I. Pre-reading

1.1. SHARE your ethnic background with the group. You might like to give your friends an idea of the rituals and traditions your parents or grandparents stick to observing.

1.2. DRAW AND COMPARE YOUR family trees. If possible, see which tree is the "tallest", and which happens to be the most fruitful.

1.3 SHARE a fascinating tale that has been passed on from genera­tion to generation in your (or any other) family. Work in small groups.

II. Reading

2.1. Understanding the theme.

Here is the beginning of the story, Grandmother's Earrings. Read it paying attention to the words in bold type.

In the tradition of my people, I will introduce myself and tell you my place in the world. I am Eugenia Begay, born of the Bitterwater clan and born into the Red Mountain clan. I live on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and I have a story to tell about my grandmother's earrings...

What do we learn about the ethnic background of the narrator, Eugenia?

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story to the end now and think why Eugenia turned to be the most deserving daughter. The following words will be helpful to understand the events better.

Hogan — a native dwelling of Navajo Indians.

Den — a home of some animals; also a relaxation room in an American house.

Dawn — the time of day when the first light appears.

Hint — a sign of something.

Sprawl — spread or lie with your arms and legs in a careless way.

Chuckle — laugh quietly.

Leather — animal skin that has been treated specially.

Clack — make a continuous short sound.

Throb — have a regular feeling of pain.

Yearn — have a strong desire for something.

Grandmother was what we call an "elderly," an old person who spoke only Navajo. "We are not Navajo," she would say, "we are Dine, the People! We are the only children of the Holy Ones." She said the Spanish invaders gave us the name Navajo, which has nothing to do with who we are.

Grandmother first told me this when I was nine, after my mother, who had a job in Flagstaff, brought me back to live on the reservation. The day Mother dropped me off, I stood in front of a hogan with rain streaming down my face, flattening my hair.

"A hogan is made from the Earth, our mother," said my grandmother, beside me. "Come inside."

The hogan looked like a hut made of mud and sticks com­pared to the apartment building I'd lived in. There was a wood stove in the center of the hard dirt floor, and its pipe ran straight up through the roof. The rounded walls and low ceiling made the hogan feel safe, like a den a bear might crawl into for the winter. "You can lie down on the sheepskin by the loom and rest," Grandmother said. I lay down on the thick rug. Trying to understand my grand­mother's Navajo was giving me a headache—Mother and I usually spoke just English. I watched Grandmother move through the light and shadows cast by the kerosene lamp. She looked very different from my mother. Grandmother tied her gray hair in a bun on the back of her head with a white cloth in the Navajo way. Her wrinkled skin showed the beating of the sun and wind, but her eyes didn't look, tirfjd like my mother's. Grandmother's eyes were like glowing coals radiating warmth and light.

Although she moved slowly and stiffly, she reminded me of a song I'd heard as a small child. It went "Beauty in front of me, beauty behind me, beauty beside me, beauty above me, beauty beneath my feet; in beauty I walk ..." With those lines echoing in my mind, I fell asleep.

The door of the round Hogan faces east to welcome the rising sun. Just before dawn, Grandmother woke me up. "Go out and run to greet the day!" she said. I pulled my head out from under the blanket. My jeans were stiff with cold and sharp against my skin. There was no hint of sunlight in the black outside.

"You really want me to go out there and run, Grandmother?" I asked. She nodded. "Where am I supposed to go?" I asked.

"Run to the east to greet the sun, " she answered.

"But, Grandmother," I pleaded, "I don't even know which way is east."

Gently she took my arm and steered me out the door. "That way," she said. I sighed and began running slowly, struggling to see what was just before my feet in the darkness. Finally, a dim glow of sunlight came over the horizon. I kept running. Just a few more minutes, I thought, and the sun will be up, and I can go home.

Suddenly a huge, lumpy shape loomed up in front of me. My legs tried to spring and jump, but they were too tired, and I tripped and went sprawling across the sand. Looking back, I saw the lump move! "Baaaa," the sheep complained and waddled away.

My ankle was beginning to throb, and I yearned to be home, but as I struggled to my feet, the sun burst above the horizon, flashing gold, and pink. As if blessed, the land came alive in form and color. Red mesas surrounded a valley dotted with gnarled green cliff rose bushes and sharp prickly pear cactus. Small bird darted from bush to cactus and back again.

