1. Click the mouse button or press the space bar to continue
Unit 1, Part 1
Waters of Gold
Click the mouse button or press the space bar to continue
Splash

2. In studying this text, you will focus on the following objectives:
For pages 56–68
In studying this text, you will focus on the following objectives:
Literary Study: Analyzing an author’s style.
Reading: Activating prior knowledge.
Before You Read

3. Click the picture to learn about the author.
Meet Laurence Yep
Click the picture to learn about the author.
Author Search For more about Laurence Yep, go to glencoe.com and enter QuickPass code GL39770u1.
Before You Read

4. Connect to the Folktale
Think about a time when you acted generously toward a friend, a family member, or your community.
Partner Talk With a parent or sibling, talk about why you chose to be generous. How did others benefit from your actions? Also discuss any factors that made you hesitate before acting.
Before You Read

5. Build Background
A folktale is a traditional story that has been passed from generation to generation by oral retelling. “Waters of Gold” is a written version of an ancient Asian folktale. This story takes place in a small farming village.
In the farming village where the story is set, wealth and leisure are rare. Water has to be hauled from a well. Survival depends on hard work.
Before You Read

6. Build Background
In folktales, it is common for everyday life to be turned around by a magical person or force.
Folktales teach lessons about human nature, featuring characters who choose right over wrong, gain wisdom, or live out their values.
Before You Read

7. Set Purposes for Reading
As you read, identify the values revealed by each character’s words and actions.
Before You Read

8. Set Purposes for Reading
Style
Style is the distinctive way an author writes. Two important elements of style are word choice, or diction, and sentence structure.
Word Choice is an author’s use of specific, vivid words to express certain ideas or feelings.
Before You Read

9. Set Purposes for Reading
Style
Sentence Structure refers to the way a sentence is put together. Short sentences can speed readers through the story’s action. Longer sentences with phrases provide depth of detail.
Before You Read

10. Set Purposes for Reading
Style
Simple words and sentences are typical in folktales—they help make the stories easier to remember and recite.
As you read, ask yourself, how does the author’s style help me imagine and understand the folktale?
Before You Read

11. Set Purposes for Reading
Activate Prior Knowledge
When you activate prior knowledge, you recall what you already know. When someone mentions a topic, you’re likely to think of facts, processes, or experiences related to that topic. Connecting to what you know can help you make sense of new information.
Before You Read

12. Set Purposes for Reading
Activate Prior Knowledge
For example, think of some folktales that you’ve heard or read. Folktales include animal stories, trickster tales, fairy tales, myths, legends, and tall tales. What do these stories have in common?
Before You Read

13. Set Purposes for Reading
Activate Prior Knowledge
As you read, you can use a graphic organizer like the one on the following slide to help you activate prior knowledge about the setting, characters, or vocabulary in the folktale.
Before You Read

14. Set Purposes for Reading
Activate Prior Knowledge
Before You Read

15. Activate Prior Knowledge Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 59. Think of other stories in which you have heard this phrase. From what you remember, what kind of story do you think this will be?
Reading the Selection

16. Cultural History
In many cultures, hospitality toward guests or strangers is an important value. Guests and strangers have expectations as to how they should be treated and are offended if these expectations are not met.
Before You Read

17. Style Read the fifth paragraph on page 59
Style Read the fifth paragraph on page 59. Why do you think the author provides details of how the beggar is ignored?
Reading the Selection

18. Style Read the fifth paragraph on page 59
Style Read the fifth paragraph on page 59. Why do you think it is important in the story for readers to imagine the villagers’ reactions?
Reading the Selection

19. Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 60
Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 60. What does this simple statement suggest about Auntie Lily’s attitude toward the beggar?
Reading the Selection

20. Activate Prior Knowledge Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 60. Think of a TV or movie character whose attitude is similar to the rich old woman’s. What words would you use to describe this character?
Reading the Selection

21. Style Read the last two paragraphs on page 60
Style Read the last two paragraphs on page 60. What does the beggar’s statement “Heaven is my roof, and the whole world my house” mean?
Reading the Selection

22. Style Read the last two paragraphs on page 60
Style Read the last two paragraphs on page 60. What is the author’s purpose in using figurative language in the beggar’s responses?
Reading the Selection

