Conversation with my parents

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

-  The irony about the father and daughters relationship is that they only became close when her father became ill.

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

-  The phone calls the daughter has with her parents are very brief and pointless. There conversation was as if they had just met for the first time. Her parents end the call before she even gets a chance to say goodbye.

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

-  She is most concerned because she has never been able to tell her parents how she feels about them and that she loves them because she is so far away.  She also does not know how to tell them how she feels because their conversations are so bleak.

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?

-  They express their feelings for their child by calling her and telling her to keep calling. This lets us know that they want to keep in contact and that they want to keep checking if she is okay. They also show there feelings for there daughter by letting her know that they will be eating the meal that is her favourite: " this weekend I am cooking banh xeo. You like to eat banh xeo so much. We will remember you."

short essay form story review : Chinese Lessons

Chinese lessons
By Ivy Tseng


The author of the story 'chinese lessons' presents a unique and revealing view of her child hood and her difficulties and desires.

This short story of the authors childhood reflects her frustration and urge to change the way she lived. The author is faced with terrible difficulty since moving to Australia, every Saturday morning she has to take chinese lessons. Whilst trying to accomplish the understanding of chinese history to keep up the family tradition through her fathers side, she barely has any comprehension of the English language and struggles to find room to learn that aswell: " I couldn't understand why I had to learn chinese when everyone around us seemed to speak, think, dream and do in English."

The authors desire to fit comfortably in society like other Australian people around  her is constantly repeated throughout her story.The commitments she is faced with only increases her passion to live and speak like other English people." while i was supposed to be committing to memory the intricate characters and sounds for words such as "snow" and "blood", I'de be staring out the kitchen window, looking the the gum trees swaying over the tiled rooftops, wishing I was whit or Aussie and doing little athletics or watching tv....... I fantasised about having parents who spoke perfect English.."

This story is important because of the unique perspective of Australians and how much some Chinese people appreciate our lifestyle and the desire live the same way. This story points out the how we take our easier lifestyle for granted.

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?

-  " My father had a sixth snense. he knew when people would die". This is an over exaggeration but is said seriously which creates tension.

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

-  Since his wife's death he became obth sessed and emotionally attached with Leslie Cheung.

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

- This description of his father removing his hand from his face " unamsked" realtes to his following statement because he make a serious prediction about the person's death. " He is going to die next month."

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?

-  The father is very emotional in the movie. He is given tissues by other people because he is crying. He also make  a prediction about someone death because he think the person will die. This relates to the title of the story " teenage dreamer" because of this accurate prediction.

My First Kiss by Lian Low

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

-  The are very sensitive to affectionate behavior. They have censored out any mouth to mouth kisses, tongue kisses and homosexuals from Malaysian Muslims. Non Muslims are allowed to kiss and hug romantically in public but are not allowed anything to be considered indecent.

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

-  her relaitonships with guys change. She no longer saw hersef as a "tomboy". She didn't didn't contribute in the "oooooh he's so hot "conversations anymore and she began tospend most of her lunchtime in the library reading lord of the rings.

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

-  She is placed in ESL ( second English)  with other Asian people even though she had spokenenglsih her whole life. She was only approached by other Asian people until year 11 when she joined literature class.

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

- The fact that she had been placed in ESL with other Asian people who vaigly understood the language and that she was only approached by other asian people made her feel non australian.

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

-She spent most of her time in the library at lunch.

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

- The description crash hot is used to describe her perception of Ken as a chess player. This shows that she takes chess seriously and enjoys it.

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

-It gave her the opportunity to express herself more. She got to meet more people which gave her the opportunity to have her first proper kiss.

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

- Her creativity and personall growth became hand in hand. A year before her first kiss she was under the 25 winners of the  prestigious inaugural short film competition.

Early Settlers

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

- the Europeans and the aboriginals.

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

- by mentioning that he grew corn cabbage in Wahgunyah, suggesting he was well established.

 

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

-  they were entrenched

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

-  the grandfather just wants to farm when others think he is a devil or terrorist.

5. What action does the Great-Grandfather do that ties him both to the ‘early settlers’ and to his own culture?

-  he is farming, which is same 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?

-  it highlights the irony that they are still putting up with he same thing to this day and the same problem is happening. Its also ironic because they both look at each other as devils.

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? 

- the anecdote describes her relationship with her grandfather and that he used to live with them when she was a teenager.

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

- After a while she could not be bothered with the chinese language. Her skills with the language became worse as she listened to everyone at school, spoke to everyone at school and listened tv in English. She did not see the point of it 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?

- the yellow rose bush made her grandfather mistake his house for someone else. It shows that he can't really tell the difference between a non Asian or Asian home.

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

- The death of her grandfather incouraged her to learn to speak better Chinese again because she felt that she didn't communicate well with her grandfather.

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?

-  the death of her grandfather motivates her to speak better Chinese beacuse she felt she could of communicated better wither her grandfather if she could speak it better.