"Two Kinds"
In “Two Kinds,” Jing-mei’s mother believes this country offers unlimited opportunities for her daughter.
What is America/the United States?
About this many languages exist in the world today, according to the article.
What is about 7,000 languages?
Pamela Norr created the TECH program after getting help with technology from these members of her own family.
Who are her teenage children?
When Maya first meets Vivian Baxter again, she is surprised by her mother’s beauty and calls her by this name.
What is “Lady”?
The grandmother in the poem is called by this Spanish word.
What is “Abuelita”?
Jing-mei’s mother wants her to become this: a child with extraordinary talent.
What is prodigy?
Languages often become endangered when this culture absorbs or pressures a smaller culture.
What is a dominant culture?
In the article, TECH stands for this.
What is Teenager Elder Computer Help?
Maya feels uncomfortable when Vivian kisses and praises her because Maya had grown up without much of this type of affection.
What is physical affection/kisses?
The new mother is trying to comfort this crying family member.
What is her baby/child?
Jing-mei purposely puts little effort into practicing this instrument because she resists her mother’s expectations.
What is the Piano?
This term describes a language with no living native speakers.
What is extinct?
Seniors in the program learn to use technology such as Facebook, Skype, smartphones, and this device for taking pictures.
What is a digital camera?
Vivian teaches Maya that even a smile can be this kind of gift to another person.
What is a charitable gift/a kindness?
Abuelita shakes this dried item so that its seeds make a soft rattling sound.
What is a red chile?
This conflict drives the story: Jing-mei wants to be herself, while her mother wants her to be this kind of daughter.
What is an obedient/successful daughter who fulfills her mother’s dreams?
The article explains that languages preserve this by showing how a group of people lives, thinks, and values the world.
What is culture/cultural knowledge?
Teaching seniors helps Tucker Rampton develop more of this quality when working with older adults.
What is patience/understanding?
When Bailey arrives in California, Maya feels jealous and fearful because she believes this person is being taken away from her.
Who is Bailey/her brother?
Calling Abuelita a “gray-haired shaman” suggests that she is wise and has this kind of power.
What is healing or magical power?
At the end of the story, Jing-mei realizes that the two piano pieces, “Pleading Child” and “Perfectly Contented,” represent these two parts of her life.
What are two halves of the same song/life?
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda helped bring this language back to life by raising his family to speak it and adding modern words to its dictionary.
What is Hebrew?
At Pace University, student tutors wear special glasses and tape fingers together in order to build this toward seniors.
What is empathy/sympathy/understanding?
Maya’s reaction to Vivian differs from Bailey’s because Maya remembers the years of separation and feels uncertain, while Bailey quickly feels this toward his mother.
What is love, comfort, or a strong connection?
The repeated “ts . ss” sound and white space help readers imagine this.
What is the soft rattling of the chile seeds/the calming rhythm of the scene?