Tier II/Academic Vocabulary These words require less time to learn (They are concrete or describe an object/event/ process/characteristic that is familiar to students) These words require more time to learn (They are abstract, have multiple meanings, are a part of a word family, or are likely to appear again in future texts) Meaning can be learned from context Page [150] - [evacuated] Page [151] - [interned] Page [151] - [alien] Page [152] – [forsaken] Page [152] – [register] Page [152] – [abandoned] Page [154] – [army barracks] Page [153] - [citizens] Page [152] - [concentration camp] Meaning needs to be provided Page [153] - [bayonets] Page [154] - [stall] Page [154] - [cot]
Culminating Writing Task Prompt This story explains how Japanese Americans were discriminated against after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in World War II. Describe this discrimination. Then choose three characters from the story and describe how this discrimination impacted their lives and how they responded. Teacher Instructions Students identify their writing task from the prompt provided. Students complete an evidence chart as a pre-writing activity. Teachers should guide students in gathering and using any relevant notes they compiled while reading and answering the text-dependent questions earlier. Some students will need a good deal of help gathering this evidence, especially when this process is new and/or the text is challenging! Evidence Quote or paraphrase Page number Elaboration / explanation of how this evidence supports ideas or argument It was April 21, 1942. The United States and Japan were at war, and every Japanese person on the West Coast was being evacuated by the government to a concentration camp. 150 A blanket evacuation of all Japanese was not fair. The Government had come to pick up Papa and hundreds of other Japanese community leaders…The government thought that they were dangerous enemy aliens.’ He was “interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Montana because he had worked for a Japanese business firm .” 151 Family units were separated .Even though some of these people were “community leaders”, they were still thought of as dangerous. The father was taken away forcing the family the mother Mama to take care of the children alone and to deal with the evacuation without him. “We had been instructed to take only what we could carry into camp …Mama had told us we 151 The families were forced to leave most of their possessions behind. Keiko’s question to her
could only take two suitcases.” Keiko asks her mama how they were going to carry the huge sack that the dishes, blankets and sheets were in. Mama replies “Someone will help us.” mother shows that she is concerned about how they are going to be able to carry their essentials. Mama’s reply shows that she has a positive attitude and that she has faith in human nature. It could also be that she is being protective of her child, not wanting her to know how scared she (Mama) is at what happened to them. “I didn’t know if I would ever get back to Berkley again.” “I wondered who would be sitting in my desk at Lincoln Junior High now that I was gone. 151 Ruri was uncertain if she would ever get to go back to the only place that she had ever lived. Ruri was forced to leave her school and her home and she had done nothing wrong. “He(Papa) had lived there since 1917.” 151 The author tells us that Papa had been there since 1917 to show that he had been a resident for a long time. Also, there is no indication that in that amount of time, he had ever been in trouble or caused trouble. “I picked up my two suitcases. Each one had a tag with my name and our family number on it.” 152 Every Japanese family was given a number. This de-humanizes them. They are not being treated like individuals with rights. “But the garden looked shabby and forsaken now that Papa was gone and Mama was too busy to take care of it. It looked the way I felt, sort of empty and lonely and abandoned” 152 The author has this passage about the garden because it shows how the family used to have order, peace and beauty and now things are disheveled. He mother has to take care of important things by herself leaving the beautiful garden aside. The children had to cope with what the unfair circumstances. “No one knew exactly what was going to happen 152 Ruri’s family had to go without knowing what was