Chapter 2
Writing
English and Vietnamese Section
Old Sept 30, 2008
English | Vietnamese
IC3 | IT | TOEFL | Best Answer
Self- and Teacher Evaluation
Clean Water
Sinh thái học về nước
Who has the responsibility for protecting and preserving the earth’s water supply?
Câu hỏi hướng dẫn:
Ai có trách nhiệm bảo vệ và gìn giữ nguồn cung cấp nước của trái đất?
Vietnamese Language Skills:
New Vocabulary
Grammar: Classifiers “Xe” and “Bị”.
Writing About the Environment
Water can be studied for its scientific and physical characteristics. We also talk about water use as being issues of social, political and environmental concerns. But water can also be of great importance to the folklore and tradition of all cultures in the world. There are creation stories in which the earth emerges from water, there are flood stories, there are stories that explain natural phenomena like floods and the rainy season. Many cultures find water to be sacred—it purifies, it transforms, in is used in rites of passage. As you participate in the activities of this chapter, reflect on how water is valued by the many cultures of the world and what implications that has on how we take care of the earth’s water supply.
Here is the beginning of a Vietnamese folktale. Hopefully, you or one of your classmates knows the story. In small groups of three or four, read the first paragraph, then prepare to tell the rest of the story by answering questions and filling in the spaces below. Try to answer all the questions and fill in the spaces to the best of your ability. If you do not know what to write, leave the spaces blank. Hint: This story is also about the Milky Way.
The Silver River
(From: Land of Seagull and Fox: Folk Tales of Vietnam. Collected and retold by Ruth Q. Sun. John Weatherhill, Inc., Publishers, Tokyo, Japan, 1966, pp. 39-41.)
On any beautiful, bright night, should you raise your eyes to the stars, you will see an immense whitish band that crosses the heavens like a scarf. This is the Silver River. Upon each of its banks lives one of the Ngau family—husband and wife—separated from each other through the will of the Emperor of Heaven. And here is their story, so sweet, so sad:
Small Group Work:
1. Who are the characters in the story? What do they do? What do they look like?
Emperor of Heaven or Jade Emperor_______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Chuc Nu, daughter of the Emperor_________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Ngau Lang, the Emperor’s shepherd________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
2. Write down the chronology of events in the story. “Chronology” means the order of the story. Write each event of the story in the order that it happened. The first event is written for you:
Event #1: Chuc Nu and Ngau Lang see each other everyday as they do their work.
Event #2: __________________________________________________________________
Event #3: __________________________________________________________________
Etc.: The number of events in the story may vary depending on how you remember it.
3. What is the natural phenomenon or phenomena that the story explains? ______________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Now here is the Story. After you have read it, go back and finish answering the questions and filling in the spaces above.
The Silver River continued:
Chuc Nu, one of the most beautiful of the many daughters of the Jade Emperor, was the cleverest and the most industrious of them all. Every morning she went regularly to the banks of the Silver River, and there she worked at her daily chore of spinning and weaving all through the day. Her feet worked the pedals of her loom, while her hands passed the tapering shuttle back and forth. It was she who made the clothing for all the Tien, the immortal beings of the court. The rhythmic sounds of the loom mingled with the song of the silver waves.
Every day the shepherd Ngau Lang led the emperor’s flocks along the edge of the river. And so, everyday he would see the diligent princess working at her loom. He admired the perfection of her face and the grace of her movements. But what is more, this young shepherd was very handsome—so handsome that Chuc Nu could not help but notice him, too.
When the Jade Emperor observed the interest these two young people had in each other, he decided not to come between them. So he consented to their marriage, insisting only that each of them continue their work after marriage for weaving the clothing of the Tien and herding the Emperor’s flocks was very important.
But in the midst of their shared delights and new-found happiness, Ngau Lang and Chuc Nu forgot the Emperor’s command. Endless walks along the river as if in a dream kept the young lovers from their work.
The understanding and generous Jade Emperor transformed into one of anger and severity. He separated the newly weds, forcing each to return to their work, but this time on opposite sides of the Silver River.
Ever since then, they both look up at the shining dome of the sky. Though far from each other, they think constantly of each other and their love.
