Chapter 1
Writing
IC3 Section
IC3 | IT | TOEFL | Best Answer
Vietnamese translation of IC3
Persian translation of IC3
Language Lessons
Assessment
Identity / Bản sắc فارسی سطح ۱ فصل ۱ هویت
Guiding Question: Who in the world am I? |
Câu hỏi hướng dẫn: Tôi là ai trong thế giới này? |
Pregunta de guía: ¿Quién soy yo? |
من چه کسی در دنیا هستم؟ |
Skills:
In this chapter you will do these things:
English Language:
- Draw a River of Life
- Telling One’s Life Story via The River of Life Map
- Introduction to IC3 Writing Skills
- What is a Sentence?
- Writing Assignment: Generating Sentences from the River of Life Map
- Vocabulary: Part of a River, Descriptive Words, Phrases for the Stages of Life
- Autobiographical Reading Passages
Vietnamese Language: Translating Identity Sentences Conversations that Identify Self Grammar: Personal Pronouns Writing Sentences Using Personal Pronouns IC3: Life is Short/Autobiography as Haiku |
IT: Blackboard Taking It Further:
TOEFL |
Intercultural Communicative Competence
LIFE IS SHORT | Autobiography as Haiku
In the Living and Arts section of the Sunday Washington Post, there was a feature called “Life is Short/ Autobiography as Haiku.” This feature no longer exists in the Post, but it seems very applicable to IC3.
Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that has seventeen or fewer syllables. In simple ways, haiku conveys an experience or reflects on some aspect of nature. In the Washington Post, however, the guidelines and invitation to write says, “Find a way to give insight into your life in under 100 words.”
Here, as examples and for your reading pleasure are a few of the articles published over the past few years. After you have read these examples, reflect and write insight into your life in under 100 words and share your “Life is Short/Autobiography as Haiku” article on your identity on the IC3 website.
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We had just completed a filling meal when the waitress asked if we wanted dessert. Before we could answer, she volunteered that a week before a customer had decided to skip dessert, had left the restaurant and was killed by a passing car, never to have dessert again. We all had strawberry cheesecake. Tom Dooley |
My little sister was born when I was in second grade. Proud big sister. When I was in high school, she was in second grade. Babysitter big sister. Soon preparations for my wedding. She was in high school. Maid of honor little sister. I'm raising babies. Nursing student little sister. I'm retired now. Soon she retires. She's a senior, like me. Social Security -- the great equalizer. Joanne DePaola |
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My son asks once again whether I will drive him the quarter-mile to school, though it's beautiful outside. "My backpack is so heavy!" he complains, and I have to admit, a sixth-grade backpack weighs a ton. I am about to remind him of the miles I trekked, on skis, in snow, to school each day growing up in Canada, when I think of all he's been through, these last few years: the divorce, the move, my working more. I make him walk to school. But I forgo the history lesson. Kayle Simon |
"Are you familiar with the word 'fate'?" I ask my high school class of English language learners as we read and discuss a poem. A young man from Afghanistan raises his hand. "It is about what will happen in your future and it is written." I am not surprised that this earnest, introspective student, mature among his peers, is the one who responds. I probe further. "What do you mean that it is written? Where and when?" "Oh, it is on the computer screen," he replies, "at the end of the video game." Janie Kaplan |
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Was I supposed to rue the day my wrinkles arrived? Because really, I'm rather proud of this crinkle in the corner of my eye. It lends a rich texture to my self-expression. Substantiates my stories. Punctuates my jokes. Implies all the empathy, passion, lust and joy that a younger me would struggle to convey. A real, grown- up, I-know-how-to-walk-in-heels, let-me-show-you-how-to-work-that- power-drill, I-don't-need-a-boyfriend-but-I'll-take-you-as-my-lover crease. A prism to refract the twinkle in my eye, an ornament that gilds the window to my soul . . . This, right here, is character, and it only deepens with age. What's not beautiful about that? Danielle Cantor |
Sometimes when he gets excited, he flaps his arms uncontrollably. People may stare, but I see a boy ready to take flight. Sometimes, even when the boy with brilliant eyes of blue cannot see me, I think the soul within recognizes me. He is my nephew, Jack. He's autistic. Some do not understand the brilliance that swirls in his head -- a Jackson Pollock canvas in the brain. I, however, see the maestro in all his colors. And even in a diagnosis that weighs on us, all anger and frustration can be easily removed with a single, beautiful giggle. Kathryn DeVito |
