One month from now is October 9, which is a Tuesday. You can return it on October 11. Put this date in your calendar.
We went on-line and with the help of classmates, students were able to locate resources on the College of Alameda Library database (14).
Post the summaries here. The summary should be minimally 3 paragraphs and include: 1 block quote, 1 shorter citation and 1 free paraphrase.
Put a works cited section at the end of the writing. Look at the post before approving it.
2. Literature Circles (handout)
3. Homework: Continue reading Girl in Translation (start writing logs). Bring Logs to class. We started reading in groups.
The Reading is as follows: For Tuesday, Sept. 11 read up to Chapter 5 (86). Prepare Chapter 5 & 6 (87-130) for Thursday, Sept. 13; Chapter 8-9 (156-203) for Sept. 18; Chapter 10-12 for Sept. 20; Finish the book over the weekend for Sept. 25. Essay plan due Sept. 25 as well.
Essay due Sept. 26 for peer review and discussion. Final draft due October 2 for another peer review. We will meet twice this week in A-232.
We will also start at the end of September - October: The Dance Boots. We will look at short fiction and poetry this month. In November students will do their independent reading, prepare a poetry group presentation and read Persepolis, which will have an essay due this month as well.
We will also start at the end of September - October: The Dance Boots. We will look at short fiction and poetry this month. In November students will do their independent reading, prepare a poetry group presentation and read Persepolis, which will have an essay due this month as well.
The final presentations of the independent reading will be in December. The final essay will be due then as well.
The essay for The Dance Boots and for the Poetry Unit will be in class essays. The Dance Boots essay will be the midterm.
I will give you dates later.
10 comments:
Dung Le
Professor Wanda
English 1b
Sept. 6, 2012
Girl in Translation
Annie McCormick from the literature resource center describes the book “Girl in Translation” by Jean Kwok is a novel “told from the perspective of Kimberly—an 11-year-old Chinese immigrant who lives with her mother (Ma) in Brooklyn slum in the 1980s”.
The novels tells the tale of a Chinese girl who lives with her mom who’s working long hours in a unsanitary clothing factory. Kimberly the Chinese girl struggles socially and adjusting into the new culture and her classmates (McCormick).
Kimberly has a slant Chinese accent and went to school with teachers that has different type of accent, being very bright she excelled in school and gained admission to top schools and colleges,
Kimberly excels in school, which helps her gain admission to a top high school and college. Wey reads Kimberly with a slight Chinese accent and Ma in a believably more thick Chinese dialect. Her reading of the many minor characters adds a touch of variety--a schoolteacher speaks in a New York accent, a librarian sounds Middle Eastern, and a housing-complex neighbor uses slow, southern speech patterns (McCormick).
The book “Girl in Translation” by Jean Kwok is novel about a bright young Chinese girl that migrated to U.S. and lived in Brooklyn. It talks about the hardship and struggle that she had to go through and how her hard work gave her admission to a bright and better future.
Works Cited
McCormick , Annie . "College of Alameda." College of Alameda. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Sept. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.alamed
John Sung
English 1B
Professor Sabir
9-6-12
Girl in Translation
Girl in Translation is a novel about a young girl named Kimberly and her mother migrating to the United States from Hong Kong. Arriving to American with the common American dream, Kimberly and her mother believed that they will have a better life compared to the one they had in Hong Kong. Along with most immigrants in America, Kimberly was shown the harsh realities of her new life. Although Kimberly and her mother had to deal with poverty, prejudice, and overwhelming stress, the author Jean Kwok establishes the theme by explaining in her interview with Laura Castellano by stating, “I think there are difficult things that Kimberly and her mother experience, but in the end they triumph because they are dignified people with integrity.”
Many immigrant families come to America with the American dream of new opportunities and a better life; however the dream itself is not enough for some when they come with nothing at all. As stated in Kirkus Reviews:
Because Mrs. Chang's older sister owns a garment factory in Brooklyn, she offers Kimberly's mother--and even Kimberly--a "good job" bagging skirts as well as a place to live in a nearby apartment. Of course, both of these "gifts" turn out to be exploitative, for to make ends meet Mrs. Chang winds up working 12-hour-plus days in the factory. Kimberly joins her after school hours in this hot and exhausting labor, and the apartment is teeming with roaches.
Kimberly and her mother had reality shoved in their faces with no warning what so ever. They had to take what they had and had to keep striving forward without letting the struggles they were facing bring them down.
