Growing up Asian in Australia

Year 7 2010 NAPLAN Reading Magazine

Anh Do - Winner of Australian Literary Prize 2011

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3278641.htm1.     

  Who did Anh’s father rescue from the concentration camp?

a)      His eldest son who would later become Young Australian of the Year

b)      His wife’s two brothers who had worked for the Australian military

c)       Two of the armed guards at the camp who were really employees of the Australian military and were in disguise.

2.       What was the length of the fishing boat in which they escaped and how many people were on it?

a)      40 metres long with 9 people

b)      9 metres long with 40 people

c)       20 metres long with 20 people

3.       What honour was Anh’s brother given in 2005?

a)      Australian Refugee of the Year

b)      Australian of the Year

c)       Young Australian of the Year

4.       What was the main lesson which Anh’s parents insisted that he learn after coming to Australia?

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5.       Why was Anh able to attend a prestigious school like St Aloyisius?

a)      He worked in a sweatshop to earn enough money to pay his fees

b)      He won a half scholarship

c)       St Aloyisius always takes in a certain number of refugees as part of their charity work

6.       Explain how Anh tried to overcome the problem of having no text books for his lessons.

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7.       Describe what he wore instead of the official sports uniform.

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8.       True or false:

a)      His mother earned less than $7 an hour as a cleaner in a hotel.  T   or  F

b)      At school, Anh was the class clown and this was when he knew he had a future as a comedian.    T   or   F

c)       He was often punished at school with a strap.    T   or   F

d)      No-one at school knew at the time that Anh and his family were poor.  T   or   F

e)      Anh’s father left the family when Anh was growing up.   T   or  F

9.       What did Anh study at University?

a)      Fine Arts, majoring in Drama

b)      Law

c)       Pure Mathematics

10.   What did Anh do for his mother when he was only 23 years old?

a)      Gave her money for a holiday back in Vietnam

b)      Arranged for her to come and see his first public performance as a comedian

c)       Bought her a house

11.   How old was Anh at the time of this interview?

a)      30

b)      33

c)       40

12.   What was the motto which Anh’s father taught his children to live by?

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13.   Was Anh the victim of racism as he grew up?

14.   Write ONE extra question which you would like Adam to have asked Anh, and what do you think the answer would have been?

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Wei-Lei and Me (Aditi Gouvernel)

Wei-Lei and Me (Aditi Gouvernel)

1.  What word in the opening sentence means ‘short and flat’?

2.  What is so ‘Australian’ about Barry West?

3.  What is the opening interaction between the two characters about?

4.  What is the protagonist’s home country?

5.  What word means “noble and splendid”? (p75)

6.  In what way is the protagonist’s home country “aristocratic”?

7.  Where did the protagonist’s father move his family to? Why?

8.  What is the protagonist’s attitude towards the citizenship ceremony? (pp75-6)

9.  How is Barry West the antagonist?

10.What is the irony of the comments made by Amy and Cris? (p76)

11.What is “you have to face the world” a metaphor for? (p76)

12.What is the teacher’s hair compared to? Is this an example of a metaphor or simile? (p77)

13.How is the children’s cruel creativity put into action once Wei-Lei arrives? (p77)

14. Explain the relevance of the ‘cat and toy’ metaphor. (p77)

15.How does the children’s cruel creativity have a more sinister side?

16.What does the protagonist mean by “the afternoon passed like a death sentence”? (p78)

17.Why does the protagonist see everything Indian “lit by a spotlight”? (p78)

18.How does the story build to a climax? (p79)

19.What is the irony of Barry’s fate? (p80)

20.Explain what the protagonist means by “as our faces changed, so did Canberra” (p81).

21.What do you think the protagonists’ definition of being Australian would be? (p81)

why does it matter?

Read any story that we haven't read yet and write a review of the story and explain why it matters. Why should anyone care about the story/read it?

Ginseng Tea and a Pair of Thongs  by Haitha Lee

The author presents a stark portrayal of an immigrant family from Vietnam surviving the slums in an attempt to transition into their new lives.

What is most confronting about the story is the raw objective style that the author employs. This description of Em suffering from allergies, a relatively minor difficulty, exemplifies the authors tendency to exaggerate the pain felt in this family. 'Her dull eyes, the white no longer white, the black with yellow...' This is a haunting description of a group of people suffering through their new life. This challenges the cliched version of the immigrant experience that usually include a narrative of hard work and perseverance triumphing.

