Growing
Up and Leaving Home
The folktales, "The
Little Daughter of the Snow" and "The Boy of the
Red Sky," share a common theme. They both are about
a child who leaves. While these two children leave their
homes for very different reasons, the eventual separation
of children from parents is a universal experience that
is expected at some point in a child's life in most cultures.
Writing
Challenge: Write a composition entitled "Leaving
Home." Follow the content suggestions below.
- Limit the topic: Restrict your
discussion of this topic to educated families in urban
areas within your own culture OR to village
people in rural areas in your own country.
- Indicate the age at which children
within such families usually leave home for the first time.
- List the two most common reasons
why children in your specific area leave home for the first
time. (Reasons might include school, work, marriage, migration,
etc.)
- Explain relevant details that
relate to age, educational opportunities, economic necessity,
family expectations, personal choice, etc.
- Describe the emotional reaction
within the family to the separation. How do the parents
react or feel? How does the son or daughter react or feel?
- How important is it for the family
to stay in touch during the separation? How do they achieve
this?
- How often does the child return
home? For what reasons or circumstances?
Grammar Challenge: Study
the chart below and try to usesome of these structures within
the context of your writing: adverb clauses of time and reason,
prepositional phrases to show time and reason, the verbs hope
and wish followed by noun clause objects.
| Subordinators |
Adverbial Clauses
of Time |
| When |
When adolescents graduate
from high school, many feel it's time to leave home. |
| While |
Some kids feel very
lonely while they are living away from home. |
| Prepositions |
Adverbial Time
Phrases |
| During |
Many college kids
get homesick during their first year away. |
| Before |
Before leaving for
school, many kids have never been away from home. |
| Subordinators |
Adverbial
Clauses of Reason |
| Because |
Some teens are reluctant
to go away to college because they're afraid to leave
home. |
| Since |
Since some kids are
not on good terms with their parents, they rarely go home.
|
| Prepositions |
Adverbial Phrases
showing Cause or Reason |
| Because of |
Many high school graduates
don't get into the college of their choice because of
poor grades. |
| Due to |
Some teens drop out
of school and work at low-paying jobs due to economic
necessity. |
| Verbs |
Hope vs. Wish (Real
vs. Unreal or Hypothetical situations) |
| Hope |
Most parents hope
their children will remain closeby. |
| Wish |
Older parents wish
they could see their children and grandchildren more often. |
| Wish |
When kids find themselves
in difficult circumstances, they often wish they had never
left home. |
Proofread and Edit: Follow
the process of freewriting, outlining, drafting, and proofreading.
Revise and edit your work, focusing on the aspects of writing
and grammar that are challenging for you. Review these methods
if necessary.
Follow-up Options:
- Go over
your final draft with an ESL instructor in the ESL Lab.
- Leave your paper in the Inbox
in the ESL lab for feedback from an instructor.
- Attach your document to an email
at sjccesl@yahoo.com. Please include your lab access code.
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