Sarah Semroc TE 302 13 November 2012 Lesson Plan #2

A Lesson on “Fish Cheeks”

My Plan:

Rationale: My intended students are eighth graders in an English classroom. My goal of the lesson is for students to become accustomed to literature where the theme is heavily related to promoting cultural awareness and exploring identity. Through Amy Tan’s short writing titled “Fish Cheeks” I aim to introduce the students to reading critically in accordance with the theme of cultural awareness. In Amy Tan’s writing “Fish Checks”, Amy feels embarrassed of her Chinese culture and family as they eat a traditional seafood meal with the minister’s family. Through much detail and the use of literary comparative devices such as similes, Amy Tan expresses initial embarrassment of her family and their Chinese culinary traditions (ex: belching after a meal to show gratitude, “double-dipping” with chop-sticks rather than using serving spoons to transfer food onto individual plates, etc.). I aim for my students to analyze this reading on both a literary level, in terms of literary devices and their effectiveness, as well as on a content/cultural level. Through this lesson, I hope to demonstrate the struggles of leading a multicultural life. I also aim for my students to recognize how they can relate to Amy Tan, even if they are American or do not have a largely foreign family. Through the reading, discussion, and journaling at the end of the lesson my goal is for my students to have a better understanding of multiculturalism.

Objectives: Students will be able to discuss different cultural perspectives pertaining to the topic of “Fish Cheeks”. Students will be able to read the short story individually and then also be able to follow along as I read aloud to them. Students will be able to hi-lite instances of literary device usage (description, simile, etc.). Students will also be able to discuss how these instances of literary devices serve to illustrate Amy Tan’s thoughts on her family/culture. Students will be able to relate themselves to Amy Tan through a journaling exercise.

Materials: “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan Hi-liter markers Journals/paper for each student

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Steps: 1. I will begin by asking the students of their experiences eating fish. I will encourage our discussion by asking questions such as: How do Japanese/Chinese/Americans eat fish? Have you ever eaten fish cheeks? How do you like to eat fish cheeks? How do Chinese like to eat fish cheeks? The purpose of these discussion questions is to introduce the topic of cultural culinary customs that is to come in the reading “Fish Cheeks”. I will then ask students if they have any experience eating a meal with a foreigner and will follow up this question by asking what their table manners were like.

2. I will then introduce “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan. I will provide some background on Amy Tan (she is American born by her Chinese parents and is a writer in California). Based upon the title “Fish Cheeks” and our introductory activity, I will ask the students to predict what they think that “Fish Cheeks” may be about.

3. Students will silently read through the entirety of “Fish Cheeks”. 4. As a class, we will summarize “Fish Cheeks” and discuss the

characterization of Amy, her mother, and her family members. We will highlight the story’s problem.

5. Then, I will hand out hi-liters to the students and instruct them to hi-lite instances of description and other literary devices. I will then read the story aloud and the students will hi-lite as I read.

6. Once I’m done reading, we will stop and have a class discussion. Students will share some of their favorite descriptions first, then I will ask students to share some of the description they found that illustrated instances of Chinese culture. Then we will move to paragraph three and close-read the description of the Chinese food and talk about tone (the negative nature of the words Tan uses to describe her mother’s cooking symbolized Tan’s feelings about her Chinese culture in general). We will then close our discussion by talking about the growth in Amy’s attitude about Chinese culture throughout the text. By then end of the text, how does Amy feel about her family?

7. To close out the lesson I will instruct students to journal about an experience that they had where they felt embarrassed by their family or culture. Students will be given time to free-write and journal while focusing in on content and not on grammar.

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Assessment: I will assess the students’ progress at the end of the lesson when I instruct them to journal about a time where they felt embarrassed by their family, culture or background just like Amy Tan did. Students will express what happened/embarrassed them, how it made them feel, how their family felt (or didn’t notice the embarrassment), and finally how they feel about their family/culture now (after the embarrassment/situation). The goal of this assessment is for the students to relate to Amy Tan and her emotions of shame towards her Chinese family and background. I will not be looking for correct/standard grammar usage, rather I will be reviewing the journals and looking to see that students created thoughtful references of their own experiences to Amy Tan and her experiences.

Handout/Reading:

See pages below for handouts and citations.

Citations:

Tan, Amy. "Fish Cheeks." The opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life. New York: Penguin, 2004. N. pag. Print.

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Name: _________________________ Date: __________________________

Journal Entry: “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan

Prompt: Write about a time where you felt embarrassed of ashamed of your own family,

background or culture, just like Amy Tan did in “Fish Cheeks”. Were you able to overcome this embarrassment or shame, and how so?

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Fish Cheeks

Amy Tan

I fell in love with the minister's son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not

Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger. For Christmas I prayed for this blond-

haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose.

When I found out that my parents had invited the minister's family over for

Christmas Eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese

Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper

American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a

roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?

On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange

menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns. The kitchen was

littered with appalling mounds of raw food: A slimy rock cod with bulging eyes that

pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. Tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of

rubbery white sponges. A bowl soaking dried fungus back to life. A plate of squid, their

backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires.

And then they arrived – the minister's family and all my relatives in a clamor of

doorbells and rumpled Christmas packages. Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was

not worthy of existence.

Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their

chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food.

Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them. My relatives

murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert

grimaced. Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out

the soft meat. "Amy, your favorite," he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted

to disappear.

At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my

mother for her fine cooking. "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied,"

explained my father to our astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a

reddened face. The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp. I was stunned into

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silence for the rest of the night.

After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, "You want to be the same as

American girls on the outside." She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt in beige

tweed. "But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different.

Your only shame is to have shame."

And even though I didn't agree with her then, I knew that she understood how

much I had suffered during the evening's dinner. It wasn't until many year later – long

after I had gotten over my crush on Robert – that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson

and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had

chosen all my favorite foods.