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? It shows that her grandfather is very into the Chinese side of his life but the next generation care very little about it

2. What is the author’s view of the Chinese language in the 2nd paragraph? She thought it was unnecessary as everything else was in English as they were in Australia.

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? It was the exact same as there so it shows that he was losing his mind that there type of culture all had the same houses and stuff it was very basic they were from a different culture.

4. What does the death of her grandfather inspire the author to do? It makes her speak Chinese again and think more about her culture.

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?  As she wants to respect her grandfather and talk about her culture and life.

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?  The basic thing that all humans have is the ability to communicate this gives everyone the ability to communicate and share experiences.

 Describe a time when you were at fault for not communicating with someone because of your own selfishness or lack of compassion. When someone is disabled or with some genetic mutation I have avoided them as the situation is hard to speak about as they put pressure on the human mind.

Intro and Pigs at Home

Introduction by Alice Pung

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

2. How does she interpret this title? As if she is growing up in Australian as she is Asian this shows the single race that she is referring to.

3. What did this title actually refer to? Did the author find this demeaning? Why/why not?  It refers that the title is focusing on the one type of culture the Author finds this bad as it shows the high amount of discrimination on one race

4. ‘All that untapped potential! All that electrifying brain power!’ What techniques are being employed by the author? How do they highlight he misunderstanding? Repetition and irony as she thinks it is a complimented when it is actually a massive put down

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? That all Asian need lots of plastic surgery to look like everyone else.

6. Who are the authors that she turns to? Why? She turns to Tom Cho, Hoa Pham and many other

7. In the third paragraph how does the author use repetition. How does it highlight the focus of this book? She uses from constantly and it she uses as it shows that this entire book is going to be about these people growing up under constant strain and having to live pass it all

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 4th paragraph? What does it say about her reaction to the stories in the book?  She puts the names in quation marks this shows that these books helped get thru her child hood and are very close to her heart

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?  As it will help to bring to the forefront  questions  of identity , place, and perspective.

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?  They are very smart quite people that are the perfect students but they are a very small in number with many staying in home.

12. What are the editor’s hopes for the collection of stories? That people can see that Asian people have forefront  questions  of identity , place, and perspective.

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?   She starts talking about her life at home and how the customs of the Chinese were very different to the ones of Australians.

2. What core Vietnamese value is instilled in the author? to have a self sustaining household. 

3. What is humorous about the mother’s ‘flair for natural medicine’ in regards to her personality? It shows that she was very into the natural side of life this is also reflexes how she likes to have the self-sustaining household.

4. How does the description of the killing of pigeons continue the style utilised in the introduction of the story? It is a very cold hearted unhuman thing to do this shows that they were most worried about number one being themselves and that everyone and thing else was secondary.

5. What is the author’s opinion of pigs? Give two quotes to support your conclusion. She thinks they are foul untrustworthy things. “and she took a massive bit from the chickens buttock” “they barged in there thinking they were the top people

6. In the paragraph on pgs 53-54, give two examples of alliteration employed by the author.  bellies of babies and THE PIG

7. On pg 54 what simile is used to describe pigs? How does this simile work for the situation it is used? The pig is like the ocean it works as the duck had turned it back and got bitten

8. What simile does the author use to describe her mother sunning herself? How does this relate to the core focus of the story? Tanning like a rotisserie as it shows that the Chinese are into cooking

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?  It means that the new world and the old world is divided as the old world would not think twice in killing an animal but the new world does not like it.

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? She is against this as the neighbours must be thinking that that family is crazy it is important as it makes her seem out of the story

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? A they have a friend that gives them all the pork that they can eat. As the last pig was unloved and died.

12. How would you characterise the description of the mother’s treatment of the pig’s blood? Is it appetising? No it sounds disgusting

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?  She hates the pig but they mean a lot to her as it reminds her of their family so she likes to remember the pigs.

14. How does this story relate to the title Pigs from Home? As she in her childhood she had a pig that defined her life.

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

Letters To The Characters

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.

