1. Language and Identity Culture and Identity Unit 2 Freshman Seminar Henrico High School

2. Amy Tan American writer of Chinese descent Novel, The Joy Luck Club, has been made into a major motion picture Also wrote The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and To Save a Fish from Drowning. In a band of fellow writers, including Stephen King and Dave Barry, called the Rock Bottom Remainders

3. Where does creativity hide?

4. Writing from Personal Experience

5. Finding Meaning Through Writing

6. “Mother Tongue” Think about the following: –What point is her mother trying to make with the example of her mother and the hospital? –What point is she making with the example of the stockbroker? –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. What do you think? –Why does Tan discuss the SAT and her performance on it? –Why does she envision her mother as a reader of her novels?

7. Your experience Do you have two “Englishes”? Have you had experiences with parents or friends who are English language learners that may have seemed awkward at first? How have you learned to appreciate the intelligence of someone whose English skills may not be as refined as yours?