part 1-Mother Tongue by Amy tan
âSome say they understand none of it, as if she were speaking pure Chinese. But to me, my mothers English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. Itâs my mothers tongue, Her language, as I hear it, it is vivid, direct, full of observation and imageryâ.This quote is very important because the author is expressing his thoughts based on how others react to her motherâs accent, but to her her mothers tongue helped her shape the way she saw things, bringing sense into the world
3 new vocabulary
Vivid: producing powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind. Sentence in the passage using the word vivid- Her language, as I hear it, is vivid.
Perception: a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression. âwhen I was growing up, my mothers âlimitedâ English limited any perception of her
empirical: based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.âI had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended to not understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her
Part 2 When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
Chapter 3 page 103- âEvery day after school I go went to the library and took out as many childrenâs book as I was allowed. I figured that if the American children learned English through books, so could I, even if I was starting laterâ. This quote is very important because you can see how determined Esmeralda was to learn the English language her own ways.
3 new vocabulary
prepositional: adjective- formed with or functioning as a preposition. âEsmeraldaâ she called in a musical voice âwould you please come up and mark the prepositional phraseâ
outcasts: a person who has been rejected by society or a social group. âwe were outcasts in a school where the smartest 8th graders were in 8-1 home roomâ
administration: the process or activity of running a business, organization, etc. âMiss brownâs was the learning disabled class, where the administration sent kids with all sorts of problems, none of which, from what I could see, had anything to do with their ability to learn but more with their willingness to do soâ.
Very Good Andre — You are doing a good job keep ing up and you are my first student posting this HW!
Can you work a bit on presentation of your HW? REmember in the big major Unit Assignments presentation will definitely count. SO–
3 New Vocabulary Words