Just once each year they are permitted to meet again. The rendezvous occurs in the seventh moon, which is consequently called “the month of the Ngau.”
Each time that they meet again, Ngau Lang and Chuc Nu shed tears of joy. They weep again, sadly, when the moment of parting is upon them. That is why the rains fall so abundantly in the seventh month of the year. These are the famous “Ngau rains” or “Mua Ngau.” Moreover, if you go to the countryside at this time of the year, the peasants there will surely call to your attention the complete absence of ravens. They have flown up to heaven to form with their outstretched wings the bridge across which the husband walks to join his wife for their moment of fulfillment.
Introduction to Skill(s):
In Chapter 1, it was explained that we emphasize nine steps to the writing process:
- Exploring and discovering ideas
- Organizing ideas
- Developing cohesion and style
- Using correct form
- Writing the first draft
- Editing your writing
- Writing a second draft
- Using feedback
- Developing fluency
We will include these steps in every chapter, but special focus will be given to specific steps in each chapter. In this chapter we will take a careful look at the first two steps: Exploring and discovering ideas and Organizing ideas.
Exploring and Discovering Ideas: Remembering Stories—Looking for Stories
Getting a good idea to write about is very important and challenging. If you have a good idea, writing becomes much easier. If you have an uninteresting idea or no idea at all, writing can be a miserable experience.
In chapter 1, we introduced the idea of freewriting. Freewriting is a useful tool for exploring, discovering and generating ideas for writing. As a language learner, we encourage you to freewrite in English as much as possible—keep a diary or journal that you write in daily, keep a notebook with you to jot down ideas wherever you go, or email friends often.
Sometimes a good idea may come from looking at what others have written. We are hoping, in this chapter, to stimulate your memory about stories that have been told to you throughout your childhood and up to the present. We do this by showing you the example of a story you may already know.
As a language learner, you should become aware of the ways in which you get ideas. We offer you a variety of ways to explore and discover your ideas for writing. Perhaps you like to look at pictures; perhaps reading about a certain topic will help; maybe a walk helps you think; or, perhaps, relaxing and listening to music helps your ideas come forth. To develop your writing skill, it is good to have a “toolbox” of ideas for generating ideas. As you go through the chapters in this curriculum, take note of the different techniques used to stimulate your ideas. Some techniques will work for you, others will not. Become aware of the ones that work for you.
Organization: Chronology
Organization brings order to a paragraph or other piece of writing. There are many different ways to order or organize writing. Different cultures have different preferences for the organization of a piece of writing. In each of our chapters we will explore different ways of organizing writing and also emphasize ways that signal good organization in Western writing modes. It helps to always reflect on ways of organizing writing in Vietnam and being aware of the differences.
In chapter 1, the organization of the paragraph was ordered by how the eye looks at a face: from hair to chin or from the feature that attracts the observer first. In this chapter we focus on chronological order.
In Greek, chronos means time and logos is reason. In English, chronological means arranged in or according to the order of time. Usually a story is told in chronological order, that is—from the first event that happened to the event closest to the present time. My life story told in chronological order would mean that I tell my story from the time that I was born to the present. Historical events are usually told in chronological order.
Writing Assignment:
Water Stories Retold
In folklore, there are many examples of stories that use water as an important part of the tale. Choose a folktale that uses water as an important theme and rewrite the story—that is, write the story in your own words. This folktale may be from the Vietnamese or your mother culture tradition, or you may choose a tale from another culture. Most of these folktales can be written using chronological order. This tale can be written from your memory, from a book (but not to be copied), or you can search for a story online.
Vocabulary:
A Thesaurus: Synonyms and Antonyms
Synonyms (in ancient Greek syn 'συν' = plus and onoma 'όνομα' = name) are different words with similar or identical meanings. Antonyms are words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings. (Synonym and antonym are antonyms.) (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
An example of synonyms are the words folklore, legend, mythology, mythos, and tradition. Each describes cultural stories passed down from generation to generation.
Synonyms can be nouns, adverbs or adjectives, as long as both members of the pair are the same part of speech.
