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Listen Slowly | Thanhha Lai | Vietnam | HarperCollins | 2016 | ISBN: 0062229192
Synopsis
Mai is a typical 12 year-old girl, anxious to spend her summer on the beach in Laguna, California. Until, she is volun-told to accompany her grandmother, Bà to Vietnam to gain answers to as what happened to her husband following the end of the Vietnam War and learn about her Vietnamese heritage. She begins her time in Vietnam, counting the days until she can leave. A detective has been hired by Mai’s family tracks down the guard who held her grandfather, Ong captive. After much negotiating back and forth, the guard comes to Bà and informs her that he left him down in the tunnel after Ong refused his help to escape. However, the guard did say that Ong had left her a message that she must see in person. Mai, her good friend Út, and other relatives help the girls to track down the guard after the detective struggles to locate him. Eventually, Bà is able to travel into the tunnel where her husband was kept and saw the message he left for her. Mai decides to stay in Vietnam the remaining twelve days she has until her return flight to learn to write Vietnamese from Út and teach her how to pronounce the different scientific names for frogs in English to qualify to study with a scientist in the jungle.
- New York Times bestseller for middle grade fiction
Rationale for Use in the English Classroom:
Listen, Slowly will easily complement an English classroom as students will easily relate the Mai’s self-centered nature in the beginning of the book as she plots ways to get out of what her parents have asked her to do. The book is rich with characterization, evolution of characters and friendships, themes/central ideas, figurative language, and Tier II vocabulary.
Before-Reading Activity:
Students need some basic background information on the Vietnam War and how refugees fled the country after the Fall of Saigon. http://strongarmor.blogspot.com/2013/04/vietnam-war-project.html was created by a middle school student with the help of his mother and provides information and graphics to assist students in their comprehension who was fighting whom, where, and why.
Students need some basic background information on the Vietnam War and how refugees fled the country after the Fall of Saigon. http://strongarmor.blogspot.com/2013/04/vietnam-war-project.html was created by a middle school student with the help of his mother and provides information and graphics to assist students in their comprehension who was fighting whom, where, and why.
During-Reading Activities:
Strong Armor
(Provides information and graphics to assist students in their comprehension who was fighting whom, where, and why)
http://strongarmor.blogspot.com/2013/04/vietnam-war-project.html
Postcards Series Shined Light on Vietnam’s Past and Present
https://coyotestudentnews.com/2014/05/06/postcards-series-shined-light-on-vietnams-past-and-present/
Vietnam - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/vietnam.html
10 Vietnamese foods you need to try
http://www.roughguides.com/article/10-vietnamese-foods-you-need-to-try/
Learn Vietnamese -Greetings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ufOgAOvS2Y&nohtml5=False
- The following questions could be used for discussion and/or as text-dependent questions to be answered in writing. http://645e533e2058e72657e9-f9758a43fb7c33cc8adda0fd36101899.r45.cf2.rackcdn.com/reading-guides/RG-9780062229182.pdf
- The first three pages provide a lot of information quickly and convey a sense of Mai’s character. Give details about what you learn and describe Mai’s personality based on her narrative voice in those pages. RL.5-8.1; RL.6-8.3; RL.5-6.6
- Mai refers to herself on p. 123 as “the new me.” What does she mean? Compare what she’s like at the beginning of the book and the end. What causes her to change? Point to dialogue, thoughts, and actions that reveal the transformation. RL.6-8.3
- Winning Words. Have each student find five of the SAT words from Mai’s mother. Have them create a graphic organizer for each word of a square divided into quarters. The quarters should contain the following: the word; the student’s definition based on context; a dictionary definition; and the part of speech. Have the students decorate the squares and post them on a bulletin board of Winning Words. RL.5-8.4
- The following questions could be used for discussion and/or as text-dependent questions to be answered in writing. http://645e533e2058e72657e9-f9758a43fb7c33cc8adda0fd36101899.r45.cf2.rackcdn.com/reading-guides/RG-9780062229182.pdf
- Mai’s friendship with Út develops slowly and comes to matter a lot to Mai. Compare and contrast their characters. Describe how they initially reacted to each other and what caused that to change. How does the friendship affect Mai’s decisions? RL.5-8.3
- Describe Anh Minh and the role he plays in Mai’s visit to Vietnam. Why is education so important to him? Why does he feel obliged to work hard and succeed? Compare his attitudes about these issues to Mai’s. RL.5-8.3
- Discuss the book’s title, its meaning, and why you think the author chose it. On p. 254, Bà says to Mai, “I tell you of loss, my child, so you will listen, slowly, and know that in life every emotion is fated to rear itself within your being.” Read the rest of what Bà says in that paragraph and discuss what you think she means. RL.5-8.2; RL.5-8.4
- Mai has two names, her American name of Mia and her Vietnamese name of Mai. Discuss the significance for her of having two names. Find other places in the story where names are important and talk about why they matter so much. RL.5-8.1; RL.5-8.4
- Says Who? Have students choose one of the major characters other than Mai and create journal entries in that character’s voice. They should write at least five entries about different scenes in the book. The entries should draw directly from those scenes but give a different viewpoint than Mai’s. Have the students share their entries with each other in small groups. W.5-8.3
Strong Armor
(Provides information and graphics to assist students in their comprehension who was fighting whom, where, and why)
http://strongarmor.blogspot.com/2013/04/vietnam-war-project.html
Postcards Series Shined Light on Vietnam’s Past and Present
https://coyotestudentnews.com/2014/05/06/postcards-series-shined-light-on-vietnams-past-and-present/
Vietnam - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/vietnam.html
10 Vietnamese foods you need to try
http://www.roughguides.com/article/10-vietnamese-foods-you-need-to-try/
Learn Vietnamese -Greetings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ufOgAOvS2Y&nohtml5=False
Connections to Other Content Areas/Disciplines:
The English teacher could collaborate with a World History teacher and use this novel as a supplemental text to primary sources while studying the Vietnam War and/or compare and contrast the Vietnamese refugees vs. Syrian refugees. Also, students could research Vietnam Past and Present. Drawing from the book, have your class brainstorm topics about Vietnam to research, such as geography, major cities, transportation, food, clothing, and different aspects of the war. Working in pairs, have them glean information from the novel and expand on what they find, using at least one print and one internet source. Have the pairs report back to the class using slides to enrich their presentation. SL.5-8.4; SL.5-8.5 http://645e533e2058e72657e9-f9758a43fb7c33cc8adda0fd36101899.r45.cf2.rackcdn.com/reading-guides/RG-9780062229182.pdf
There could also be collaboration with a biology or life sciences teacher with regard to the different frogs that inhabit Vietnam, as well as the spread of malaria via mosquitoes.
There could also be collaboration with a biology or life sciences teacher with regard to the different frogs that inhabit Vietnam, as well as the spread of malaria via mosquitoes.
