relation between her mother tongue and her writing.

In reading teams, review and discuss Amy Tan’s narrative essay, "Mother Tongue," and answer the text-specific questions you considered for homework:

  1. What seems to be the author's attitude or point of view?

  2. How does the author's choice of words reveal her perspective?

  3. In her essay, Tan expresses multiple views of her mother and her use of the English language—views that have shifted over time. What are two contrasting views presented by Tan, and what language and examples does she use to characterize her mother's English? Cite specific examples from the text.

  4. Early in her essay, Tan says that she spends "a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language" and that as a writer she uses "all the Englishes I grew up with." How does she characterize and describe the various "Englishes" she has learned, especially her mother tongue? (para. 6)

  5. What does she suggest is a final measure of her success as a writer, and why might this be important to her?

In a brief class discussion, share your team’s responses to, and observations about, the essay. Focus particularly on Question 5 and what Tan implies about her mother’s reactions to her writing.

Following the discussion, individually form a claim about Tan’s narrative essay in response to the following question:

  1. How does Tan use her experiences with her mother (and her mother’s English) to develop a narrative about herself as a person and a writer?

In your Learning Log, make a list of experiences you have had with your own family or culture that might be the basis for a good personal narrative or memoir.

Activity 3: Read – View – Discuss

We will view and discuss a TED Talk by Amy Tan in which she reflects on her own development as a writer and the question, “Where Does Creativity Hide?”

As a class, view the TED Talk “Where does creativity hide?" considering these questions. Use a Video Note-Taking Tool to write down details you notice while viewing.

  1. What does Tan initially recount about her experiences as a student?

  2. How does she use humorous details and images to tell her story? Use specific examples from the text.

  3. About seven minutes into the video, Tan connects creativity to quantum mechanics. How does she develop and use this metaphor to explain aspects of her own creative self?

  4. What happens, according to Tan, when you try too hard to think about a story’s meaning?

  5. How does Tan’s identity question, "Why am I here?" relate to her creativity and writing?

  6. What is Tan’s answer to the question, "How do I create something out of nothing?"

  7. What is an interesting idea from Tan’s talk that might influence you as a storyteller?

In a class discussion, share your responses to, and observations about, the video.

Following the discussion, individually form a claim about Tan’s narrative speech in response to the following question:

  1. How do Amy Tan’s essay "Mother Tongue" and her speech about creativity connect for you?

In your Learning Log, add to your list of experiences with your own family or culture that might be the basis for a good personal narrative or memoir.

Activity 4: Read

We will more closely study two excerpts from “Mother Tongue,” paying attention to how Amy Tan uses language to explain the contrasts among the “Englishes” she uses. We will develop close reading and vocabulary skills and will write a sentence modeled after one from Tan’s narrative.

Step 1

To help you do this activity, access the Tan Language Use Handout.

Closely read and annotate Paragraph 3 of "Mother Tongue," paying attention to the following guiding question:

  1. What does Amy Tan say was the "one major difference that made the whole talk sound wrong" as she presented her ideas about her writing, life, and book?

Reread the final sentence of the paragraph, noting any words or phrases that seem unfamiliar to you (and that might also have been unfamiliar to Amy Tan’s mother) and respond to the following questions:

  1. What do you think Tan is saying about writing when she uses the phrase "the intersection of memory upon imagination"?

  2. What does she mean when she describes her language as full of "carefully wrought grammatical phrases"?

  3. Why might she have chosen the word burdened?

  4. What do you think Tan is saying when she describes her speech as "filled with carefully wrought grammatical phrases, burdened…with…all the forms of standard English that I had learned in school and through books"?

  5. Why does this suddenly make her feel uncomfortable or self-conscious?

Step 2

Closely read and annotate Paragraphs 14-18 of "Mother Tongue."

Study the vocabulary words from Paragraphs 14-18 of the handout, considering what the context from the narrative suggests that they mean. Write definitions of the words or phrases in your Vocabulary Journal, using context clues or a language resource to help you explain what they mean.

Step 3

Closely read Paragraph 15 and respond to the following questions:

  1. What do you think Tan is saying when she says she had trouble with the "logical semantic relationship" of the word analogies found on standardized tests?

  2. What images are brought to your mind when Tan says, "I would see a burst of colors against a darkening sky, the moon rising, the lowering of a curtain of stars"?

Using Tan’s sentence as a model, write a descriptive sentence about a scene that might come to your mind, and that you might use in your own narrative. A frame for this sentence is included on the handout.