Awed by the beauty, I hobbled back to the Hogan. Grandmother was sitting on a stool outside. "What happened?" she asked.

"I guess I tripped over a sheep," I answered.

She looked closely at my ankle. "Come inside." From a hig& shelf she took down some tins of dried plants and put water in a pot on the stove. Waiting for it to boil, she began to chuckle.

"Grandmother?" I asked.

"You really tripped over a sheep?" She had a deep rolling laugh that tipped her head back. After a few seconds, though, she began to wheeze and gasp for air. I steered her over to a rug and helped her sit. After she got her breath back, Grandmother made a tea from the dried plants, soaked some strips of cloth in it, and wound them around my ankle. Soon the pain left, and I grew eager to run again, to greet every dawn.

Several mornings later, when I came panting back to the hogan just after sunrise, my grandfather was sitting on a stool next to Grandmother. He'd just returned from visiting my uncle's family, and his old, dented pickup was heaped with firewood. He held out his leathery hands. "I'm glad you're home," he said with shining eyes.

The rest of that day we cleaned the hogan and unloaded firewood. Grandmother explained that we should clean before unloading the wood because otherwise we'd have to unstack the wood inside to clean under it. She handed me a broom and told me to sweep the entire surface of the dirt floor. I moved everything out, swept, and moved it all back in again while Grandmother rested on her stool, giving instructions until the job had been completed properly.

Grandfather drove me into town in his old truck the next morning, and after school he picked me up. We did this every day, sun or snow, rain or wind. Every morning Grandmother gave me a breakfast of mutton stew, corn bread, and goat's milk after my run and before school. One morning she left something unexpected by my plate: a pair of turquoise earrings! Very flat, the sky-blue stones were shaped like bells. They lay on a thin bed of silver, which wrapped up the sides and held them in place. "That silver comes from coins the Mexicans brought in the days of my great-grandmother," she told me. "My mother gave them to me, and her mother gave them to her."

I held the earrings gently. "Will you give them to my mother?" I asked.

My grandmother frowned. "Your mother thinks they are an old woman's earrings. She thinks she can buy nicer ones in the city."

Grandmother carefully wrapped the earrings in cloth and put them away. I asked her why she'd shown them to me, and she crossed the room stiffly, holding on to my shoulder. "Because I want you to know about them: what they mean and where they come from." She smiled her graceful smile, and I helped her sit down.

I continued to run every day. Fall turned to winter —the mornings were icy and black, and the biting wind tore through my clothes. Then winter turned to spring, and the mornings became warmer. Finally, school was out, and the hot summer mornings began. I ran through three more circles of seasons, getting stronger and running faster, but my grandmother moved more slowly and painfully each day.

One day I came home from school, and Grandfather told me that my grandmother had died. Her sisters and nieces arrived the next day to help him put everything in order. Clacking like geese, they divided up Grandmother's jewelry. They surrounded Grandfather and asked him for the old earrings, but he shrugged and said he didn't know where they were. Finally, they all left, saying they'd be back soon to help him. When we were alone, I asked, "Grandfather, where are the old earrings Grandmother was going to pass on?"

He said, "I really don't know, child. Before your grandmother died, she said she'd make sure that the earrings go to the most deserving daughter."

The hogan was a mess from all the coming and going. To honor my grandmother, I decided to clean it the way she'd taught me. I moved everything out and then began to unstack the woodpile by the stove to sweep under it. When I got to the bottom, something shiny caught my eye. I reached down and picked up my grandmother's precious antique earrings.

Grandfather walked behind me and said softly, "I know our grandmother wanted you to have them. I just didn't know where she'd left them. She must have known that you'd clean for her the way she taught you."

The next day my mother returned from Flagstaff for the funeral, and when she hugged me, she noticed the earrings dangling from my ears. "My mother chose wisely," she said. "Do you want to come back and live in the city now that your grandmother's gone?"

As I shook my head, I could feel the earrings swing against my cheeks. "I'll stay here with Grandfather, if that's O.K." My mother nodded and promised to visit us more often.

