Language Legends Required Materials
- Amy Tan: “Mother Tongue”
- Maxine Hong Kingston “The Misery of Silence” (this link will download the story for you to read)
- Chan, E. Y. (2017). Narrative Inquiry: A Dynamic Relationship between Culture, Language and Education. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 42(6). Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol42/iss6/2.
Language Legends Optional Material
- Genova, Holly, & Stewart, Mary Amanda. (2019). “My Life, My Stories”: Reading, Writing, and Belonging in the ESL Classroom. English Journal, 108(3), 34-43.
- Sahnoun, Yassir. “3 Amazing Stories of Language Learners Who Changed the World”
- TEDx Talk: Canwen Xu “I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype”
- TEDx Talk: Louka Parry “Words Can Change the World: How Language Learning Deepens Connection”
- Trin Min Han: From Silence to Words
Language Legends Class Activities
Opening
Part 1. A Video about Powerful Words (4:01)
Part 2. Video (20 minutes)
Part 3. Discussion Groups (20 minutes)
- What issues came up for you in the TED Talk?
- Please pick someone to be the Speaker who can begin the sharing of your group’s ideas with the whole class later
- What are some key observations your group made about the video?
Part 4. Full Class Discussion (20 minutes)
- A Speaker from each group will share the group’s thoughts with the class
Part 5. Language Differences
- Freewriting: Write about a time when you personally or someone you know was impacted by a language difference
- Small Group Discussion
- What details do you remember?
- Why do you remember those details?
- How does the nature of the story shape what you recall?
- Full Class Discussion
Assignments
Due July 15 Tuesday: Required Readings on Truth & the Power of Telling
- O’Brien, Tim. 1990. The Things They Carried. New York: Penguin Books.
- Book Chapter: O’Brien, Tim. 1990. “How to Tell a True War Story.” In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, 73-92. New York: Penguin Books.
- Because of the significance of this story, I have posted “How to Tell a True War Story” on the D2L Class Website
- This story talks about the rules of storytelling
- WARNING: While this story is highly valuable for understanding the nature of storytelling, it does contain graphic descriptions of war violence and some swear words
- Book Chapter: O’Brien, Tim. 1990. “How to Tell a True War Story.” In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, 73-92. New York: Penguin Books.
- Gallagher, Chris, & Gray, Peter. Ambivalent Reflections: On Telling “True” Stories of the Classroom Author(s). College Composition and Communication, June, 2001, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Jun., 2001), pp. 651-655.
Optional Materials for Truth & the Power of Telling
Sometimes We Need Fact and Fiction to Heal
- O’Brien, Tim. 1990. The Things They Carried. New York: Penguin Books.
- Book Chapter: O’Brien, Tim. 1990. “How to Tell a True War Story.” In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, 73-92. New York: Penguin Books.
- Because of the significance of this story, I have posted “How to Tell a True War Story” on the D2L Class Website
- This story talks about the rules of storytelling
- This story is also contained within the PDF link above
- Please also read these 3 other stories in the book linked above, all of which deal with the question of how to tell the truth in a story:
- “The Man I Killed” pp. 118-124
- “Ambush” pp. 125-128
- “Good Form” 179-180
- O’Brien’s entire book is a masterpiece and it is available as a full PDF, although personally I own 2 copies and would recommend buying it to own!
- Book Chapter: O’Brien, Tim. 1990. “How to Tell a True War Story.” In The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, 73-92. New York: Penguin Books.