More examples of English synonyms:
- baby and infant
- student and pupil
- pretty and attractive
- smart and intelligent
- sick and ill
- funny and humorous
- died and expired
In contrast, antonyms (an opposite pair) would be:
- dead and alive (compare to synonyms: dead and deceased)
- near and far (compare to synonyms: near and close)
- war and peace (compare to synonyms: war and armed conflict)
- tremendous and awful (compare to synonyms: tremendous and remarkable)
Homonyms are words that sound alike and can even be spelled the same but mean different things, such as to, too and two, or they're, there and their, or, fluke, fluke, and fluke. See article.
A Thesaurus is a tool that may look like a dictionary. A thesaurus lists words in alphabetical order and then lists synonyms for each word. Writers may find a thesaurus a helpful tool to find the right word for their writing. A student of English may find the thesaurus a tool that can help add to their vocabulary. There are many publishing companies that print a thesaurus. Many websites online can be used as a thesaurus.
If you type in “thesaurus” in a search engine, you will get a listing of many website that provide thesaurus-type help. Here are a few:
- http://www.m-w.com (dictionary and thesaurus)
- http://alphadictionary.com
- http://www.onelook.com
- http://thesaurus.reference.com
- http://www.bartleby.com/62/ (Roget’s II)
- http://www.wordsmyth.net
- http://www.rhymezone.com
Find theses words in a thesaurus. List their synonyms.
- well (n)
- immortality
- life span
- heavens
- easy going
- passers-by
- shaft (n)
- curtail
- descend
- miraculous
- sparkling
- urge
- brief
- sustain
- hesitate
The famous genius and artist of the Renaissance, Leonardo Da Vinci, was fascinated by water. For him it was full of paradox (contradictions). Read the following passage by Leonardo Da Vinci and make a list of the antonyms (opposites). You may have to use a dictionary. Some words are highlighted for you.
Study of water falling into still water, Leonardo Da Vinci, 1509
“Water is sometimes sharp and sometimes strong, sometimes acid and sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet and sometimes thick or thin, sometimes it is seen bringing hurt or disease, sometimes health-giving, sometimes poisonous. It suffers change into as many natures as are the different place through which it passes. And as the mirror changes with the color of its subject, so it alters with the nature of the place, becoming noisy, peaceful, abrasive, sulfurous, salty, blushing, mournful, raging, angry, red, yellow, green, black, blue, greasy, fat or slim. Sometimes it starts a conflict, sometimes it ends conflict; is warm and is cold, carries away or sets down, hollows out or builds up, tears or establishes, fills or empties, raises itself or burrows down, speeds or is still; is the cause at times of life or death, or increase or deprivation, nourishes at times and at others does the contrary; at times has a tang, at times is without savor, sometimes submerging valleys with great floods. In time and with water, everything changes.”
Passage(s) in English:
Here is another Vietnamese folktale. Find, after the tale, a re-write of the story. This is an example of the writing assignment for this chapter.
The Well of Immortality
(From: Land of Seagull and Fox: Folk Tales of Vietnam.
Collected and retold by Ruth Q. Sun.
John Weatherhill, Inc., Publishers, Tokyo, Japan, 1966, pp. 19-20.)
Long, long ago, when the world was new and fresh and everything was just beginning, the people lived an easy and comfortable life, without problems at all. As a natural consequence, the people became very lazy. So the time came when the Creator punished them by giving them a more limited lifetime. In other words, their life span became much, much shorter than in the good old days.
But up in the heavens there was a god named Nuoc who was extremely easygoing and kind. He thought it all over for some time, and finally decided he would like to do something so that human life need not be quite so curtailed.
So one late-winter day this god dropped down to earth and descended to the very bottom of a deep well with magic properties. When men became aware that there was a god down at the bottom of that that well, they were very curious about the situation. Eventually a huge crowd of passers-by assembled at the edge of the well. While they were all standing there, peering intently into the dark shaft, the god Nuoc called up to them, saying that those who would follow him into the well could become immortal. After their deaths they could quickly be returned to life, he said.
Well, of course everyone who heard the god’s words wanted immediately to descend and receive this promised gift of immortality, all the more so when they could finally perceive, far down in the water at the bottom of the well, the miraculous, sparkling, scintillating body of the god. How they wanted to join him—but my! The water was very cold indeed. They hesitated. After much discussion among them selves, the people compromised by dipping only their finger tips, their toes, and the top of their heads in the icy water. They also drank a mouthful each. But despite Nuoc’s urgings, not one of them dared jump entirely into the well.
