Level II

Chapter 1
Listening Speaking

IC3

IC3 | IT | TOEFL | Best Answer
English | Vietnamese
Assessment

Topic: Identity

Who in the world am I? Am I undergoing significant change?
Tôi là ai trong thế giới này?

Skills:
In this chapter you will do these things:

English Language Skills:

1. Answering Questions using present tense and the form "to be"
2. Recognizing Vocabulary already known
3. Building New Vocabulary around themes of identity, family and occupation
4. Practicing Ear for spoken English
5. Composing conversational English sentences for describing one's identity
6. Getting the Main Ideas through Word Stress
7. Pronunciation of the "-s" ending
8. Interviewing

Vietnamese Language Skills:

1. Introduction to the Vietnamese sound system
2. Building new vocabulary of identity, family and nationality
3. Matching vocabularies with their English equivalents
4. Answering questions about making acquaintance and naming tradition.
5. Listening to a Vietnamese conversation and filling the blanks with missing words.
6. Practicing spoken Vietnamese around the themes of oneself, family and naming tradition in his/her family.

Click here (not functioning) to learn more about Vietnamese sound system

IC3 Skills:

IT Skills:

1. Opening Word
2. Saving a document

TOEFL Skills:

1. Vocabulary building

Click here (not functioning) to view the Introduction to TOEFL exercise.

Intercultural Communicative Competence

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Naming is one of many family traditions that teach us about culture. Here are two articles about naming traditions in Vietnam and the United States. Before you read, answer the following questions and share your answers with a classmate or in a small group.

• What is your full name?
• Does your name have meaning? If it does, explain the meaning.
• Why did your parents give you this name?

Naming Traditions

(from Discovering the Obvious: Our Lives as “The Folk”, a Louisiana folklife unit by Paddy Bowman) Louisiana INTECH, Louisiana Department of Education, January 29, 2002 found at http://www.crt.state.la.us/FOLKLIFE/edu_unit3_anticipation.html)

Note that Louisiana is a state in the south of the United States. Once a territory of the French, it has French influence plus the influence of historical slavery and close proximity to Spanish speaking countries.

Names tell us a lot about people, places, and even things. By looking under the surface of their own names and family names, students learn more about their family history and folklore as well as cultural differences and similarities and symbolic meanings. Names come with stories attached, and every cultural group has its naming traditions. Some cultures name babies after recently deceased relatives; other families find that practice taboo. Many Western European names that traveled to the United States come from occupations (Baker, Miller, Mason), physical characteristics (Strong, Moody), places (Wells, Woods), time of birth (Noel, Valentine), or by patronym—child of (Robertson, O’Connell).

As with other traditional cultural expressions, Louisiana names are highly diverse and have been realized over the generations. Some French-speaking people have Anglo or even German last names. As in other parts of the country, African American families sometimes improvise and create new, unique names for children-the "jazz" of naming (Sheneka Washington, Jarmel Johnson)-and since the Civil Rights Movement some parents have chosen more African names themselves. Hispanic families frequently give children their father's and mother's last names (Maria Valez y Gutierrez).

Names are Important in Vietnam

By Dana Sachs, Author of The House on Dreamstreet (from http://www.adoptvietnam.org/vietnamese/names-vietnamese.html)

Names are important in Vietnam. Introducing themselves to foreigners, English-speaking Vietnamese will often translate the meaning of their names, "I'm Orchid (Lan)," one might say. Or "Shining Jade (Ngoc Minh)" or "Spring Rice (Lua Xuan)." Some names sound like poetry. I knew three brothers names "Mountain (Son)," "River (Giang)," and "Ocean (Hai)." I had a friend named "Moon Lute (Nguyet Cam)" in honor of a traditional Vietnamese stringed instrument. Another couple had named their three boys, all born during the years of the American War, Linh (after Abe Lincoln), Red (for the Communists), and Binh (which means "peaceful"). Binh must have been a popular name during the years of war, because I knew a lot of Binhs who were born at the time.