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I loved her with all my heart. Little did I know that this little dog was my teacher, showing me how to negotiate life's journey. Shana's lessons:
Lynda Van Kuren |
They tell me secrets (sometimes too many). They need a loan (sometimes too much). They ask advice (some honestly want it, others want only a sympathetic ear). They seek resume tweaking and interview guidance. They request misplaced phone numbers and e-mail addresses. I cheer their successes, tense at repeat mistakes, cry over hardships. I keep them connected to one another. I make them laugh. I adore their children. To them, my seven older siblings, I am still "The Baby." Whatever. Rachel Klein-Kircher |
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I used to know poems should rhyme and stories should start with "Once upon a time." I used to know Saturdays are for waking up early to make sure you don't miss a second. I used to know you could wear the same shirt to school every day just because it's your favorite. I used to know that games without boards or controllers or buttons are the best. I used to know that boys had cooties. I used to know parties are for special hats and, if not, at least for piñatas. Maybe I still know. Maybe that's the worst part. Madeline Holland |
"Aren't you going to ask me about school?" my 4-year old daughter asks as I go to turn off her light. I stay. Details surge -- hands trace the shape of her teacher's earrings. Today on the playground, she was one of the three pigs with Faith and Sanai -- Porter was the big bad wolf. "He didn't eat us." Her eyes play on the ceiling as if the record of her day is written there. More detail. "Chicken nuggets. And I didn't finish my milk." Our lives are like this: so much of beauty still left in the fields at night, the gleaners weary. Soren Johnson |
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What I need: round-trip bus tickets to New York, Advil, gas in my car, more money, a birthday card for Jean, to stop eating ice cream for breakfast, a way to move a futon to Boston, textbook money, a plan, a kitchen table. What I want: new shoes, to lose five pounds, a nap, free everything, my cat on my stomach, better social skills, cooking classes, someone else to do the dishes, beer money, cheese fries, to smack some people, fewer doubts, to be there already. What I have: two jobs, one more year of college, too much choice. Christine Bath |
I shop all over Washington in search of the perfect Chinese baby doll for my new granddaughter, who is half Chinese. I want her to have such a doll to identify with her Chinese heritage. I finally find the right one. As I give it to her, I see a blue-eyed blond doll that her Chinese grandfather, who just arrived from China, shopped all over that country to find for his new American granddaughter. Jane Steimel Bethesda The Washington Post Company |
The Trans
IC3 Persian Translation:
Taking It Further Explanation
Near the end of each IC3 chapter, professors or instructors are asked to plan "applied learning" events, interviews, research, or service projects on- or off-campus. "Taking It Further" means that our on-campus, classroom learning are just a first step in broader learning that affects our vocations, professions, and community service.
For instance, throughout our completion of chapter 1, all participating campuses and partners to this IC3 exchange are completing "web profiles" that will be used extensively by members of each pod. This "takes further" the relationship building of pod members. Another example, at the end of chapter 2 (Food and Water Security), a language class using IC3 could link with a biology department to examine "best practices" in protecting a clean watershed. In Vietnam, this could involve the students' applied learning of water security in terms of the health of the Mekong River, upstream and downstream inter-state concerns, and the long-term viability of industries alongside fish and rice farming. Here in Virginia (USA), our students will examine our watershed, which flows into the Shenandoah River and the Chesapeake Bay, and from there the Atlantic Ocean. Or at the end of chapters 6, 7 and 10 (Domestic Economics, Regional Trade, Globalization), a class could interview merchants and vendors of one's village or city to discern their wisdom in making a living in an age of globalization.
There is no single set of learning objectives for the Taking It Further exercises. Hopefully, each participating campus and partner to IC3 can share through pod dialogues your lessons learning through this exercise. There may even be collaborative study, research, or service for certain Taking It Further ventures among IC3 partners.
