However, we must encourage ourselves and our students to think critically about the media we consume it is often white actors or protagonists that get the lead roles in depictions of parallel cultures. Pacy and her classmates feel as though she can’t play Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz because Dorothy isn’t depicted as Chinese and they have never seen a Chinese Dorothy. Pacy mentions that, “you never see a Chinese person in the movies or in a play or in a book,” which in her mind correlates to, “no one Chinese is important” (Lin, 2006, p.It took Pacy a long time to determine what about her life was unique or interesting, which reiterates the importance of modeling how to select and write about small moments and then expand a moment into a full narrative.

Pacy and Melody discuss their writing ideas, seek mentor storytellers, and revise multiple drafts of their books, which is an authentic example of the writing and publishing process.

Pacy’s class enters a book illustration and writing contest called “The National Awards Contest for Students” which inspires Pacy and her classmates to be looking for stories in their everyday lives and excites them about the possibility of their book getting published “just like the books in the library,” (Lin, 2006, p.

Reminders for Teachers in The Year of the Dog Lin includes simple drawings throughout her book to add further context to words or traditions that may be unfamiliar to some students, which is another strategy we could model for students. The Year of the Dog can also be a model or mentor text of how to integrate a student’s native language into their writing, regardless of the language! We want to encourage bilingual or trilingual (or more!) students to include languages other than English in their writing and model how other expert authors do this. Honoring and learning names in other languages is a recurring critical theme throughout texts about immigrants and refugees (connection to The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi). This text also provides another example of the importance of names and the students’ and teachers’ willingness to learn a student’s given name in their native language rather than providing them with an “Americanized name” that is more convenient for English speakers. It is critical that we as teachers express the importance of learning and pronouncing words in other languages correctly when reading and discussing books. This could be an example of how important it is to respect other languages and the connection between language and heritage, traditions, and cultural identity. Grace Lin adds cultural authenticity and depth by including Chinese and Taiwanese words as she takes part in cultural traditions such as Chinese New Year and her cousin Albert’s Red Egg party. Teaching Opportunity 1: Integrating native language vocabulary into writing

Grace lin the year of the dog