Letter 1

Dear Grandma

Today we leave for berlin but before we leave to go on that adventure i will go with my new friend called Shmuel he is very nice and lives on a farm but there are very funny sometimes as they all wear striped pyjamas but I find  them quite nice just when i finish this letter im going to go and try and help Shmuel  to find his father this is because his father went of to the showers with lots of other Jewish so today we are going to go and see if we can find him. wish me luck please. 

With Love Bruno

Letter 2

Dear fury 

I am retiring as your machine to clean the world has caused the death of my loving son bruno and the mental break down of my wife. This has forced me to leave this place to help my wife get thru this traumatic experience and assist in the caring of my other child Gretel which has had a similar but not as experience with the death of Bruno. I would like a posting in Berlin for the above reasons but if this is not available in which I completely understand organising a war is not easy I would like to hand you in my resignation.

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

What visual techniques are employed in this painting?
Some of the visual techniques used here is contrast which clearly defines the diffrence between two party's and the vocal point is the hand and the person with the Jews hand reaching out as they have loss all but one last try and finally one person is going to help this shows the forgiveness that the Jews gave the Germans after the terrible things that happened to them. Also the small person wont be able to fully help the big hand but it will help to give them hope when all hope is loss. 

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

They show many of the underlining themes that makes holocaust theme what it is some of these are:

• loss
• loss of humanity
• pain and suffering
• greed
• racism
• and many more

Poetry

How is juxtaposition used in this poem to highlight an important them of Holocaust literature?
Juxtaposition is used in this poem as the poem describes the innocence in the boy and the compassion and the love and the protecting that the mother shows and this is juxtaposition it reflects the terrible things that happen in the holocaust.
How is descriptive language used to enhance the reader's reaction to the poem?
descriptive language is used in the poem as the description that helps us to connect and enhances the readers reactions to the terrible thing that happen in the holocaust and the things that tore the family apart and many people died and no matter how much the parents care they cannot safe the poor and innocent children this forces a emotional connection between the parent and the child and we get thrown in there

 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

(163) Why doesn't Bruno like Kotler? What does he observe and not understand about Kotler when his father is away? as he says mean things and is mean to him he observes that him and his mother are having an affair with Kurt. 

(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? Kurt is being mean to Bruno and Bruno is getting angry at him.

(166) What surprise does Bruno get? Shmuel is sitting on the table polishing things

(167) How is juxtaposition used when Bruno compares his hand to Shmuel's? Shmuel  hand is very thin and under fed while Brunos is full of life this shows that Shmuel  is being mistreated

(168-9) Does Bruno understand the pressure that Shmuel is under? No

(171-2) What dramatic situation unfolds and what is Bruno's reaction? he panics and lies that he dosnt know Shmuel  

(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? he is very disappointed with himself  as Bruno is trying to save his friend but he fails it makes them better friends as they trust each other more

(175) What does Bruno say that prompts Shmuel to offer his hand in friendship? How is this symbolic? as it is the first time they have touched and that holding hands shows friendship.

Chapter 14

(150-1) What information do we get that makes the reader start to feel that he is becoming less innocent and more ignorant? he is starting to find out more about Shmuel's life and this makes him know more stuff about horrible things but he is still innocent as he has not yet worked out that it is the Germans doing this.

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

(153) What does Bruno accidentally say to Gretel? that he is missing his friend

(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? as he says it is his friend not hers and that he doesn't want to share.

(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? he starts to see how painful and sad it is the things that are happing to Shmuel as him saying it out loud sounds worst than Shmuel saying it out loud

(159) What is ironic and hypocritical about what Gretel tells Bruno regarding imaginary friends? it is ironic because she talks to her dolls and it is hypocritical as she talks to her dolls

Chapter 13

(134) How does the initial paragraph frame Bruno's state of mind? he had been quite happy as he had found a new friend and that he did not miss Berlin as much as he used to.

(136) What does the question Bruno asks Maria show about his development? It shows that he starting to realise that this world that he lives in may not be as perfect as he used to think it was.

(137) What is important about Maria's reaction to Bruno's question? that it inst as bad as she thought was and then she knew if she told her too much her job and/or even her life could be on the line if she answered it the wrong way or it reached his father or mother.