In Vietnam, names also carry a powerful force. Tradition claims that evil spirits like to steal babies, particularly the attractive ones. In the countryside, where old customs linger longer, new parents would go to lengths to make their children seem unappealing. They would never compliment their newborns. Instead, they'd call them "ugly," or "rat," or even "shit," in order to trick the spirits into staying away. Ironically, even such hideous names would come to sound like the sweetest of endearments when they were uttered by adoring parents. Urban Vietnamese, like Tung and Huong, like to scoff at superstitions, but even they would cringe when I forgot the custom and cooed over how beautiful a baby was. "Trom via," they'd hiss, reminding me to say that phrase before the compliment. As one friend later translated it, trom via meant "to sneakily talk behind a spirit"-in other words, to keep evil away. Although Tung and Huong claimed that it was indecision that made them wait so long to name the baby, it seemed to me that superstition and ancient tradition had more to do with it then they cared to admit. The supposedly irrational concern over "evil spirits" actually spoke to very real, and widespread, dangers that newborns in Vietnam had faced forever: poor hygiene, inadequate nutrition, and lack of medical care. Because infant mortality was such a risk, tradition dictated that only close family members would visit a new baby before its one-month birthday, the time at which its chance of survival was thought to be more secure and the moment at which it could be brought into society and openly named. In that context, Tung and Huong's so-called indecision made more sense. Rationally, they probably knew that their child's health would not be affected by whether or not they named it. But, in the same way that I avoid walking under ladders, they refused to take any chances.

Bài dịch tiếng Việt:

Đặt tên là một tập quán quan trọng có thể cho chúng ta biết nhiều về văn hóa. Dưới đây là hai bài viết về phong tục đặt tên ở Việt Nam và ở Mỹ. Truớc khi đọc, bạn hãy trả lời những câu hỏi sau và trao đổi những câu trả lời đó với một người bạn hoặc trong nhóm nhỏ

• Tên họ của bạn là gì?
• Tên của bạn có ý nghĩa gì không? Nếu có, hãy giải thích ý nghĩa đó.
• Tại sao cha mẹ bạn lại đặt tên bạn như vậy?

TRUYỀN THỐNG ĐẶT TÊN

(Trích từ "Discovering the Obvious: Our Lives as'The Folk'", một bài viết về cuộc sống của con người ở Luisiana của Paddy Bowman), Louisiana INTECH, Sở Giáo Dục Louisiana, 29 tháng 1, 2002, đăng trong website http://www.crt.state.la.us/FOLKLIFE?edu_unit3_anticipation.html)

Ghi chú: Luoisiana là một tiểu bang ở phía Nam nước Mỹ. Trước đây là thuộc địa của Pháp nên chịu ảnh hưởng của Pháp cộng với ảnh hưởng của chế độ nô lệ và gần giống với những nước nói tiếng Tây Ban Nha.

Tên cho chúng ta biết nhiều về con người, nơi chốn và cả sự vật. Bằng cách tìm hiều kỹ hơn tên riêng và họ của ai đó, người học sẽ hiểu biết hơn về lịch sử gia đình, truyền thống dân gian cũng như sự khác và giống nhau giữa các nền văn hóa và ý nghĩa tượng trưng.Tên tuổi gắn liền với những câu chuyện và mỗi nhóm văn hóa đều có truyền thống đặt tên riêng. Một vài nhóm đặt tên con họ theo những người thân thuộc nhất; những gia đình khác lại cho đó là điều cấm kỵ. Có nhiều tên Tây Âu đã được du nhập vào nước Mỹ. Chúng có thể miêu tả nghề nghiệp (thợ nướng bánh, thợ xay xát, thợ nề), tính chất (mạnh mẽ, buồn rầu) nơi chốn (giếng, rừng) ngày sinh (Giáng sinh, Lễ tình nhân) hoặc đặt tên theo cha, ông –được gọi là con của (Robertson - con của Robert, O’Connell - con của Connel).