Sketching a Web
This lesson within each IC3 chapter presents ways for “communities of learning” to further their inter-cultural experience. First, these lessons open your classroom out onto a much bigger world. Take the learning from in-class exercises and begin to make applications outside of class and off campus. In this way, practice applying your knowledge in real life situations.
Second, these lessons make possible a more three-dimensional relationship with other “communities of learning.” You are linked through an online learning platform with youth in another culture, on another continent, and embedded in a different way of “knowing.” Make the most of this online link and imagine ways in which you can shape and give depth to this relationship.
But there is a critical first step! You must first identify who you are. Do so here through examining the “web” of influences in your own life. Who has shaped you? Who has suggested to you possible directions in life? With whom do you spend your most meaningful time? The initial “Taking It Further” lessons provide steps for your own creation of a web of relations and influences. Use this and the step-by-step web platform to post a three-dimensional picture of your personality and community.
As other “Taking It Further” exercises take you more deeply into your community and links with other “communities of learning” around the world, you are free to go back and modify your posted identity on the IC3 web.
So let us get started! Take out a blank piece of paper. Draw lines from three corners toward the center of page. Imagine that as a spider spins a web, you too have “anchor points” from which you drop threads of experience, learning, received wisdom, environmental influences, and meaningful relationships. Think long and hard about the most significant of these influences in your life. With a pencil (for you will likely be going back and erasing and rewriting a lot), write in words or short phrases that could label these influences. On separate sheets of paper, write and rewrite a paragraph about each of these “anchor points.” In Lesson 2, you will be asked to use this information to post online your “lifelong learning web.” You will be given space to submit five brief entries. Keep this in mind as you write and rewrite your paragraphs.
Set aside your penciled-in “lifelong learning web” of explanatory paragraphs. Talk this exercise over with classmates and instructors.
Foreign Film Series (2004-2008)
Eastern Mennonite University has helped facilitate a foreign film series linking Iranian, Vietnamese, and U.S. campuses over the last four years. This year, we approach the 60 th film screened and discussed online among these youth. New countries have joined the series and dialogue, including Mozambique, India, Tibet, Uganda, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Japan.
Students of each culture first select a film that speaks to an important point of their culture. We purchase copies for all participating classes and forward these by courier. Each group then views at roughly the same time each film. A brief post-film intra-cultural discussion precedes comments posted online to the other nodes of the web. Students work in pods of fifteen or so participants representing all parts of the web. After reading the posts within one’s pod, students comment again online as to what they’ve learned from one another’s perspective.
The goal of each film screening is to gain perspective on other cultures and then to dialogue across boundaries. Given the initial partners to this film series, this dialogue has been primarily among youth whose countries have identified “the other” as an enemy – past and present – Vietnam, Iran, and the United States. We link to learn more about one another; we gain some empathy and perhaps transform our knowledge of and relations with others. That is, we seek to grow a new sense of “we” and diminish the existing sense of “they.” If such inter-cultural skills and experiences are critical to the learning objectives of your class, please join this web of viewers and discussants. Link to learn, empathize to transform.
IT: Blackboard
- When you have seen a movie or complete a chapter, you are going to practice using Blackboard to discuss them with other students participating in IC3. As an example, we will use the movie “A Dream in Hanoi” and you imagine that you are participating on Blackboard to communicate with students in other countries.
- Open the Internet and go to www.emu.edu/ic3 . This is the IC3 homepage. Take a moment to look around at some of the links on the IC3 homepage.
- To access Blackboard click on the words “Post Your Best Answers,” at the top of the page. This will open a new window that displays the Blackboard homepage.
- Look to the left hand side of the page and click on the button that reads “Login.”
- Enter your username and password in the blank spaces on the page.
- If your username and password are correct you should be taken to your individual Blackboard homepage.
- Look to the right hand side of the page for the “Foreign Film Series” link that appears in the “My Courses” box. This takes you to the main page for the “Foreign Film Series” course.
- Since you will be participating in the forum click on the word “Forum” on the left-hand side of the page. This opens a page with links to forums for all of the movies that we have viewed as part of the Foreign Film Series.
