1. Feedback on first writing task

2. ACTIVITY: Be specific in your examples There are many ways that Lahiri shows the reader that Shoba and Shukumar have grown apart. There are many ways that Lahiri demonstrates Mr Pirzada’s connection to his homeland and estrangement from American life.

3. Include discussion of the writer’s techniques and intended meaning FOR EXAMPLE: Lahiri uses the lack of food as a metaphor to demonstrate the way Shoba and Shukamar have grown apart. Through the way they become distant from each other, Lahiri draws our attention to the importance of communication.

4. Analyse/ don’t just re-tell Mr Pirzada’s watch is set to the time in Dacca so that he could always think about his family. Mr Pirzada’s watch is always set to the time in Dacca symbolizing his connection to his family and detachment from the here and now.

5. Activity: Analyse- don’t just re-tell. Mr Pirzada slips while cutting the pumpkin because he hears the news. Mr Pirzada slips while cutting the pumpkin because he hears the news, symbolising … Mr Pirzada is always giving Lilia sweets and worries about her when she is out on Halloween. Mr Pirzada is always giving Lilia sweets, symbolising… His concern for her safety on Halloween represents…

6. Be specific in your use of examples There are many things Lahiri does to demonstrate the way Lilia is caught between two cultures. Lahiri makes a contrast between Lilia’s life at school and the Indian traditions she follows at home to demonstrate the way she is caught between two cultures.

7. Stay within the world of the text. How could you change this paragraph around to relate it more specifically to When Mr Pirzada came to dine.? Children are often focused only on themselves. Growing up involves learning to care about other people and to see things from their perspective. Sometimes one person you meet could have a very big impact on you. They could make you see something that you didn’t before. They could make you feel empathy for the first time. Then you are able to change.

8. Children are often focused only on themselves. Growing up involves learning to care about other people and to see things from their perspective. Through her use of first person retrospective narrator, Lahiri explores a turning point in Lilia’s life. Mr Pirzada enables Lilia to appreciate her cultural heritage. He also inspires her empathy as she finally understands what it is like to “miss someone who [is] so many … miles away.”