Assignment
Textbook: Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
Answer the questions in complete sentences below.
Before you read
• What are the different "languages" you use? When and why? Consider both reading and writing, and don't forget about emails and texts! If you speak another language, include it (or possibly them if you know more than one). Write a paragraph with a topic sentence and examples here or in your journal:
Read
• What is Tan's ethnic background?
• What is her job?
• What does she mean by Englishes in paragraph 2?
• When she was growing up, how did she feel about her mother's English? Give a quote to support your answer from the text.
• What point is she making with the example of the stockbroker?
• What point is Tan making with the example of her mother and the hospital?
• Tan says that experts believe that a person's "developing language skills are more influenced by peers"; yet she thinks that family is more influential, "especially in immigrant families." Do you think family or peers exert more influence on a person's language? Why or why not?
• Why does Tan discuss the SAT and her performance on it?
• What is the author's purpose in writing this essay?
After you read
? "Translate" the register from Ms. Tan's mother's English to "correct" standard English in your own words. THEN, write what the daughter (Ms. Tan) says that matches and has the same meaning.
Mother: "Why he don't send me check, already two weeks late. So mad he lie to me, losing me money."
Your correction:
Ms. Tan's words with same meaning:
Mother: "What he want, I come to New York tell him front of his boss, you cheating me?"
Your correction:
Ms. Tan's words with same meaning:
HW- Writing: write on one of the two tasks below on the next page, ~100-200 words (journal)
• a diary entry that describes a day when someone made assumptions/stereotypes or even a judgment (negative or positive) about you based on your language usage (written or spoken, English or other languages). How did you feel?
• a brief essay discussing at least two different "languages" you use in writing and speaking. Be specific in your description of each one, and explain why that "language" is appropriate for a particular occasion or audience. You might consider what would happen if you used one of your "Englishes" in a setting more appropriate to another-what would the consequences be?
Format your assignment according to the give formatting requirements:
• The answer must be using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, typed, with one-inch margins on all sides.
• The response also includes a cover page containing the student's name, the title of the assignment, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
• Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.