23. Writer’s Technique
Yep states that good writing “brings out what’s special in ordinary things.” “Waters of Gold” focuses on normal people living ordinary lives. For the beggar, simple comforts like a bowl of water, are luxuries. Through his descriptions, and by contrasting the beggar with people who are more affluent, Yep shows how simple things can be special.
Before You Read

24. Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 62
Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 62. How do the words the author uses help you visualize the scene?
Reading the Selection

25. Identifying Sequence Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 62
Identifying Sequence Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 62. You may have seen movies with pirates or gold diggers who bite gold. Based on what you’ve seen, why do you think the farmer bites he gold coin?
Reading the Selection

26. Identifying Sequence Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 62
Identifying Sequence Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 62. Why is gold so valuable?
Reading the Selection

27. Identifying Sequence Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 62
Identifying Sequence Read the excerpt highlighted in blue on page 62. What other valuable item would cause the same reaction from the villagers?
Reading the Selection

28. Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 63
Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 63. What do the old woman’s actions reveal about how her values have changed?
Reading the Selection

29. Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 64
Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 64. In what way does the length of this sentence and its one-syllable words convey the feeling of this scene?
Reading the Selection

30. Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 65
Style Read the excerpt highlighted in purple on page 65. Though the beggar repeats the old woman’s words from earlier in the story, in what way is the meaning different?
Reading the Selection

31. Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 66
Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 66. What do the old woman’s actions reveal about how her values have changed?
Reading the Selection

32. Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 66
Read the excerpt highlighted in tan on page 66. How might the story change if the person the old woman helps is clean and well dressed?
Reading the Selection

33. Respond and Think Critically
1. How does Auntie Lily know the rich old woman? [Identify]
After You Read

34. Respond and Think Critically
2. Auntie Lily states, “There’s a bit of Heaven in each of us.” What does this tell you about her attitude toward other people? [Infer]
After You Read

35. Respond and Think Critically
3. Why does the rich old woman find snakes, lizards, and ants in her bucket instead of gold? [Conclude]
After You Read

36. Respond and Think Critically
4. Find words or phrases that indicate this story is a folktale. Why do you think the author chose to convey his main message about values in a folktale instead of another type of story? [Analyze]
After You Read

37. Respond and Think Critically
TIP: Analyzing
Here are some tips to help you analyze. Remember that when you analyze, you look at individual parts of the selection in order to understand the entire selection.
After You Read

38. Respond and Think Critically
Skim the selection for words or phrases that are usually found in folktales.
Identify how these phrases help the author tell the story.
Locate phrases and sentences that the author uses to teach a lesson.
After You Read

39. Respond and Think Critically
5. Think about the endings of other folktales you know. Are the endings of these stories different than the ending of “Waters of Gold”? Explain your ideas. [Evaluate]
After You Read

40. Respond and Think Critically
6. What actions show that Auntie Lily and, later, her rich old neighbor live out the values of generosity and compassion? What are some other ways people show that they believe in these values? [Connect]
After You Read

41. Style
1. Describe Yep’s writing style, including word choice and sentence structure, in “Waters of Gold.” Support your observations with examples from the selection.
After You Read

42. Style 2. Why do you think most folktales reflect a similar style?
After You Read

43. Review: Narrator and Point of View
Every story has a storyteller, or narrator. Point of view is the relationship of the narrator to the story.
In the first-person point of view, the narrator is a character in the story who refers to himself or herself as “I” or “me.”
After You Read

44. Review: Narrator and Point of View
In the third-person point of view, the narrator is not a character in the story and does not take part in events. He or she stands apart from the action and describes what is happening.
After You Read

45. Review: Narrator and Point of View
3. Who is telling the story in “Waters of Gold”? What clues did you use to help you determine the narrator and the point of view?
After You Read

46. Activate Prior Knowledge
4. (a) In what ways did the characters and events of “Waters of Gold” meet your expectations? In what ways did they surprise you? Use the notes in your graphic organizer to help you answer.
After You Read

47. Activate Prior Knowledge
4. (b) What qualities are different? Use a Venn Diagram like the one below to help you respond.
After You Read

48. Activate Prior Knowledge
5. Think of the setting in another folktale you’ve read. What qualities does this setting share with the setting of “Waters of Gold”?
After You Read