Developing ESL Skills Through Reading Vietnamese Literature
Grade Level 9-12

Iris D. Zuekcr
Assistant Principal Foreign Language/ESL
Morris High School
Bronx, New York

Lesson 1: The Unwed Mother (poem)

Lesson 2: On a Portrait of IWo Beauties (poem)

Lesson 3: The River (poem)

Lesson 4: Fragile as a Sun ray (poem)

Literary Comparison of Lessons 3 and 4

Unit Questions

NOTE TO TEACHERS:

The lessons presented in this project are designed to provide intermediate and advanced English as a Second Language students with the framework for developing listening, reading and language skills by studying, analyzing and responding to multicultural literature. These lessons are also suitable for students in middle schools who need to develop the same skills in their English language ads classes.

The carefully selected readings are Vietnamese. They are intended to expose English Language
Learners and middle school students to literature from other cultures and especially from
Southeast Asia.

The exercises have been divided into two distinct sections. The first one consists of comprehension, vocabulary and language exercises. These exercises are intended to measure second language acquisition and cognitive development. The second exercises consist of English Language Ads exercises geared towards development of the necessary skills for listening and writing. They focus on the literary elements and the authors’ craft.

These lessons have been developed for the Asia 2001 Project, sponsored by the American Forum for Global Education. The goal of the project is to disseminate information about Asia to schools and communities throughout the nation.

RESOURCES:

The book used for the poetry lessons is:
spring essence
The poetry of Ha Xuân Huong
Edited and translated by John Balaban
Copper Canyon Press, 2000

The book used for the short stories lessons is:
The Stars, The Earth, The River
Short Fiction Le Minh Khue
Translated by Bac Hoai Tran and Dana Sachs
Curbstone Press, 1997