Continuing with this stark writing style is the brutal honesty the author employs. The description of Youngest Con 'abnormally curious about sex' and possessing a brain hat 'thinks of being a lady' gives access deep into the psyche of the immigrant. This honesty is again confronting. It challenges the cliched representation of immigrants as quiet and reserved inside their new worlds. Here we have a family full of struggle both externally and internally.

The importance of this story is that it removes the veneer of the immigrant experience. It doesn't beg for sympathy or admiration but rather attempts to show the suffering that the immigrant transition often brings. The result is that the reader is left jaw agape wondering how people chose to live and made it through such experiences.

My First Kiss by Lian Low

My First Kiss by Lian Low

1. How does the author describe Malaysia in regards to showing affection?

2. What happens to the author when she hits puberty?

3. What is the author’s experience at school when she first arrives to Melbourne?

4. What is it that made the author feel that she wasn’t Australian even though she spoke English fluently?

5. What else was it about the author that further alienated her from her peers?

6. What does the use of description like ‘crash hot’ do to the audience’s perception of the author?

7. What opportunity does university give the author? What is it about university which would allow her to express herself more freely?

8. What role does creativity play for the author? Why do you think that creativity would be so important to her?

Teenage Dreamers by Phillip Tang

Teenage Dreamers by Phillip Tang

1. What are the first two sentences of the story and how do they create a tension in the story?

2. What has happened to the author’s father as a result of his wife’s death?

3. How does the description of the father removing his hands from his face as ‘unmasked’ related to the seriousness of his following statement?

4. Consider how the father lives his life and conducts himself and the other people in the theatre for the film the author and his father are watching. How does this relate to the title of the story?

Take Me Away, Please

Conversations with my Parents by Oanh Thi Tran

Conversations with my Parents by Oanh Thi Tran

1. What is ironic about the way the author and the father become close? What has to happen to the father?

2. How would you characterise the conversation that the author has with her parents?

3. What is it that worries the author most about these conversations?

4. There is a gap between the author’s need to express feelings common in western countries and her family’s lack of desire to express their feelings verbally. How does the family still express their feelings for their child, just not verbally?

Lessons from my School Years by Ray Wing-Lun

Lessons from my School Years by Ray Wing-Lun

1. There is a stark contrast created in the opening of this story between what the narrator had been doing before entering school and what will be expected at school? What is this contrast and what does it immediately create in the story?

2. The author continues this theme of contrast at the start of the story. How does he do this in his description of his experience of Sydney’s North Shore?

3. What was the father’s background in business before he opened the fruit shop? What has helped him become successful?

4. The narrator’s description of his father is complex. What makes the father a complex character?

5. (91) How does the author describe his role in doing ‘things that counted’?

6. What experience does the author have at school while keeping to himself? What does he learn from this experience?

7. How would you characterise the narrator’s tone in regards to the events that are occurring around him?

8. How does the narrator characterise the ways that one could ‘get the strap’ and ways that one could avoid it?

9. What event evokes a racist speech to the class by the teacher?

10. What effect did the author’s experience with ‘Strap Happy Jack’ have on him?

11. What was the one advantage school provided the author?

12. What did the author do at his school? What was his motivation for doing it? What did he feel was lacking at school?

13. What did the parents want their son to do at school? What did the author fear would happen by obeying his parents?

14. At school, what did the author learn about his own type of thinking and how to use it?

The Early Settlers by Ken Chau

techniques: pun, alliteration, vulgar slang, ambiguous pronouns

The Early Settlers by Ken Chau

1. How does this title refer to two groups of ‘settlers’? Who are they?

2. How is the first line of the poem successful at being ‘forceful’ regarding the Great-Grandfather’s presence in Australia?

3. What action are the ‘early settlers’ doing that gives them equally a strong presence?

4. How is the intention of the Great-Grandfather juxtaposed to the beliefs of the ‘early settlers’?

5. What action does the Great-Grandfather do that ties him both to the ‘early settlers’ and to his own culture?
6. How does this short poem highlight the irony of the hatred that immigrants experience when they come to a 'settled' land like Australia?