Cũng giống như những cách diễn đạt văn hoá truyền thống khác, tên của người Luisiana rất đa dạng và được truyền qua nhiều thế hệ. Một số người nói tiếng Pháp lại có họ Anglo hay thậm chí họ Đức. Ở những vùng khác trong nước Mỹ, những gia đình Mỹ gốc Phi đôi khi ứng khẩu và đặt ra những cái tên mới, duy nhất cho con cái của mình - cách đặt tên như "nhạc jazz" (Sheneka Washington, Jarmel Jophnson) - và kể từ Phong trào đấu tranh nhân quyền, một số bậc cha mẹ đã chọn nhiều tên châu Phi hơn. Những gia đình gốc Tây Ban Nha và Bồ Đào Nha thường lấy cả họ của cha và mẹ đặt tên cho con (Maria Valez y Gutierrez).

TÊN RẤT QUAN TRỌNG Ở VIỆT NAM

Dana Sachs, tác giả của The House on Dreamstreet

(trích từ http:www.adaoptvietnam.org/Vietnamese/names-vietnamese.htm)

Tên rất quan trọng ở Việt Nam. Khi tự giới thiệu mình với người nước ngoài, những người Việt Nam nói tiếng Anh thường dịch tên của họ ra tiếng Anh. Một người có thể nói "Tôi là Orchid" (Lan). Hoặc "Shinning Jade" (Ngọc Minh) hay "Spring Rice" (Lúa Xuân). Một số tên nghe rất nên thơ. Tôi có biết ba tên anh em nhà nọ là "Moutain" (Sơn), "River" (Giang), và "Ocean" (Hải). Tôi có một người bạn tên là "Moon Lute" (Nguyệt Cầm) - tên của một loại nhạc cụ truyền thống có dây của Việt Nam. Một cặp vợ chồng khác đặt tên ba đứa con trai của họ, đều được sinh trong những năm chiến tranh Mỹ-Việt Nam, là Linh ( theo Abe Lincoln), và Hồng (chỉ những người Cộng sản) và Bình (nghĩa là thanh bình). Bình ắt hẳn là một cái tên rất phổ biến trong những năm chiến tranh vì tôi biết rất nhiều Bình được sinh ra vào thời điểm đó...

Ở Việt Nam, tên cũng mang một sức mạnh to lớn. Tục lệ cho rằng những hồn ma thích bắt những đứa trẻ đi, đặc biệt là những đứa bé bụ bẫm đáng yêu. Ở nông thôn, nơi những hủ tục còn sót lại, cha mẹ trẻ hay cố tình làm cho con cái của mình có vẻ xấu xí. Họ không bao giờ khen con mình khi chúng còn nhỏ. Thay vào đó, họ gọi chúng là "xấu" hay "chuột" thậm chí là "cứt" để đánh lừa những linh hồn lảnh vảng xung quanh. Điều đáng nói là những cái tên ấy lại nghe rất đỗi trìu mến, yêu thương khi được thốt ra bởi những bậc cha mẹ. Người Việt Nam ở thành thị, như Tùng và Hương, thích chế giễu những điều mê tín nhưng lại hốt hoảng khi tôi quên mất tục lệ và thốt lên "Đứa bé dễ thương quá!" "Trộm vía," họ xuỵt tôi để nhắc tôi nhớ nói từ ấy trước khi khen đứa trẻ. Như một người bạn dịch lại cho tôi sau này thì "trộm vía" nghĩa là "nói lén sau lưng một hồn ma" - hay xua đuổi những linh hồn đi. Cho dù Tùng và Hương đã tuyên bố rằng chính sự do dự đã làm họ chờ đợi lâu khi đặt tên cho con nhưng dường như, theo tôi, nó liên quan nhiều hơn đến sự mê tín và những hủ tục mà họ không thừa nhận.