- Scroll down until you see the link “The White Balloon” written in blue. Notice to the right of this link there is a message that tells you the total number of messages in the forum as well as the number of messages that are new. Click on the link that reads A “A Dream in Hanoi”. This opens the discussion forum for “A Dream in Hanoi.” Now you should be able to see all the postings on the movie.
- Each posting is noted by a red link. By clicking on one of these links you will be able to read that posting. But notice that there are two links next to each other. On the left is the subject of the posting. In this forum it might read “A Dream in Hanoi” or mention some other phrase that has to do with the movie. The link to the right of the subject link is the name of the person who made the post. Clicking on the person’s name will allow you to send e-mail to that person. DO NOT click on the person’s name. To the right of the person’s name is the date and time that the posting was made; this information is not a link.
- Notice now that the links to some responses are indented from others and have the letters “Re:” in front of them. Like e-mail, this means that this posting is a reply to another posting.
Replying to another student’s post is almost like carrying on a conversation with that student. You can ask questions that relate directly to his or her post, and then other people can reply to you. Later you can come back and see what new posts have been added to the conversation and then you can make another or several other postings in response.
- When reading posts from other students understand that it is not necessary to read all of the posts in a forum. Skim the subject lines in the forum and look for a posting that interests you. Read that forum and the posts that were made as replies. Do this several times with different posts to get a better understanding of what people are saying in the forum. Notice whether there are any common themes among all of the postings. Practice reading some of the postings made by other students by clicking on appropriate links.
- To post your own response in a forum you have two options. You can pose totally new questions or make comments that have not been made before OR you can reply to another posting.
- First, posting your own questions or comments that do not relate to another student’s post is called posting a new thread so find the button that says “Post New Thread” at the top of the page and click on it. This opens up a new screen where you can type your post.
- It is often wise to type your post in Microsoft Word so that you can spell check it and save it to your disk. Once you have your post typed in word save it to your disk and copy and paste it into the box labeled “Message” on Blackboard.
- Notice that there is a blank box next to the word “Subject” above the box labeled “Message.” In the “Subject” box you should write a few words that will help other students understand what you are writing about without having to read your whole post. The “Subject” should be no more than 10 words.
- When you are ready to post click the “Submit” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. This will take you back to the main page of the forum and you should be able to see your posting on the page.
Another option is to reply to someone else’s posting. To do this, open the post that you would like to reply to. Notice in the bottom right hand corner of the screen there is a button with the word “Reply” on it. Click on the “Reply” button. This will open the screen that you may write on to post your reply. Notice that the subject line is already filled in. It will have the letters “Re:” indicating that you are replying to someone else and then the subject from the post that you are replying to. You do not need to replace this subject with your own, but you may do so if you wish. Copy and paste your post in the “Message” box after spell checking it in Microsoft Word and click on the “Submit” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
Exercise:
Ope n the Internet and go to Google.com
- Conduct a search in Google for “Vo Tong Xuan.”
- Many entries will come up on your screen. Select the first listing, “In Person: Vo Tong Xuan ( Viet Nam), and article written by Eileen Conway. Although this article is “dated,” that is, it was written several years ago, there are a number of valuable aspects of this written work.
- You learn some of the background history of agricultural projects that have linked Long Xuyen and Can Tho to the broader world.
- You gain some knowledge of the challenges facing rice farmers in the Mekong Delta and other rice-growing regions.
- You learn about an important international organization that offers free online articles and books concerning rice agriculture. Let’s begin our study with this topic.
- From the “url” for this article you learn who has written it. “url” means “Uniform Resource Locator.” The “url” is the “http://www…” address at the bottom of the screen. It reads: http://www.idrc.ca/library/document/102386/xuan.html. It connects you to the “http,” or “Hyper Text Transfer Protocol,” or data base of network information for your topic.
- Go back to your “Google.com” search box and type in “idrc.ca,” to learn more about the host of this website, the International Development Resource Centre, which is an international research institute funded by the Canadian government.
- Click on the “English” box.
