The Joy Luck Club and Chinese Culture

The novel opens after the death of Suyuan Woo, an elderly Chinese woman and the founding member of the Joy Luck Club. Suyuan has died without fulfilling her "long-cherished wish": to be reunited with her twin daughters who were lost in China. Suyuan’s American-born daughter, Jing-mei (June) Woo, is asked to replace her mother at the Joy Luck Club’s meetings.

At the first meeting, Jing-mei learns that her long-lost half-sisters have been found alive and well in China. The other three elderly members of the Club – her mother’s best friends and Jing-mei’s "aunties" – give Jing-mei enough money to travel to China and meet her sisters. Essentially, Jing-mei has the opportunity to fulfill her mother’s greatest wish. Jing-mei’s aunties assign her the task of telling her twin sisters about the mother they never knew. The only problem is, Jing-mei feels like she never really knew her own mother.

This simple premise allows the book to cast a much wider net, as it raises the question of how well daughters know their mothers. The other three members of the Joy Luck Club – Ying-ying, Lindo, and An-mei – all have wisdom that they wish to impart to their independent, American daughters. However, their daughters – Lena, Waverly, and Rose – all have their own perspectives on life as Americans. This gives the book a total of eight perspectives and life stories to draw from. The novel is comprised of sixteen chapters, with each woman (with the exception of Suyuan) getting two chapters with which to tell her story.

At the end of the book, Jing-mei flies to China to meet her half sisters. She is extremely apprehensive about meeting them. When the sisters do meet for the first time, they instantly hug and cry. Jing-mei’s mother’s wish has been fulfilled, and through the process, Jing-mei feels that she has come closer to her mother. (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008)

The movie The Joy Luck Club

There are several interesting quotes in the book.

"Auntie, Uncle," I say, repeatedly, nodding to each person there. I have always called these old family friends Auntie and Uncle. And then I walk over and stand next to my father. (I.1.38)

According to the quote, what can you infer in Chinese culture? Why do they call other adults “Auntie and Uncle”?

On her journey she cooed to the swan: "In America I will have a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husband’s belch. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English." (I.Prologue.2)

According to the quotes, what can you infer in Chinese culture? And what does the mother regard America as?

After you watch the movie, answer the following questions with your own experience.

What do you think the parenting in this novel? Which mother do you like best? Which one is more similar as your mother?

In the movie, two mothers like comparing their daughters. One says that her daughter is very good at chess and everyday she has to wipe all her trophies. The other says that her daughter is a music talent and her mind is full of music. In this scene, try to guess why the two mothers are saying that? What can you infer in Chinese culture? Did your parents compare you with other kids? If you were the kids, what are your feelings and what would you react?

How to use podcast in future teaching?

I have chosen a podcast called “ Absolutely intercultural ”. I would use it as a listening material. So firstly, students can listen to the podcast and write down some key words which would help them recall the listening. Then they can listen to the material again and answer some comprehension questions or dictate the listening material. Finally, students can talk about their own intercultural experience.

The podcast can also be used as a lead-in cultural class. Students can listen to the material first and then summarize some intercultural differences. And then they can talk about their intercultural experience.

Reflection on ePals

After exploring the website, I find that the purpose of the website is to connect global learners. There are two interesting and typical project.

       One is called Class in Vermont, USA seeks cultural exchange for the way we are powerpoint project  , they are a class at Mount Abraham Union Middle School in Bristol, Vermont, U.S.A. The students are between 12 and 13 years old. They are currently studying culture, focusing on ancient India, Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. Therefore, the purpose of the project is to let students communicate with students in other cultures. With the project, students can learn modern cultures by themselves and gain first- hand knowledge.

       The other project is Class in Missouri, USA seeks French-language partners for video project , Level 2 French students will be investigating the differences between a high school in a French speaking area and an American high school.  Students are encouraged to have an email contact with that they can discuss the difference between the schools. Level 2 students can ask questions directly to students in target schools in order to know what they want to rather than gain information on internet.

       When I want my students to explore the difference between Chinese education and American education, I could establish a project on ePals. Then they can contact with each other via email and find difference through chatting.

