Email Assignment

Using the template in “How to Write an Effective Email to Your Professor,” write an email (in a word document) to me, your instructor. In the email, you must include two purposes of ENGL099L. Then you may ask a question about the course that is not in the syllabus, or you could also ask for a favor, such as a due date extension. 

Read all of the notes in “How to Write an Effective Email to Your Professor” and “10 Elements of an Effective, Non-Annoying Email” before you get started! 

Once you write the email save it, hit submit under this assignment,  upload the assignment and make sure you get confirmation that it submitted. You will need to spend some time revising and editing to catch any little mistakes. 

Let me know if you have any questions! 

Discussion, “First Bath” 

Pre-reading: 

1. Based on the title, what did you expect the essay to be about?  Why do you think Lea chose this title?

Reading: 

2. What is the essay’s dominant impression?  In other words, how would you describe the tone or feeling of the essay?  

Re-reading: 

3. Why do you think Lea might have written this essay? (4-6 sentences)

4.  Is it an objective description of her husband’s body after surgery?  (What does 
objective mean? What is the difference between 
objective and 
subjective?) Explain. 

5. Lea uses some really interesting descriptive language.  Let’s take a look at a few instances: 

 a. What does “pallor” mean? (par. 4)

 b. What is “the light of the new moon?” (par. 3)

 c. Lea describes the smell of chemotherapy as “the smell of ice on steel.”  What does this mean?

 d. What is an umbilicus? (par. 4)  Why include that particular image?

 e. Now, look back at all of these images.  What does Lea achieve by using such specific, creative language?  Why not just say “his skin was pale” or “his fingers were dark?” 

6.  After reading this essay, what do you think could be some reasons why we write for description?  (4-6 sentences)

Read and discuss, “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan

DIRECTIONS: After you read the chapter on narrative, answer the following discussion questions on the essay by Amy Tan, “Fish Cheeks.” You can refer back to the essay 
here. 

Be sure to answer all questions fully and in complete sentences. If it makes it easier, feel free to copy and paste the questions into your REPLY textbox. 

Questions for Discussion

1. What point of view does Amy Tan use in “Fish Cheeks?” (First person, second person, or third person?) 

2. Who are the characters in the narrative?

3. Where does Amy Tan use transitions? Give examples. 

4. What is the main conflict in the narrative? How is it resolved?

5. What is the theme of “Fish Cheeks”?

6. What are three examples of description from this narrative?

7. This an example of a story told about a holiday gathering. Many of our own stories likely revolve around holiday gatherings with family or friends. In a short paragraph (minimum 12 sentences), briefly tell the story of a memorable holiday gathering. 

Professional Writing Example

“Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan is an example of a well-written personal narrative. As you read the following narrative, try to determine the narrative’s point of view, plot, characters, transitions, conflict, and theme. See if you can identify areas where the author has included descriptive details.

Fish Cheeks

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 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 years 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.

Questions for Discussion

1. What point of view does Amy Tan use in “Fish Cheeks?”

2. Who are the characters in the narrative?

3. Where does Amy Tan use transitions?

4. What is the main conflict in the narrative? How is it resolved?

5. What is the theme of “Fish Cheeks”?

6. What are three examples of description from this narrative?