Mother Tongue by Amy Tan And

Due Monday, November 1

“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan and “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” by Richard Rodriguez

1. Read about arrangement (pgs. 13-25), paying particular attention to the patterns of development (pgs. 17-25). The patterns of development, or the way an author structures text, may also be considered rhetorical strategies, so add these terms to your rhetorical repertoire. You may use these terms in your analysis of text going forward.

2. Read “Mother Tongue” (pgs. 542-546) and “Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” (509-526) by Richard Rodriguez (pgs. 509-526). Write one 10-entry dialectical as a response to both essays (five entries on each essay). Type and double-space your dialectical.

3. Expect some form of assessment (multiple-choice, reading check, or essay prompt) on Monday.

Some ideas for your dialectical:

 Connections to your life and experience

 Connections to popular culture or current events

 How each essay is crafted (patterns of development)

 How each author creates scenes set in time and space

 Discussion of any of the appeals

 Audience

 Each essay’s point or argument

 Imagery, metaphor, or other figurative language

 Anything else that is interesting to you