My FIrst Kiss by Lian Low

1. How does the author describe Malaysia in regards to showing affection?

The first few sentences state ''I never saw people share mouth to mouth kisses' this represents people showing effecting to each other but obviously in Malaysia it isn't done in this way. 

2. What happens to the author when she hits puberty?

She didn't grow big breasts but instead ''Envied her father's flat chest.'' This caused her not to be as popular and white girls wouldn't approach her or talk to her. 

3. What is the author’s experience at school when she first arrives to Melbourne?

She is very quiet and wasn't one to contribute to ''Oh he's soo hot!'' conversations about the new kids. She fantasied about flying like Superman and played chess at lunch time. She was also put into the ESL class for English. 

4. What is it that made the author feel that she wasn’t Australian even though she spoke English fluently?

That only overseas Asian kids would approach her no other white people. 

5. What else was it about the author that further alienated her from her peers?

That she was placed in the ESL English class and didn't make many friends until Year 11 when she enrolled in literature and received one of the highest marks in Year 12 literature. 

6. What does the use of description like ‘crash hot’ do to the audience’s perception of the author?

7. What opportunity does university give the author? What is it about university which would allow her to express herself more freely?

She got her real first kiss because she was making a film that she wanted to have a have a kissing scene in. This allowed her to open up more freely. 

8. What role does creativity play for the author? Why do you think that creativity would be so important to her?

ABC Supermarket

The story is about 2 sisters who's parent's were shop owners, and they were very happy there, they could have ice cream, chips and softdrinks any time they wanted, They would race down isles on trolleys without a care. They used to play hide and seek in the boxes that hadnt been opened yet or turn on the PA and thump the Mic for giggles. But then in 1995-1996 many buisness's went down and there parents declared bankruptcy. 

This story is important because it shows the unfortunate declines that many small time Asian Buisness's go through. It is important to understand why other cultures live in poor conditions in some cases. Australians should in return not abuse their situation.

Teenage Dreamers by Phillip Tang

1. What are the first two sentences of the story and how do they create a tension in the story? 'My father had a sixth sense. He knew when people were going to die.' it creates tension in the story as you know that some one will die and you want to know who this is going to happen to, and when it is going to happen.

2. What has happened to the author’s father as a result of his wife’s death? The author's father looked for something to care about.

3. How does the description of the father removing his hands from his face as ‘unmasked’ related to the seriousness of his following statement? By removing his hands from his face he is showing and letting out all his emotion which he does not show often.

4. Consider how the father lives his life and conducts himself and the other people in the theatre for the film the author and his father are watching. How does this relate to the title of the story?

Conversations with my Parents by Oanh Thi Tran

1. What is ironic about the way the author and the father become close? What has to happen to the father? The Irony of the father and the author becoming close is that they become close in sickness, but they should have been close throughout the whole of the authors life.

2. How would you characterise the conversation that the author has with her parents? The conversations the author has with her parents are always brief and they don't have much to say to each other.

3. What is it that worries the author most about these conversations? The biggest worry that the Author has is that she can never tell her parents how much she loves them, but doesn't know how to and she wants to do it before its to late.

4. There is a gap between the author’s need to express feelings common in western countries and her family’s lack of desire to express their feelings verbally. How does the family still express their feelings for their child, just not verbally? The family expresses feelings to the Author by telling her that they had a specific meal one night and telling her how much she usest to love that meal and how the meal made the family think of the author.

Lessons from my School Years by Ray Wing-Lun

Lessons from my School Years by Ray Wing-Lun

1. There is a stark contrast created in the opening of this story between what the narrator had been doing before entering school and what will be expected at school? What is this contrast and what does it immediately create in the story?

Before the narrator came to school he had been doing nothing exciting but now he is at school he cant wait to play on the playground and have fun. There is a contrast between his old boring life to his new exciting adventurous life. 

2. The author continues this theme of contrast at the start of the story. How does he do this in his description of his experience of Sydney’s North Shore?

The author describes the Sydney's North Shore was not for him as he didn't like leafy green streets or solid brick houses. His world revolved around the stretch of shops along the highway , a back lane where mechanics drove cars backwards and forwards, the railway line behind the back lane and the library and park at the end of the lane. This is how he describes the where he lives in Sydney's North Shore.

3. What was the father’s background in business before he opened the fruit shop? What has helped him become successful?

Before he came to Australia he could not speak English and had no business experience. The attributes he has as a person that helped him become successful are he drew customers in with his wide smile, he was keen to ask what people wanted and was very friendly and chatted to all his customers. 

4. The narrator’s description of his father is complex. What makes the father a complex character?

That he is such a nice person who runs a very successful business. He never used to speak English and had no business experience before owning his fruit shop. This shows the great character he has because obviously did not have a lot but now has come to a different country, started a family and runs a successful business. 

5. (91) How does the author describe his role in doing ‘things that counted’?

He has to listen to what his family has to tell him about school to learn what is right and wrong. This is the only way for him to learn as he doesn't like asking questions. 

6. What experience does the author have at school while keeping to himself? What does he learn from this experience?

His bad experience is him at school as he is the only asian in an Australian school. He doesn't talk to anyone and keeps to himself and he learns to be nice and friendly to people. 

7. How would you characterise the narrator’s tone in regards to the events that are occurring around him?

The narrator uses a mono tone and sees the world in a horrible way. His expectations are very different to real life which makes a very one sided view. 