Story telling video

I have created a photo stories called My daily routine in junior high school with Animoto. I will use the video as an example. Students should watch the video and imitate to make their own video. In the video, I have shown my daily routine in junior high school. In addition, I have used simple past in the text. Thus, Students are required to use simple past tense to describe their daily routine in the past. They can use their own photos to make the video then write caption below the photos.

My comic story

In My comic story, the scene is on kitchen. There are two persons, Sam and Penny. The topic is about making tea. And the knowledge point is usage of modal “can”. I will use the comic story to English beginners. In class, at first, I will show the video to students. And they are required to write every line of dialogue down. They can listen to the video for two times. And then students are grouped into pairs to pick out sentences with modal “can”. Next, I will explain the meaning and use of “can”. Then, several students are called to read out the sentences. Finally, students can make up their own dialogue with “can”.

Digital storytelling

After reading some articles about digital storytelling, I found that digital storytelling is a very useful tool for my future teaching. Then I will introduce the useful tool to you.

                According to 7 things you should know about storytelling , digital storytelling is the practice of combination narrative with digital content, including images, sound and video to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component. Sophisticated digital stories can be interactive movies that include highly produced audio and visual effects, but a set of slides with corresponding narration or music constitutes a basic digital stories can be instructional, persuasive historical and reflective.

                Usually story telling are applies like this. Students have to choose their own topic and then they  have to write a script about the topic. Next, small group are formed. In small groups , students can do the story circle. During the process, students would learn how to respect other’s advice and how to give suggestions.

                According to The educational uses of storytelling , Digital storytelling can be used as an instructional tool for teachers and also a learning tool for students. For teachers, digital storytelling can facilitate discussion about the topics in classroom and make the abstract content more understandable. For students, they can first choose a topic and then choose a particular point of view and tell stories of their own. During the process of telling story, students can improve their communication skills such as organizing ideas, ask questions and express opinions. In addition, when the story telling is uploaded on the website, students can give suggestions to each other can learn how to  critique.

                I think digital storytelling is a very useful tool for language teaching.

Gamification

Recently, I have read some articles about Gamification and then I would introduce some aspects of Gamification.

       According to 7 Things You Should Know About Gamification , Gamification is the application of game elements in non-gaming situations, often to motivate or influence behavior. About the rational for using games for language learning, I have gained some insights from the article called Escape the Room Games , for example, in the genre Escape the room, what makes escape the fact that they are puzzles that have an inbuilt information gaps. The puzzles are usually very difficult to solve, unless you have a walkthrough. When a teacher talks about how to play the game or students are watching walkthrough videos, students can practice their listening. This is the easiest way of exploiting the game for language learning and it requires little preparation. All the teacher needs is the walkthrough to the game. The teacher read out to the students, grading the language to suit the level of the class, and check comprehension by noticing which students move on in the game. In other words, if they were listening to the teacher and understand, then they know what to do next.

       I have tried a causal game called The Great Kitchen Escape , I think the game is suitable for beginners of English learning because the aim of the game is to help learners get familiar with kitchen vocabulary such as kettle, spoon, bowl and so on. I have watched the walkthrough before I played the game. I have played the game twice and succeeded escaping the kitchen at the second time. As a teacher, I would set two objectives for my students, that is, understanding walkthrough or understanding me when I am telling them how to play the game. The second one is by playing the game, students need to be familiar with kitchen vocabulary. In addition, in order to make students engaged in the game actively, I have some strategies. For example, I would group students into pairs. Then time which they spend on escaping the kitchen would be counted. Whoever escapes the kitchen first can have some prize.

       In my opinion, the teacher’s role in Gamification is facilitator. In other words, the teacher helps students understand rules of the game and assess the students’ progress.

       During the game, I would use a walk through. I would use it before students play the game. Firstly, students will watch or read the walk through of the game. Then I would a student to recall the content of the walk through on in order to assess their understanding. As for images from the game, I would not use it because I think walk through is enough for understanding.

       After playing the game, I have several methods to assess whether learning objectives are met by students. For example, students can write out kitchen vocabulary which they met in the game as much as possible. Or pictures from the game are given, then students have to write correct name according to pictures.

       I think game is a creative teaching method which I will use in my future teaching.