I still live on the reservation, and now on special occasions I wear these earrings with pride. Some day I'll have a daughter and I'll raise her the way Grandmother raised me. When she's old enough, I'll give the earrings — and my grandmother's story — to her.

2.3. True or false?

Eugenia and her mother lived on the reservation.

Grandmother looked much different from Eugenia's mother.

From the start, Eugenia was eager to run to greet the dawn..

One day, Grandmother showed the girl a pair of grass-green earrings.

When Grandma died, her jewelry was divided amond relatives.

The earrings were supposed to become Eugenia's possession anyway.

After Grandma's death, Eugenia could not stay in the hogan any longer.

Those three years made Eugenia understand her ethnic identity better.

2.4. Understanding points of view.

Scan the story and try to explain what the characters meant by saying so.

"We are not Navajo, we are Dine, the People!"

"A hogan is made from the Earth, our mother."

"She thinks she can buy nicer ones in the city."

"She made sure that the earrings go to the most deserving daughter."

"She must have known that you'd clean for her the way she taught you."

"My mother chose wisely."

"When she's old enough, I'll give the earrings to her."

2.5. Prepositions in focus.

The song Eugenia remembered goes "Beauty in front of me, beauty behind me, beauty beside me, beauty above me, beauty beneath my feet..." (Prepositions are important because they provide more variety for the speaker.) Trink of as many verbs as you can to match the prepositions/adverbs below.

In front of: sit, , , ,

Above: fly, , , ,

Beneath: grow, , , ,

Beside: stand, , , ,

Behind: leave, , , ,

2.6. Similes.

Make sure you can cpmplete the following similes using the story.

The hogan looked like

Grandmother's eyes were like

The old woman's movements were like

The old man's hands were like

The earrings were shaped like

The old women clacked like

2.7. More comparisons.

Colours are normally associated with the natural world phenomena. Our world is a colorful place indeed. Check if you can invent some simple comparisons? e.g. coal-black, etc.

Sea Sky Coal Rose Pearl

red green blue black white

2.8. Animal farm idioms.

Nature is also the realm of animals and birds. Humans hardly ever understand what they say, but we often refer to animal world realities in everyday speech. Here are some idioms. Fill in the gaps with appropriate names of animals and birds.

Horse Pig Goat Donkey Dog Cat Crow Goose Hen Duck

To play the _________ To take to something like a _______to water To let the________out of the bag To cook one's ________ A________party As the_________flies To buy a________ in a poke For ________`s years Every________has its day From the________'s mouth

Think of sentences in which the idioms can shine.

2.9. Storing vocabulary.

Paraphrase the following using the expressions from the story.

1. The pictures of the past came as fresh as ever in my memory.

2. Listening to him, I remerribered another person say the same words.

3. The task is tiring, and I am not at all pleased to have to do it.

4. They brought up several children, all of whom found their way in life.

5. The shining object in the grass attracted my attention at once.

6. It seems he is not conscientious enough to be so honored.

7. Grown up people sometimes look at kids' play with dissatisfaction.

8. With every day, she became more willing to achieve her aim.

9. If it is an illegal deal, it's better to keep away from it.

10. In the end, we'll have to confront this problem anyway.

Expressions to choose from: to come alive, to remind of something, to grow eager to do something, to frown (at), to face something, to give a headakhe, to have nothing to do with, to deserve, to raise someone, to catch somebody's eye.

2.10. Grammar in focus.

Finished with vocabulary, we can proceed to grammar studies. Pay attention to the participial constructions that can surely make your ideas about Eugenia's experiences more varied and expressive. Complete the following sentences.

Unimpressed with the Hogan, Eugenia

Tired with Grandmother's Navajo, the girl

Startled by her Grandmother, Eugenia

Awed by the beauty of the land around her, she

Instructed by her Grandma, the girl

Wrapped up in silver, the earrings

Hidden by Grandmother, the earrings

Changed by her three years on the reservation, Eugenia

2.11. More practice.

When Eugenia didn't know what Grandmother wanted her to do, she asked about it politely. Students are supposed to be polite, too. are also supposed to realize well what they are doing in class. Speak about your in-class activities, using the table below.

doing making reading When writing discussing debating sharing

_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________

we are supposed to

_________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________ _________________