The Relative Advantages of Learning my Language by Amy Choi

The author makes us consider what it really means about understanding someone's language? What basic human skill/ability is the author highlighting that cuts across all cultures?

 Describe a time when you were at fault for not communicating with someone because of your own selfishness or lack of compassion.

The Relative Advantages of Learning my Language by Amy Choi

1. The author opens the story with an anecdote. What is the anecdote and what effect does it have on the reader?

2. What is the author’s view of the Chinese language in the 2^nd paragraph?

3. What is symbolic about the house that the Grandfather mistakes for his own? What does it say about the assimilation of his family into Australian culture? What does it say about his understanding of Australian culture? What is ironic about the inhabitants of this house?

4. What does the death of her grandfather inspire the author to do?

5. Why is she motivated to know Chinese? What is it she wants to ensure she is able to, regretting that she couldn’t do it with her grandfather?

Growing Up Asian in Australia: Intro + Pigs Questions

Introduction by Alice Pung

1. What were Asian-Australians referred to as when the author was growing up?

2. How does she interpret this title?

3. What did this title actually refer to? Did the author find this demeaning? Why/why not?

4. ‘All that untapped potential! All that electrifying brain power!’ What techniques are being employed by the author? How does they highlight he misunderstanding?

5. What did the teen author take away from teen fiction? What did she feel that she needed to do? Why? What does this say is essential to fitting in to a culture?

6. Who are the authors that she turns to? Why?

7. In the third paragraph how does the author use repetition. How does it highlight the focus of this book?

8. What metaphor does the author use to highlight the writers and the writing style in the third paragraph?

9. Why does the author use a quote in the 4^th paragraph? What does it say about her reaction to the stories in the book?

10. On page 2 the author talks about the themes that she loosely choose for the collection. What are they and why is it ironic that they show up in this book?

11. At the bottom of pg 3 on to page 4 the author says that sociologists have described Asians as the ‘model minority’. What is meant by this? What difficulties arise out of this label for young Asian-Australians?

12. What are the editor’s hopes for the collection of stories?

Pigs from Home by Hop Dac

1. How does the author start this story which is in direct contrast to the title of the story? What effect does this have on the reader and their expectations of the story?

2. What core Vietnamese value is instilled in the author?

3. What is humorous about the mother’s ‘flair for natural medicine’ in regards to her personality?

4. How does the description of the killing of pigeons continue the style utilised in the introduction of the story?

5. What is the author’s opinion of pigs? Give two quotes to support your conclusion.

6. In the paragraph on pgs 53-54, give two examples of alliteration employed by the author.

7. On pg 54 what simile is used to describe pigs? How does this simile work for the situation it is used?

8. What simile does the author use to describe her mother sunning herself? How does this relate to the core focus of the story?

9. What does the author describe as ‘the divide between the old world and the new’? What do you think is meant by this statement?

10. What is the author’s reaction to the slaughter of the pig at night? What statement does the author make about the neighbours which displays the way he feels about the whole experience? What is important about including this statement?

11. Why don’t the parents have pigs anymore? How does this relate to the description of the burial of the last pig they owned?

12. How would you characterise the description of the mother’s treatment of the pig’s blood? Is it appetising?

13. What is ironic about the way the author has a popular Vietnamese dish? What is it about the way the author describes the experience of having pigs that makes it ironic?

14. How does this story relate to the title Pigs from Home?

15. Why do you think this story is in the Battlers section of the book?

Writing Letters

Choose two of the following and put them in ONE blog post indicating which ones you have chosen:

• Bruno to his Grandmother right before going on his final adventure (imagine she was still alive)
• Pavel to his family regarding living in the camp and working for Bruno's family.
• Shmuel to his family back in Poland (if they were still alive) about his life in the camp and his best friend Bruno.

• Pretend that the father resigned when Bruno couldn't be found. What would the letter to the 'Fury' be like?
• Write a letter from the mother to the father upon leaving to move back to Berlin without him.
• Write a letter from Gretel to Bruno after he went missing.

Holocaust Art: "It Takes But One" by Elizabeth Denholm and Alyssa Dziurlaj

What visual techniques are employed in this painting?

How do these visual techniques highlight major thematic elements of holocaust art and literature?

Holocaust Poetry #3: 'Daniel' by Laura Crist

How is juxtaposition used in this poem to highlight an important theme of Holocaust literature?


