Unit 4 - My Culture

Week 4

Monday

Activity 1 - You were assigned to read two chapters from the book "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri. Today, in class we'll watch an episode from the film based on this novel and titled the same.

Before you watch the film, fill in the blanks in the following passage, which is a review of the film in the following link.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/movies/reviews/article_1275405.php/Movie_Review_The_Namesake


Movie – The Namesake
Adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri's novel of the same name.
Hopscotching across 25 years, ____ begins when newlyweds Ashoke _____ Ashima Ganguli emigrate to Cambridge, Mass., in 1968, _____ Ashima immediately gives birth to a son, Gogol-a pet name _____ becomes permanent when his ______ name, traditionally bestowed by _____ maternal grandmother, is posted _____ a letter from India, _____ lost in transit. Ashoke ______ a professor of engineering, but Ashima _____ a harder time assimilating, _____ to give up her ties to India. A leap ahead to the '80s ______ the teenage Gogol ashamed _____ his Indian heritage and _____ unusual name, which he sheds _____ he moves on to _____ at Yale and graduate school _____ Columbia, legally changing it to Nikhil. ______one of the most telling ______, Gogol moves into the ______ of a family of wealthy_____ Manhattan WASPs and is initiated _______ a lifestyle idealized in Ralph Lauren ads.
Here, Lahiri demonstrates her _______ powers of perception and ______ability to convey the _______ of feeling "other" in ­­­­_____world many would aspire to inhabit. ______the death of Gogol's father _______ this interlude, Lahiri again jumps ahead a year, quickly moving Gogol into marriage, divorce and a role as a dutiful if a bit guilt-stricken son.


After you fill in the blanks, compare your answers with your classmates.

Activity 2 -

Now watch the first 30 minutes of the film and take notes for each of the following categories.


Genre
Characters
Setting/Background
Plot/Story
Climax

Then compare your answers with your classmates. Then discuss how the story in the first chapters of the book and the film differ.

Tuesday

Activity 1- Write a paragraph of 200 words on the film you watched yesterday.

Activity 2- Go to the following link for internet resources suggested at the UN Languages and Communications Program English Department website. Decide which websites you can useoutside the classroom and how you can use them.

http://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/sds/lcp/English/recommendedwebsites.html

Then, go the following websites to read on punctuation rules and do the exercises.

http://www.grammarbook.com/english_rules.asp

http://www.grammarbook.com/interactive_quizzes_exercises.asp

Activity 3 - Revise your paragraph in activity 1 paying special attention to punctuation rules. Then send it to your teacher through e-mail.

Homework: Prepare a 5 minute talk on wedding customs in your country to present on Thursday.

Thursday

Present your topic "wedding traditions in my culture" to the class.

Take notes on the presentations made by other colleagues. Then choose one of them and then write a paragraph (250 words) comparing contrasting traditions in your country and in your classmate's country.