So from that time on, human beings have lived only one brief lifetime. But during the single lifetime their fingernails, toenails hair and teeth keep growing out—and their nails and hair continue to grow even after death, it is said. This is the sustained life promised by the god Nuoc. Because of man’s fear of ice-cold water, only these scattered parts of the body secured a form of immortality.
The Well of Immortality
A long time ago, when people were first put on earth, they lived a very comfortable life. Because life was so easy, the people became very lazy.
This angered the Creator, and to punish the people he made their lives much shorter.
There was, however, a very kind god in the heavens named Nuoc. He felt very sorry for the people and thought that they should not have such short lives. He wanted to do something to help people have longer lives.
Nuoc came down to earth and settled in the bottom of a magic well. When curious people gathered around the well, they could see that there was a god at the bottom. When a large crowd had gathered, Nuoc invited them to dip into the waters of the well so that they could live forever.
All wanting to live forever, many people climbed down the well. Nuoc told them to submerge their bodies in the water, but the water was icy cold. They talked among themselves and decided to only dip the extreme parts of their bodies in—that is, they touched the water with their toes, their fingers and the top of their heads. They drank some water, but no one jumped in and got their whole body wet.
So humans do not live forever. Their lives are limited. But the parts of the body that have been dipped into the magical water of the well of Nuoc are the parts of the body that continue to grow. The nails and hair grow even after death!
Exercises and Activities for Comprehension and Analyzing Content:
In small groups : Look at the two versions of “The Well of Immortality.”
- What differences do you see between the two versions? For example, the paragraphs in the second version of the story are shorter than the first.
- What words were changed to synonyms?
Exercises and Activities for Developing Content of Student Writing:
Freewriting: On Writing
(from Dr. Mark Clarke, University of Colorado at Denver)
Think about the following questions and write your answers in a freewriting style—that is, get your ideas written down without worry of spelling and grammar. All these questions can refer to either writing in your first language or writing in English. There are no answers that are “wrong” or “right,” but answer with your own honest response.
- What is your opinion of writing? Do you hate it? Or somewhere in between?
- When is your most productive time of day or night for writing?
- What are your favorite writing tools?
- Do you have a special place where your writing is likely to be most satisfying?
- Are there special conditions that help you write (such as listening to music, a cup of coffee, silence)?
- Do you revise, and if you do, do you wait until you are finished or do you revise as you write?
- How does a deadline effect?
- What do you feel about peer or teachers’ criticism, comments, suggestions on your writing?
Exercises and Activities for Building Skills:
Rewriting and Sentence Combining: A good exercise to use when re-writing a story is Sentence Combining, a writing process developed by William Strong. Simply put, sentence combining involves putting short, choppy sentences together to make more interesting, readable ones. In the process, students learn the importance of sentence variety in improving syntax. Students are able to explore a variety of ways to say something in writing and learn that there is not a single "right" way to express their point.
For example, the following six short sentences can be combined:
- The princess saw a frog.
- She was lonely.
- She was lovely
- The frog was spotted.
- It squatted near a path.
- The Path was in the garden.
The new sentence: The lovely, lonely princess saw a spotted frog squatting near the garden path. OR While on the garden path, the lovely, lonely princess saw a squatting, spotted frog.
What other sentences can you combine from these six short sentences?
Combine the groups of sentences that follow into one sentence. Then put each of the new sentences together to form a paragraph. Students can share their paragraphs with each other to see how many different ways the tale can be told.
A Sad Story
- The princess saw a toad.
- She was lonely.
- She was lovely
- The frog was spotted.
- It squatted near a path.
- The path was in the garden.
- Her heart pounded.
- Her pounding was in her chest.
- The pounding was in the garden.
- She bent down.
- Her bending was quiet.
- She kissed the frog.
- Her kissing was gentle.
- The frog was ugly.
- It was sleeping.
- The sleeping was in the sun.
- There was a flash.
- It was blinding.
- It was sudden.
- There was a sound.
- It was thundering.
- The princess touched her mouth.
- She parted her lips.
- Her lips were sensuous.