How is descriptive language used to enhance the reader's reaction to the poem?

 Daniel
	Laura Crist

And the child held her hand
A child tiny for almost eight,
Deep blue eyes that dominated his face,
When he explained new events to her,
     that funny doggy,
     that pretty rock,
And the freckles on his cheek,
No one saw a sunrise more perfect,
     to her,
She so vividly smells the fragrance of
     his hair,
     his ears,
     his breath in the morning
She vividly hears that little heartbeat,
     that was hers
     always hers,
     and the laughter,
     that raspy little laugh,
     when he caught her in a conundrum.
All this,
But this is merely the surface,
As she watches her little God sheared,
     and stripped,
For the gas chamber.

Chapter 15: Something He Shouldn't Have Done

(163) Why doesn't Bruno like Kotler? What does he observe and not understand about Kotler when his father is away?

(163) What is meant when Kotler uses the cliche 'Don't worry, this one knows which side his bread is buttered on.'?

(165) How would you describe the interaction between Kotler and Bruno?

(166) What surprise does Bruno get?

(167) How is juxtaposition used when Bruno compares his hand to Shmuel's?

(168-9) Does Bruno understand the pressure that Shmuel is under?

(171-2) What dramatic situation unfolds and what is Bruno's reaction?

(173-4) What does Bruno think of himself because of the way he reacts? How is the major theme 'fear' portrayed in this scene? What does it do to Bruno and Shmuel?

(175) What does Bruno say that prompts Shmuel to offer his hand in friendship? How is this symbolic?

Chapter 14: Bruno Tells a Perfectly Reasonable Lie

(150-1) What information do we get that makes the reader start to feel that he is becoming less innocent and more ignorant?

(151-3) What is interesting about the weather and how does it relate to the overall emotion of this stage in the book?

(153) What does Bruno accidentally say to Gretel?

(154-5) Is Bruno able to consider Gretel's feelings? How do you know?

(155) What is it that motivates Bruno not to tell Gretel the truth? How does this portray Bruno as being selfish?

(158) What is it that Bruno realises when he starts recounting what Shmuel tells him? Why do you think that this is when he finally starts to realise what Shmuel is experiencing?

(159) What is ironic and hypocritical about what Gretel tells Bruno regarding imaginary friends?

Chapter 13: The Bottle of Wine

(134) How does the initial paragraph frame Bruno's state of mind?

(136) What does the question Bruno asks Maria show about his development?

(137) What is important about Maria's reaction to Bruno's question?

(138) Why does Bruno want to tell Shmuel about Pavel? What does this highlight about Bruno's understanding of what is going on?

(140) What do the boys argue about? Who does Bruno defend? Who is right/wrong? Why?

(140) Shmuel says 'You don't know what it's like here.' and Bruno reacts by saying 'You don't have any sisters, do you?' He says this to avoid an answer to Shmuel. What does this show about Bruno's understanding of what is happening?

(141) What connection do the boys have regarding Lt. Kotler?

(142) What has changed in the the way Bruno sees Pavel?

(143) What important words are used to describe the way the father eats and addresses Bruno? What makes them important? How do they relate to the scene and the father as a character?

(145) We learn Lt. Kotler's first name - 'Kurt'. What is it about the sounds in his full name that are important? 'Kurt Kotler'

(146-7) What do we learn about Kotler's father? What is Bruno's father's reaction/suggestion regarding Kotler's father leaving Germany for Switzerland?

(148) What happens to break the tension at the dinner table? What does Kotler do and what are everyone's reactions? What does Bruno decide regarding disagreeing with anyone anymore after seeing what happens to Kotler? What does this relate to historically in regards to the Nazis?

Chapter 12: Shmuel Thinks of an Answer to Bruno's Question

(126) How would you compare Shmuel's voice to Bruno's?

(128-130) How would you describe the way that Bruno acts and reacts to Shmuel tell his story about coming to the camp?

(131) When Bruno and Shmuel talk about chocolate how is Bruno portrayed?

(132) Do you think that Bruno understands the situation that Shmuel is in?

(133) What is ironic about Bruno thinking 'the last think he wanted to do was be unkind to Shmuel'?

(133) What is ironic about the statement - 'Bruno was of the opinion that when it came to parents, and especially when it came to sisters, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.'?