Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Unwanted by Kien Nguyen 200 POINTS TOTAL
Take home exam, due tomorrow, August 18th, typed and double spaced. Responses must be in essay format but do not require a formal introduction paragraph.

Short essay questions, worth 50 points each:

1. Which scene in the book affected you most deeply? Explain how it affected you and why.

2. Select one of the characters and make assertions (at least two) about their character/personality/sensibility. Support your assertions using specific details from the text. Be specific and thorough. There is no need to directly quote or indicate page number. You can simply paraphrase.

3. Do the same thing as #2 above, focusing on a different character in the memoir.

4. Select one of the many themes about home that we have read about and/or discussed this semester (losing home, returning home, the myth of home, leaving home, finding home, etc.) and explain how it applies to this memoir specifically. You may INSTEAD focus on another theme of your choice besides for the home theme, as we discussed in class today.

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EXTRA CREDIT (OPTIONAL) Worth 2 points each
Who spoke these words?

1. “Madam, is it fine with you that the children keep the dog? I am sorry for not asking you first, but I do want to leave them something to remember me by before I go.”

2. “And you….each time you told me that I am your only sister, in my heart, I truly wanted to believe you, but I won’t anymore. It always ends up hurting too much. Today, your son beat mine to within an inch of death. I am terminating this relationship, sister. From this point on, we are just two unfortunate families sharing a well and a shithouse.”

3. “Let me ask you then, does it bother you that I am from the north?”

4. “You can sell the necklace…But can I keep the jade? It’s the only thing left for us to remember Loan.”

Thursday, August 12th

Happy weekend to all of you. Enjoy and be safe.
See you Tuesday...
we will do some concentrated work/discussion regarding THE UNWANTED.

Wednesday, August 4th

Good evening, I apologize for posting this assignment so late into the day.
Please read the following for Essay Packet #3, due to be read by tomorrow's class.

"How Arizona became ground zero for immigration reform" by Daniel B. Wood
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/0803/How-Arizona-became-ground-zero-for-immigration-reform


"America's struggle with slavery reverberates in Arizona's Immigration Controversy"
http://freedomcenter.org/freedom-forum/index.php/?p=2919

Also, thank you for those who shared kind words of hope for my mother. She is doing well after suffering her third stroke in two years.

Later that same day...Monday, August 2nd

New Assignment...NOT on course outline.
Due on Wednesday, August 4th.
Please bring in a typed response to the following:
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD "IMMIGRATION'?
(You can write your response in list form...bulleted items...prose...etc.)
Very important: DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ANYWHERE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT.

MONDAY, August 2, 2010

Greetings, here is the link to the Essay 2 packet, due to be read by Wednesday this week.
It is an interesting piece from Esquire magazine regarding the homeless.

"Down & Out in Fresno and San Francisco" by Colby Buzzel
http://www.esquire.com/features/down-and-out-0709

Midnight on Wednesday evening, July 28th

The following two essays comprise Essay Packet #1. These two essays are due to be read by Tuesday, August 3.
A question and comment for each essay is also due on Tuesday.

"Are we Worthy of Our Kitchens?"
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/are-we-worthy-of-our-kitchens

"The Magic of the Family Meal"
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1200760,00.html

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

Below is a copy of out of class essay assignment #2, assigned today in class.

English 20, Sections 3
Summer 2010
Course Theme: The Significance of Home
Instructor: C. Fraga

Out of Class Essay Assignment #2
• Assigned: Tuesday, July 27
• Rough Draft (optional): If you wish to submit a rough draft, it must be submitted no later than Tuesday, August 3.
• Due: Thursday, August 5
• Essay must follow MLA format exactly.
• Essay must be typed and double spaced.
• Essay must have a minimum of five sources on the Works Cited page. You are welcome to use the Internet for sources, but at least one of your sources cannot be found on the Internet (for example, use a book, view a film or documentary, conduct an interview, etc.)

Essay Prompt:

• For this essay, you will first select a group of people from another culture, religion and/or country OR a particular time period in a group of people’s lives that you are genuinely interested in finding out more about.
• You will then conduct research in order to discover and then write about at least three significant ways in which persons from this culture/country/religion (or someone in a particular situation) must adapt to home, whether it is a new home, a changed home, etc.
• You will then begin by writing a thesis that is assertive and debatable.


For example, imagine that you selected the adaptation of the Hmong once they arrive in the US. After conducting some research, you decide to present information on male and female roles in marriage, religious practices and diet as the three areas of adjustment you feel are most significant and would make the most interesting reading.

Your thesis might read something like the following:

Hundreds of Hmong people immigrate to the United States every year and face many difficult challenges, particularly in the areas of religious practices, changes in diet and male/female roles within a marriage.

• I highly encourage you to consider your academic major or an area of personal interest when selecting the three areas or issues. For example, if your major is early childhood education, you may find it particularly enjoyable to pursue the acclimation of young immigrant children; if you are an economics major you might want to explore employment struggles/strengths of new immigrants

• Likewise, when selecting an overall topic, I encourage you to consider your academic major or an area of personal interest. Some topics that students have explored in the past or topics that have been suggested during a class brainstorming session are:

1. transition from having a home to being homeless
2. transition from serving in the military in combat (or not) and then returning to civilian life.
3. transition from being single to being married
4. transition from being married to being divorced
5. transition from living at home to living away from home
6. transition from being incarcerated to being released
7. transition from being in a long term relationship to losing one’s partner to death
8. transition from having children living at home to experiencing an ‘empty nest’



(An essay that asks students to address a topic such as this one would be difficult to complete in less than five pages, approximately.)