(138) Why does Bruno want to tell Shmuel about Pavel? What does this highlight about Bruno's understanding of what is going on? that he is starting to realise that the world is not a perfect as he first thought it was and he want's to tell Shmuel  that Pavel lived in Poland as well and that he was a doctor.

(140) What do the boys argue about? Who does Bruno defend? Who is right/wrong? Why? the boys argue if there are good soldiers Bruno defends his dad I believe that Bruno is right but not in the way that he thinks there are good soldiers like the UN soldiers and the allies

(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? Hes not sure what is happing and doesn't want to look dum in front of his new friend. but he is starting to realise what is happing

(141) What connection do the boys have regarding Lt. Kotler? they both think he is mean but this is ironic as they both think he is mean in a different way one being a lot more extreme than the other. 

(142) What has changed in the the way Bruno sees Pavel? He sees him more as a person than a dot in finding out that he has friends and family and almost might see him as part of an extended family much in the same way as he sees Maria.

(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? the father eats in an aggressive way and talks to Bruno as if every word he speaks is an insult to him this shows that the father may be under some stress and could be that the father is change in the way he used to be.

(145) We learn Lt. Kotler's first name - 'Kurt'. What is it about the sounds in his full name that are important? 'Kurt Kotler' not sure

(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? that he left Germany and moved to switzerland which is a nuetral country and the father is not very happy about this and gets quite aggressive about it.

(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?  he says that he enjoyed history he says that  he doesn't talk to his father as his father got very angry it relates to the nazis as any person that is not "perfect " it effect everyone elses lives.

Chapter 12

(126) How would you compare Shmuel's voice to Bruno's? Shmuel's voice knows a lot more as he has been told what is happing while Bruno doesn't really know what is going on around him.

(128-130) How would you describe the way that Bruno acts and reacts to Shmuel tell his story about coming to the camp? He is jealous this is showing irony as he lives the best life a that a young boy could live but he wants to be like Shmuel and have lots of friends and finds himself wanting to be o the other side of the fence.

(131) When Bruno and Shmuel talk about chocolate how is Bruno portrayed? Bruno is portrayed as a spoilt boy that has everything that he needs and more while Shmuel has a much harder life in fitting in.

(132) Do you think that Bruno understands the situation that Shmuel is in? No Bruno has no idea what Shmuel's situation is in and just thinks that he lives in a town with lots of people and many friends in funny clothes while he has no one but Shmuel to talk to.

(133) What is ironic about Bruno thinking 'the last think he wanted to do was be unkind to Shmuel'? yes this is ironic as he is a German and that his people are being very mean and killing and torturing Jews like Shmuel everyday for no reason but Bruno just wants to have friends and Shmuel is doing that.

(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.'?  that this is exactly what they are doing to them by not telling them what is really happing in the world and keeping him from knowing the true story of what they are doing to the Jews.

Chapter 11

(118) What does the mother's obsession with her 'list' represent? What does the list distract her from? What do you think about meeting Adolf Hitler? she looks over that this is going to make them move i think that it is ironic that Hitler wanted to create a perfect race when he was the exact opposite of this "perfect race"

(120) What is ironic when the father says 'The last thing we need is for either of you to start behaving like children.'? it is ironic that the father says this as they are both small children and so telling them that they shouldn't act like children is like telling a dog to stop acting like a dog or a cat to stop acting like a cat.

(121) How is juxtaposition used in the introduction of 'The Fury'? juxtaposition is used in the introduction of the fury as him a short ugly man with a mean personality and wife that is tall elegant and shows great kindness in ignoring the most powerful man in Germany and saying nice thing to the children even contradicting what her husband had just said.

(122) How is the 'Fury's' behavior juxtaposed with everyone else'? The Germans before this chapter had been shown is  a much nicer light so it was harder for us to see the evil that they were committing but know that Hitler is shown it makes us see the sort of Germans that are making these things happen.

