Parental Expectations: Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

English Language Arts

Grade(s)

9

Overview

Amy Tan reflects on a personal story from her childhood to illustrate how her parents' expectations affected her in this video from the American Masters film Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir. Tan’s first novel, The Joy Luck Club captures many themes and relationships from her childhood by mirroring them through fictional characters and stories. This novel was made into a film and an excerpt is used in this video clip to demonstrate the difficulties Tan faced trying to meet parental expectations.

This resource provides students with the opportunity to analyze the effect of the author's culture on the themes in their writing.

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 9

ELA21.9.3

Analyze how an author’s cultural perspective influences style, language, and themes.

UP:ELA21.9.3

Vocabulary

  • Cultural perspective
  • Style
  • Language
  • Theme

Knowledge

Students know:
  • An author's cultural perspective influences the style, language, and themes of their work.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify the style, language, and theme of text.
  • Analyze how an author's cultural perspective influenced the style, language, and theme of their work.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • An author's cultural perspective affects word choice, style, theme, and other aspects of a text.

CR Resource Type

Audio/Video

Resource Provider

PBS

License Type

CUSTOM
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