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