Những điều mê tín không có sức thuyết phục về hồn ma thật ra nói lên một tình trạng thật và rất phổ biến ở Việt Nam mà trẻ sơ sinh gặp phải từ trước đến giờ: thiếu vệ sinh, suy dinh dưỡng và thiếu sự chăm sóc sức khoẻ. Vì tỉ lệ trẻ sơ sinh chết cao nên tục lệ quy định rằng chỉ người thân thuộc trong gia đình mới được thăm bé trước khi bé đầy tháng. Người ta tin rằng đây là thời điểm mà cơ hội sống sót của trẻ an toàn hơn và cũng là lúc đứa bé được xã hội chấp nhận và được đặt tên. Trong hoàn cảnh ấy, sự "do dự" của Tùng và Hương có ý nghĩa hơn. Nói một cách công bằng, chắc rằng họ biết sức khoẻ của con họ sẽ không bị ảnh hưởng cho dù họ có đặt tên cho bé hay không. Nhưng, cũng như tôi luôn tránh bước qua dưới mấy cái thang, họ từ chối làm thử điều đó [đặt tên cho con trước khi bé đầy tháng.]

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Study Skill C:

Interview

An interview is a way to get information from another person. It differs from a conversation because it is not completely spontaneous. In other words, when we have conversations, we do not know what will be said next. An interview is a controlled dialogue. The interviewer (the person who asks the questions) has a list of questions to ask. The interviewer may not know what the answers will be, but the interviewer controls the conversation by the pre-planned questions. An interviewee (the person who answers the questions may have less control. The interviewee is usually spontaneous unless he/she knows what questions will be asked in advance. Newspaper, television, documentary films and radio reporters and journalists often interview people to get the information that is reported in the news.

After reading these articles, is there more you would add to these three questions?

• What is your full name?
• Does your name have meaning? If it does, explain the meaning.
• Why did your parents give you this name?

Interview a classmate about their name and the traditions and family customs that may have contributed to their name. First, write down the questions you will ask. Then ask your classmate the questions and write down the answers. Introduce your classmate to the class.

For example:

I want to introduce Luong Thanh Yen. Thanh Yen means "tranquility" and the "stillness of water." Thanh Yen's parents wish for him a calm life.

Interview someone from another cultural tradition. First, write down the questions you will ask. Then ask a person from another cultural tradition the questions and write down their answers. Tell your class about the person you interviewed. Here are some examples:

This week I met Elizabeth Anne. Elizabeth Anne is American. She does not know what her names mean, but she is named after both of her grandmothers. In America it is acceptable to name people after other family members.

Yesterday, I talked to my friend Angong. Angong is from the Sudan in Africa. Her full name is Angong Dhol Acuil Aku. Angong is her given name. Dhol is her father's name. Acuil is her grandfather's name. And Aku is her great grandfather's name. In Sudan, the male lineage of the family must be important.

Some ways to politely ask for an interview: Excuse me, I am a student of English. I have an assignment to interview someone from another culture. May I ask you some questions? I am learning about naming traditions in my English class. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions about your name?

Information Technology

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1. Open the Internet and go to Google.com
2. Conduct a search in Google for “Vo Tong Xuan.”
3. 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.
1. You learn some of the background history of agricultural projects that have linked Long Xuyen and Can Tho to the broader world.
2. You gain some knowledge of the challenges facing rice farmers in the Mekong Delta and other rice-growing regions.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Click on the “English” box.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.

10. 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.”
1. 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.
2. b. Click on this url, and skim the title and abstract.
3. c. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.”
1. 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.
2. Experiment on your own the many links in Vietnamese and English under this website.
3. Answer the following questions.
13. 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?

 

TOEFL Exercises
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Vocabulary Instructions:

The following twenty TOEFL exercises draw upon the vocabulary introduced in this chapter. Each sentence has an underlined word or phrase. Below each sentence are four other words or phrases: A, B, C, or D. Choose the one word or phrase that best keeps this meaning of the original sentence if substituted for the underlined word or phrase. On your answer sheet saved to your disk, find the number of the question and type in A, B, C, or D. It is suggested that you read carefully for "context." That is, study the vocabulary (even new words that you have never seen before) in the broader meaning of a sentence. For instance, in the following example, one can guess what "occupation" means from the context of a sentence talking about choices of "work." Another hint: you can eliminate some choices because of the context of the sentence structure. The second clause has the word "instead" in it, which means that the meaning of the second clause is different than that in the first clause. So the word "occupation" cannot be about marriage or age. You can, therefore, be sure that "marital status" is not the correct answer in this example.

