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Lesson 10

We will listen to “Pen Pals,” from an episode of the NPR podcast Snap Judgment and discuss issues and opportunities people can encounter when moving to a new community. We will read and determine the central ideas conveyed in Amy Tan’s narrative essay, “Mother Tongue.”

Lesson Goals

  • Can I express an accurate understanding of the central ideas of Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue?”

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of the narrator’s viewpoints and the central ideas in “Mother Tongue” and how they are developed?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “Pen Pals,” Christy Chan, Snap Judgement, National Public Radio, 2017
  • Unit Reader
    • “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan, Threepenny Review, Reprinted by permission from Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency., 1990

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Listen – Write – Discuss

We will listen to “Pen Pals,” a listener-submitted story from snap judgment, and discuss the narrator’s adjustment to life in a new community.

Step 1

Listen to the host’s introduction to Christy Chan’s story. Discuss the following question:

  1. How might moving to a new community change your perspective on your own identity?

As you listen to the podcast, visualize the community that Chan describes and write down any key words that help you understand this community. Consider the following question:

  1. How did she describe the physical aspects of this community? More importantly, how does she describe the culture of this community?

Step 2

After listening, share your response to the story in a discussion with the class. Consider the following questions:

  1. What ideas or facts did you find shocking, interesting, or troubling?

  2. How can language be used to welcome or reject new people to a community?

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will use words, phrases, and sentences from Amy Tan’s essay “Mother Tongue,” as well as our own knowledge of communities, to make inferences about the essay.

Step 1

Your teacher will pass out cards containing words, phrases, and lines from "Mother Tongue." Read the card you have been assigned and reflect on the following question:

  1. Considering the essay’s title, the prior knowledge about communities you have developed from this unit’s readings, and your life experiences, what might this text be about?

Partner with a classmate. Read the contents of your cards to each other and discuss what you think Tan’s essay will be about.

Repeat this process as many times as you can within the allotted time. Refine your predictions based on the inferences you hear in each conversation.

Step 2

Form a group of four to five students. Discuss your expectations about "Mother Tongue," considering the following questions:

  1. What type of text will it be?

  2. What message, stance, or ideas will it attempt to convey to the reader?

With your group, craft a paragraph that summarizes your group’s predictions. Begin with a "we think" statement (e.g., "We think that ‘Mother Tongue’ will be about"). Be sure to incorporate everyone’s reasonable inferences about the text.

Step 3

Share your group’s paragraph with the whole class and explain what clues or connections to prior knowledge you used to arrive at these inferences.

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will read and annotate “Mother Tongue” in order to determine the key ideas and details of the essay.

Step 1

On your own or with a partner, read and annotate "Mother Tongue." Use a copy of the Attending to Details Tool to respond to the following question:

  1. What does this text have to say about how individuals and families fit into their communities?

Step 2

When you finish reading, use your annotations to write a 20-word GIST statement in your Learning Log that conveys the most important ideas of "Mother Tongue."

Share your statement with a partner, and refine it as needed. Use this time to clear up any misconceptions and to ask any remaining questions you have about the essay.

Step 3

With your class, review and evaluate your predictions from the last activity. Whose inferences were confirmed? What were some ideas in the essay that were unexpected?

Activity 4: Read – Write

For homework, we will explore the central ideas and details in “Mother Tongue” by using the Evaluating Ideas Tool.

For homework, complete the Evaluating Ideas Tool for "Mother Tongue" to respond to the following guiding question:

  1. What point of view or perspective does this text convey about how individuals and families fit into their communities?