(123) Is this a stereotypical representation of Hitler? Why/why not? Yes this is a stereotypical view of Hitler as everyone thinks that Hitler is a bad man that committed horrible things and this meeting just more firmly plants that sort of image into your mind.

(124) We are given a very abbreviated discussion between the mother and father. What are they talking about? What are their views on the topic? What effect does showing the parents conversation in this manner rather than the whole conversation? They are arguing about whether or not to move house the mother is against moving out while the farther is all for it keeps Bruno innocent than removing it and putting it into ignorance.

Chapter 10 the dot that became.........

(105) What does the progression of 'dot' to 'boy' tell us about the role of exploring and meeting the people in the camp? What does this represent about how other Germans view the Jews? that to Bruno they were just a dot in his life but after he went to investigate the dot became a blur and then a person this shows that the Germans viewed Jews as dots and as they never got to know them as they did not care they never became anything other than a dot to them this can be shown in today's time as a sale assistant never knows the people they are selling stuff so they dont remember things about them but a doctor gets to build a relationship with the person so the image clears and becomes a person.
(109) What effect does the boys both having the same birthday have? it gives them something to relate to and as they are both  young the same birthday has a massive effect on the possibility of them liking each other and gives them a common thing.
(113-4) What do Bruno and Shmuel 'argue' about? What does Bruno decide to stop the argument? they argue about Wether Berlin or Poland is better and were it is Bruno decides to stop the argument as he doesn't want to argue with his new friend.
(115) What does Bruno's last question reveal to Shmuel? What do you think Shmuel thinks of Bruno because of asking this question? it revels that Bruno is very sheltered and dose not know very much at all i think that Shmuel thinks that Bruno is innocent not ignorant as he doesn't act mean about it.

review of JW

- participation
3
- what questions/answers they ask
he answered a Question
 he debated a question about the irony of the forcing on to the train
 another debate about Bruno complying and no empathy
- do they know what they are talking about`

Yes
- overall what is your impression of their understanding of what is happening in the chapter
i think they have read and looked at the chapter unlike Andrew Jeroigen


8.54639/10

Chapter 9

(pg95-96) How is Lt Kotler portrayed? Why is he portrayed this way? (remember that 'how' is asking about literary techniques)  he is prtrayed as a young strong solider the exact sort of person that Hitler or the "fury" wanted by making this "perfect race" he portrayed this way so we get to see the sort of thing that Hitler was trying to create thru all this bloodshed.
What is Herr Liszt going to 'change' for Bruno? (98) he is going to get Bruno to follow the Nazi party and make sure that he turns out to be the perfect boy that his father wants him to be so get rid of the fiction books and make him read history and Nazi rules.
(100) What connection does Bruno make between the people in the camp and the people that come and visit his house all the time? He makes very little connection but realises that they are both wearing striped PJ's.
What some of the things that Bruno begins to take notice of regarding the relationship between the soldiers and the people in 'pyjamas'? He starts to realise that the relationship between the guards and the people are not friendly and that the guards hold a lot more power and authority than the people and the guards are very mean

Evaluating your Partner's Performance

Today in class we are going to listen to a discussion for 5-10 min on each chapter (11 + 12).

During the conversation you are to take notes on:

- participation
- what questions/answers they ask
- do they know what they are talking about
- overall what is your impression of their understanding of what is happening in the chapter

Give your partner an HONEST score out of 10 (10 being the best).

Questions misinformation "what u dont know wont hurt them (father and mother)

Think of 5 important questions for each of these two chapters about how important motifs and themes play a role in each chapter.

Chapter 11

1. Does your stereotypical Nazi change after seeing what the fury is like?
2. Does it change again when the fury's wife is introduced?
3. How effective is imagery used on p.63?
4. Does Bruno's conversation with his father make you think he is more or less innocence?
5.  What does the italics say  about the fury's wife?

 Chapter 12

1. Does Bruno innocence start to change with finding out more about Shamaul?
2. How is juxtaposition used in this chapter?
3. How is it ironic that Bruno want to go to Shamauls house for dinner?
4. Do you think that Shamaul think that Bruno is arrogant  for what he says about how harsh his life?