- On the left hand side of their “homepage” (from which you may search in many directions), click on “Library.” Then click on the highlighted “BIBLIO” for a “hyper-link” to the IDRC’s catalog of library resources. A “hyper-link” will always be highlighted in blue. When you move your mouse to this underlined word, your cursor will turn into an icon in the shape of a hand. This is your signal that you may click to a current posting of this “BIBLIO” or library catalog.
- In the library catalog, try to see how many current Vietnamese entries there are on the topic of Vietnamese agriculture and “identity” issues among Vietnamese farmers.
- In the “Keywords” section at the top of your page, type in “ Vietnam” AND “Rice.” For now, you need NOT type in any other information. Click “enter” to view the eight entries on Vietnam and rice.
- You will see toward the bottom of this list the 1995 article by Eileen Conway on Dr. Vo Tong Xuan. But go further in your search. Record the first five entries you find.
- Click on the article by Nguyen Huu Dung and Tran thi Thanh Dung. Its title is, “Economic and Health Consequences of Pesticide Use in Paddy Production in the Mekong Delta.”
- You will be shown a library catalog entry for the work of these two Vietnamese scholars. Several lines down in this catalog entry, you will see a hyper-link to this article and its url: http://idrinfo.idrc.ca/archive/corpdocs/113557/economic.htm.
- Click on this url, and skim the title and abstract.
- An “abstract” is often placed at the beginning of an article. It is generally no longer than a few lines or one paragraph. From this abstract, you can tell what the entire article is about.
- While you may not be able to read this level of English at present, as you progress to the higher levels of www.emu.edu/IC3/. You will soon be able to access, read, evaluate, and respond to these articles about development in Vietnam and the world.
- For the time being, there is still much you can learn about rice production in the Mekong Delta. Go back to your www.emu.edu/IC3/ homepage. At the top of the homepage, just beneath the banner of pictures, you will see a box at the right that says, “Dr. Rice.”
- Click on this hyper-link. Here you may examine closely the bilingual work of An Giang University and the International Rice Research Institute from Los Banos, Philippines.
- Experiment on your own the many links in Vietnamese and English under this website.
- Answer the following questions.
- How can you use this “Dr. Rice” link in your home village, district, or city? Who should know about this link, and how might they make use of it?
Best Answers to Guiding Questions:
This "Best Answers" forum allows students and teachers to learn from one another inter-culturally. On each side of the world where classes are immersed in www.emu.edu/ic3 curriculum work, there has been consideration of an important development question. In Level 1, Chapter 1 students have wrestled with a key developmental question, "Who in the world am I? Am I undergoing significant change?" To answer this fully in another language, many steps have been taken. First, classrooms discussed this question through Listening/Speaking, Writing, and Reading exercises in a second language - either in Vietnamese or in English. Second, students have thought "internally" (within themselves) about this question. Third, they have written and corrected a draft of this response on the computer, using new second-language and IT skills. Third, they are now prepared to take the extraordinary step of sharing this work product with students in another land. Their counterparts are simultaneously trying their best to communicate to you. They are likewise posting their answer to this same developmental question, using their own new second-language and IT skills. Once the postings are complete on the "Best Answers" forum, classrooms at each end of the inter-cultural exchange may decide how best to read, comment upon, and respond to the answers posted by students at the "other end of the dialogue."
Instructors and students, alike, may judge whether or not this exchange is deepening your learning. As one examines one's own answer in light of another's response from another culture, how does this sharpen or deepen your own understanding of self? Begin to write down and discuss whether you see small steps of progress in thinking across the North American and Vietnamese cultural boundaries as a result of your participation in this IC3 forum and curriculum. In the chapters and levels ahead, more and more developmental questions are posed. As participants progress from the Llevel 1 to the five levels of instruction, the same development concerns are examined with more challenging and sophisticated materials. The dialogue, therefore, is expected to gain momentum and depth, even as it requires more critical examination of one's own, another student's, and world expert analysis of key development questions.
After you have completed the Reading, Listening/Speaking, and Writing chapters 1, how would you answer the following question?
Guiding Question: Who in the world am I? |
Câu hỏi hướng dẫn: Tôi là ai trong thế giới này? |
Pregunta de guía: ¿Quién soy yo? |
من چه کسی در دنیا هستم؟ |