Through the thick and thin, Kimberly kept her head up and made the best for herself in the best way possible. She stuck to what she was good at and kept going from there. “ In addition, the start to Kimberly's sixth-grade year is far from prepossessing, for she's shy and speaks almost no English, but she turns out to be a whiz at math and science. The following year she earns a scholarship to a prestigious private school.” (Kirkus Reviews) As humans we all face obstacles that could either make or break us. It is within our power to react to any given situation. Although Kimberly and her mother had many new obstacles given to them at once, they kept their integrity and overcame a huge hurdle in their life.
Anna HY Lim
Professor Wanda Sabir
English 1B
6 September 2012
A Free-write On the Interview: Jean Kwok, Author of Girl in Translation
Jean Kwok’s national bestseller novel, Girl in Translation, is a story about her life as a Chinese immigrant. When Kwok was a little girl, her family emigrated from Hong Kong to the United States hoping for a better life. The reality they faced when they arrived in New York was devastating. The family was extremely poor and could barely communicate in English. No matter; Kwok fought for a better life. She believed that she could achieve great things; her book is a true testament of that. The personal interview by Jen Chung with Kwok reveals her earlier life experiences, challenges, and inspirations that played important roles in her decision to become a writer.
Kwok’s earlier life experiences could be described as anything but easy. She was just a five years old when she began to work at the sweatshop in Chinatown to help out her parents. Kwok’s family lived in an apartment without central heating that was also rat-infested! Moreover, they could hardly speak English which was one the greatest challenges. For others, such environment may have been despairing, but Kwok refused to give up. She chose to see the brighter side of her situation. Kwok took the time to appreciate New York, its “incredible world of art, music and culture,” which gave her “a tremendous amount of freedom, to succeed and to fail” (¶7). She chose to see difficulties and challenges in her life as opportunities to learn.
Kwok’s novel is not inspired by the hardships she experienced earlier on in life. It is inspired by her love for her mother who could only speak a few words in broken English. Kwok tells Chung in the interview:
“I wanted to tell the other side of the story, to put English-speaking readers into the mind and heart of a Chinese immigrant, so that readers could experience what it was like to be on the other side of the language barrier. I wanted them to feel how it was to have to struggle to comprehend English, and yet to understand Chinese as easily as a native speaker does” (¶3).
The interview made me feel even more excited about reading Kwok’s novel. I also found her to an inspirational person.
Work Cited
Chung, Jen. "Jean Kwok, Author of Girl in Translation." Gothamist. Arts & Entertainment, 28 Apr. 2010. Web. 06 Sept. 2012. .
Anna and John, report with line breaks between your paragraphs, so the writing does not run together.
WS
Matt Dillon-Guerrero
Wanda Sabir
September 6 2012
Girl In Translation Published Review
Girl in Translation is a novel detailing the modern-day immigration experience. Kimberly, the protagonist and her mother have immigrated to New York from Hong Kong. As has been typical for so many of these present-day immigrants they are lied to about a better life in in the United States of America. These promises included, “a job at a garment factory as well as a nearby apartment.” Unfortunately for them their American dream has quickly turned into a nightmare, for to make ends meet “Mrs. Chang winds up working 12-hour--plus days in the factory. Kimberly joins her after school hours in this hot and exhausting labor, and the apartment is teeming with roaches(¶2).”
In China, Kimberly was a successful student. But the language barrier is exactly that, a barrier. She is also very shy, which compounds the problem, “but she turns out to be a whiz at math and science. The following year she earns a scholarship to a prestigious private school. Her academic gifts are so far beyond those of her fellow students that eventually she's given a special oral exam to make sure she's not cheating (Kirkus).”
Kimberly actually does so well that she is accepted to Yale on a full scholarship and then on to Harvard medical school. Other interactions involving Kimberly include interactions with Matt, her hunky Chinese-American boyfriend, who works at the factory, drops out of school and wants to provide for her; Curt, her hunky Anglo boyfriend, who's dumb but sweet; and Annette, her loyal friend from the time they're in sixth grade. Throughout the stress of adolescence, Kimberly must also negotiate the tension between her mother's embarrassing old-world ways and the allurement of American culture (Kirkus).
"Jean Kwok, Author of Girl in Translation." Kirkus Book Reviews, 22 September 2010. Web. 4 May 2010.
Robin DeLaney
Professor Sabir
September 5, 2012
English 1B
A Girl in Translation Review Summary:
The immigrant story of A Girl in Translation is a very familiar story if you were raised in the Bay Area. The struggle for Chinese immigrants, assimilating to American culture has been prevalent throughout history and is interesting because of the culture and values that easily translate into opportunities to live a prosperous and successful life for some immigrants, and other values and culture influences that do not translate as well, making their ability to conform to American culture a difficult task. This book highlights the different experiences that younger immigrants face in their attempts to adapt to American culture, and still maintain their identity, and also have to take on major responsibilities for their households based on their more fluid transitions.