- She murmured, “Ribbit, ribbit.”
(From Sentence Combining and Paragraph Building, by William Strong, Random House, New York, 1981). In Western fairy tales there is a tale of a princess who kisses a frog and the frog turns into a prince. The above sentences create a funny version of the story.
Exercises and Activities for Incorporating Skills into Student Writing:
After you have selected a story, write down the chronology. Perhaps the following questions will help you organize the retelling of your story.
1. Who are the characters in the story? What do they do? What do they look like? If a North American reads the story, will they understand who the characters are?
2. Write down the chronology of events in the story. “Chronology” means the order of the story. Write each event of the story in the order that it happened. The first event is written for you:
Event #1: __________________________________________________________________
Event #2: __________________________________________________________________
Event #3: __________________________________________________________________
Etc.: The number of events in the story will vary from story to story.
3. (optional) What is the natural phenomenon or phenomena that the story explains?
__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
IT Exercises and Activities for Developing Ideas:
Find synonyms and alternative phrases for the story that you have selected by using a thesaurus online. Here are the websites cited earlier:
- http://www.m-w.com (dictionary and thesaurus)
- http://alphadictionary.com
- http://www.onelook.com
- http://thesaurus.reference.com
- http://www.bartleby.com/62/ (Roget’s II)
- http://www.wordsmyth.net
- http://www.rhymezone.com
Writing First Draft:
Using the answers to the questions above in which you explained the characters of the story you re-write, the chronology of events, and the optional explanation of natural phenomena, write the story. Make use, too, of the synonyms you have collected.
Editing Process and Exercises:
- Check the organization of the paragraph. Is your story chronological?
- Is it clear who the characters in the story are? If a North American reads the story, will they understand who the characters are?
- Read the story aloud. Have you chosen words that flow with the story?
- Read the story silently and check spelling, capitalization and punctuation.
Writing Second/Final Draft:
Using the changes you made during the editing process, rewrite your story and prepare to hand it into your teacher.
Vocabulary
Exercise 1: Use the following new vocabulary words combined with words that you have learned in previous chapters to write a short paragraph about the environment. Make sure all of your tones are correctly written.
Bị dơ |
Dirty |
Mưa |
Rain |
Bị bệnh |
Sick |
Xe ô tô |
Car |
Ô nhiễm |
Pollution |
Khói |
Smoke |
Bị hư |
Bad, Broken |
Xăng |
Gasoline |
Thở |
Breath |
Dầu |
Oil |
Không khí |
Air |
Xe máy |
Motorcycle |
Biển |
Ocean |
Đường phố |
Road |
Bão |
Storm |
Grammar Point!
In Vietnamese, many types of classifiers are used. For example, if you would like to distinguish a type of vehicle, you must use the classifier “Xe” before the type of vehicle you would like to specify. In the above list of vocabulary words, you may have noticed that the word for car and motorcycle began similarly. That is because they are both vehicles and classifiers must be used before. Here are a few common vehicles with their classifiers:
Xe đạp |
Bicycle |
Xe ô tô |
Car |
Xe máy |
Motorcycle |
Cái thuyền |
Boat |
Xe lửa |
Train |
Xe lôi |
Trailer pulled by a bicycle |
Additionally, classifiers are used before words to distinguish something that is dirty, sick or generally in bad shape. If you are sick, you say, “Tôi bị bệnh.” Also, if you would like to say that something is dirty, you add the classifier, “Bị”. Here are a few sentences using words we recently learned:
Xe ô tô bị dơ.
Chị ấy bị bệnh.
Nước bị dơ.
Xe đạp bị hư.
Exercise 2: Translate the sentences above.
Exercise 3: Now, take the time to write 7 sentences where things are either: sick, broken or dirty.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Exercise 4: Spend time writing a conversation using as many vocabulary words as you possibly can. The conversation should focus around two people talking about every day things. If it doesn’t flow as much as you would like it do, don’t worry! Look up words you do not know but would like to use and ask your teacher if they are correct. Then, get into groups of two people and share the conversations with each other. Make sure you ask each other about grammar or vocabulary that you might not know or remember.
Remember! We are talking about the environment, so see if the picture below can help spark any linguistic creativity and imagination!
