Mother Tongue

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Word Scrapbook”

In this activity, students will build word scrapbooks to understand Tan’s writer’s revelation, “I am someone who has always loved language.”

Become an observer of language by collecting five to 10 word usages that grab your attention as you move through a day. The language may come from speakers, digital or print media, advertising, or any other source of language. Record each usage, which may be a complete sentence or a fragment. The examples may be in English, another language, or a combination.

• Design a scrapbook page for each usage. First, record the language on the page.
• Then, in English, write about how the language evokes an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, a simple truth, or something else.
• Finally, finish the page with images and color.

When you share your scrapbook with your peers, discuss how one or more of the story’s themes also apply to your scrapbook.

Teaching Suggestion: Instruct students to bind pages into books and write dedications to Amy Tan. Arrange for students’ books to be displayed in a campus or local library.