Sareth Chhoth
Professor Sabir
English 1b
6 September 2012
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok is about a Chinese immigrant named Kimberly Chang. In a review of the novel, Rochman said, “Drawing on Kwok's personal experience, this debut novel tells a contemporary immigration story of heartbreaking struggle and wild success” (1). From what Rochman said we now know the novel is about the experiences the author went through. When reading the novel, we will know what hardships she went through in her life.
After coming to America by the help of her aunt Paula, Kimberly has to work for Paula. Kimberly indebted to her aunt, Now she and her mother are indebted to Kimberly's Aunt Paula, who funded their trip from Hong Kong, so they dutifully work for her in a Chinatown clothing factory where they earn barely enough to keep them alive (1). The place that Kimberly and her mother work is an illegal sweatshop. Kimberly struggles to earn enough money to get by and also struggles in school because of the limited English speaking. The language barrier makes it difficult for her to excel in school.
Kimberly lived in a small, dirty apartment with her mother. Kimberly had to be very clean and make sure no food was left in the open or even the toothpaste left uncapped because of the cockroaches that infested their apartment (2). That apartment in Brooklyn was all they could afford and so they lived there until things had gotten better for them. Her mother only got paid from her job by the amount of clothing she produced. Her mother received only 1.5 cents per clothing.
Caitlin Rockwell
Professor Sabir
English 1B
6 September 2012
Block quote, a citation, and a paraphrase
A block quote is a quotation in a written text that is separated from the main text and is set off using an indentation. You use a block quote is the quotation is longer then 4 lines in your paper. Introducing a block quote you must provide information in the sentence before the block quote is given. You don’t have to use quotation marks to open and close your quote. Too many block quotes can make your writing look choppy.
A citation is the texts source and it helps your readers or editors to check that the material you used is there and sourced. When quoting a piece of literature you must cite where you got that quote from to support your quote this is also the same for any facts you get from that source. When citing a source you must make sure it is done right and must at least have the authors name, the year of publication and a specific page reference.
To paraphrase means to rephrase a piece of a text or literature. It should be about the same length or a little shorter then the original text but in your own words you are rewriting the sentence. You have to restate your text clearly so the reader understands that it is not plagiarism. You should paraphrase when you are trying to summarize and put information into your own words.
Rosetta Egan
Professor Sabir
English 1B
7 September 2012
Jean Kwok
The book, Girl in Translation, is a semi autobiographical story by Jean Kwok who is interviewed in this article in Contemporary Authors Online which is a compilation of several interviews. Kwok writes about a fictional Chinese family of two, a mother and her daughter, who emigrate from Hong Kong before the Chinese Communist takeover of the island. Ma, the mother and Kim, the daughter are forced to live in squalor and work in sweatshops every waking hour (2). Kwok describes the lack of heat and other horrors of their living conditions this way:
[our flat was] biting cold . . . I was terrified of insects, and
if we left anything edible alone for a moment, even an
uncapped tube of toothpaste, we’d find a cockroach
licking it. (2)
In the story the details of their lives consist of one miserable experience after another but mother and daughter get through the days because of the love and support they give each other.
For Kim, going to school was a dreadful daily experience filled with fear and humiliation because she was unable to speak English. It is hard to imagine how complicated Kim’s English conversations were like. In her head she translates what people say to her in English into Chinese and then back into English to carry on a conversation. Kwok says it is like this: “. . . so [she’s] constantly translating [herself] back and forth” (2)
We do not just hear the interviewers’ voice because Kwok can respond in her own words. Kwok says she credits New York City for her work ethic and “it showed me an incredible world of art, music and culture” (2). New York also taught Kwok about the American dream of doing or being anything you want to be (2). Eventually, Kim gets into a private high school and goes to Yale and Kwok whose life story this book parallels, goes to Harvard on scholarships. For me, the best part of this book is the easy readability and also my favorite books are autobiographies and semi-autobiographies.
Citations
Asia Society, http://www.asiasociety.org/ (May 2, 2010) review of Girl in Translation.
Bookslut, http://www.bookslut.com/ (December 26, 2010), Jennifer Taylor, review of Girl in Translation.
Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2011. From Literature Resource Center.
Daily Mail Online, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ (December26, 2010)
Gothamist http://gothamist.com/ (December, 26, 2010), Kwok biography.
Vogue, May, 2010, “Family History,” p. 182.
Bibliography
Kwok Jean. Girl in Translation.New York: Riverhead Books, 2010.
Post a Comment