Example: It is hard for young people to plan for marriage or old age, when instead they are thinking where they’ll work and their future occupation.

1. service
2. career
3. place
4. marital status

The correct choice is B, career. On your answer sheet, you would type in B.

1. The widowed man felt so dejected after she died.

1. divorced man
2. remarried man
3. bachelor
4. man who lost his wife

2. Susan expects to double her salary as a receptionist.

1. a practitioner
2. a sales assistant
3. an office greeter
4. nursing aid

3. Williamsburg is a remodeled colonial village with workshops featuring artisans of the 18^th Century.

1. archeologists
2. artists
3. craftspeople
4. guild members

4. Once my second niece was born, this made seven siblings in my brother’s home.

1. brothers and sisters
2. children
3. youth
4. cousins

5. The xyclo driver was convinced that he could squeeze another 5,000 dong out of his customer when she shouted that his fair was ridiculous.

1. funny
2. unfair
3. way too expensive
4. sumptuous

6. The Boston silk merchant’s fabrics ranged in price from twenty to thirty dollars per meter.

1. bolts of cloth
2. clothing
3. suits
4. sales clothing

7. After a week of work, I am most content to recline comfortably in my favorite chair.

1. pleased … relaxingly
2. used … easily
3. inclined … rigidly
4. inclined … easily

8. Studies of university life indicate that it is only second-year students who finally get over being strongly attached to thoughts of home.

1. committed to returning home
2. jealous of thoughts concerning home
3. homesick
4. distraught

9. The Cu Chi tunnels remain an important historical venue, as well as a profitable tourist attraction.

1. arcade
2. shopping district
3. prominent museum
4. commercial site for interested visitors

10. If one rides the Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi train, you are likely to find more backpackers than if you flew on Vietnam Airlines.

1. peddlers
2. foreigners traveling cheaply
3. beggars
4. middle-class citizens

11. My most valuable guidebook for the Shenandoah Valley is called Blue Ridge Parkway.

1. dictionary of local language
2. thesaurus
3. information book with maps, tours, prices, and websites
4. picture calendar

12. There is nothing so dangerous as bicycling the wrong way down the street.

1. comical
2. whimsical
3. treacherous
4. ridiculous

13. In the South of Vietnam, the given name of a child follows the superstitious tradition of picking ugly or unappealing names to fool unwanted evil spirits.

1. rationale
2. quackery
3. deeply held convictions
4. long-held custom

14. Following the awards ceremony, many well-wishers bestowed one compliment after another on the distinguished recipient.

1. overly flattering statement
2. polite and positive statement
3. well-intended criticism
4. critique

15. After four years of university, students still need practice at handling well an interview for their prospective career choices.

1. quiz
2. job-related meeting
3. final exam
4. personnel update

16. The news reporter was unaccustomed to the late nights of following and writing about the campaign speeches of so many candidates.

1. politician
2. journalist
3. contender
4. writer

17. Eastern and western ways differ in terms of whether it is polite for a younger scholar to question the points made by their senior colleagues.

1. permissible
2. improper
3. customarily accepted
4. legal

18. When entering a country, one must show his or her passport and visa to the receiving country’s civil servants in immigration.

1. military guard
2. police officers
3. government officials
4. policymakers

19. The ultimate success of the Internet Age will depend on whether all parts of the world will enjoy connectivity.

1. the ability to log-on easily and promptly
2. software and hardware
3. knowledge-based learning
4. relations

20. It is impossible to gauge the level of learning that one might imagine through interactive distance learning.

1. guess the meaning
2. measure the depth
3. grade the extent
4. miss the value

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"Best Answer"
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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.

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