8. How does the narrator characterise the ways that one could ‘get the strap’ and ways that one could avoid it? He characterizes it as very easy and hard to avoid. A couple ways to avoid the strap would be to mispel words, get and answer wrong or walk very fast or very slow.

9. What event evokes a racist speech to the class by the teacher?

The boy could not swim and his sister wrote him a note so he didn't have to swim in the carnival. The teacher reads it to the class and adds ''We all know these Chinese people never contribute to anything.'

10. What effect did the author’s experience with ‘Strap Happy Jack’ have on him?

It made him think about the the few Chinese people in the area and think about racist comments which don't mean much but have little affect on the population. 

11. What was the one advantage school provided the author?

That when he went through high school some teachers noticed his talents and one teacher told him his test scores reflect he has a very bright future. 

12. What did the author do at his school? What was his motivation for doing it? What did he feel was lacking at school?

He started a workshop program the motivation was that he did something that he enjoyed and he had to the interest to set boundaries for the program. He thought the school lacked the ability to give him the choice to choose his own future. 

13. What did the parents want their son to do at school? What did the author fear would happen by obeying his parents?

They wanted their son to pick a specific profession. His mum wanted him to be a doctor something that he didn't want to do. He felt like he would have to choose a path based on the teachers decision.

14. At school, what did the author learn about his own type of thinking and how to use it?

The Relative Advantages of Learning my Language by Amy Choi

The Relative Advantages of Learning my Language by Amy Choi

1. The author opens the story with an anecdote. What is the anecdote and what effect does it have on the reader?

The anecdote is that the author ''Was never really kind to her grandfather.'' This is the opening sentence and from this sentence we can tell that the author wasn't very close with her grandfather. It makes the reader feel sorrow for the author and grandfather and makes us want to read on and gather more information about this. 

2. What is the author’s view of the Chinese language in the 2^nd paragraph?

That there was no point in being able to speak Chinese even though the author grew up learning it as a first language. They lived in Australia and the author thought there was no point in being able to speak it as at school they spoke English and when they watched T.V. it was in English. 

3. What is symbolic about the house that the Grandfather mistakes for his own? What does it say about the assimilation of his family into Australian culture? What does it say about his understanding of Australian culture? What is ironic about the inhabitants of this house?

That even though the house belonged to a family that was a different culture there were some similarities such as the yellow rose bush, the painted timber mailbox and the Ford Falcon parked out of the front of the house. It shows us Australia is a very multicultural place but these people have many similarities such as the plants they like or the cars they have. 

4. What does the death of her grandfather inspire the author to do? It makes her feel regret and she learns Chinese again.

5. Why is she motivated to know Chinese? What is it she wants to ensure she is able to, regretting that she couldn’t do it with her grandfather?

The Early Settlers

The Early Settlers by Ken Chau

1. How does this title refer to two groups of ‘settlers’? Who are they? The title refers to the asian settlement in austraia and the brittish settlement in australia. Asians and Brittish.

2. How is the first line of the poem successful at being ‘forceful’ regarding the Great-Grandfather’s presence in Australia? It is very forceful because it is very straight forward, and straight to the point and everyone knows what happened.

3. What action are the ‘early settlers’ doing that gives them equally a strong presence? The migrating Asians began farming on the cropland to begin a new life, this gave them a strong presence.

4. How is the intention of the Great-Grandfather juxtaposed to the beliefs of the ‘early settlers’? He is Juxtaposed

5. What action does the Great-Grandfather do that ties him both to the ‘early settlers’ and to his own culture?
6. How does this short poem highlight the irony of the hatred that immigrants experience when they come to a 'settled' land like Australia?

Introduction by Alice Pung

1. What were Asian-Australians referred to as when the author was growing up? Power points

2. How does she interpret this title? "I thought it was because we were so smart and dweeby in a dynamic Micro-soft-magnate sort of way".

3. What did this title actually refer to? The face of a powerpoint looks like an asian person.  Did the author find this demeaning? She didn't quite understand what people meant when people told her to look at the powerpoint  Why/why not?

4. ‘All that untapped potential! All that electrifying brain power!’ What techniques are being employed by the author? Exclamation Marks. How does they highlight he misunderstanding? She misunderstood what europeans meant when they called her powerpoints.

5. What did the teen author take away from teen fiction? What did she feel that she needed to do? Why? What does this say is essential to fitting in to a culture?

6. Who are the authors that she turns to? She turns to the people who usually write about asians, the "Outsiders". Why? It shows what this book is going to be about., the many stories of those people when they grew up in Australia.

7. In the third paragraph how does the author use repetition. It repeats different people. How does it highlight the focus of this book? This book is a multi-perspective of how asians in Australia lived in the last 40 years.

8. What metaphor does the author use to highlight the writers and the writing style in the third paragraph?

9. Why does the author use a quote in the 4^th paragraph? "Change only the name and this story is also about you."  What does it say about her reaction to the stories in the book? It made her realise the difficulties of earlier generations of immigrants.

10. On page 2 the author talks about the themes that she loosely choose for the collection. What are they and why is it ironic that they show up in this book? She is trying to make the audience feel pity for the people she is talking about.

11. At the bottom of pg 3 on to page 4 the author says that sociologists have described Asians as the ‘model minority’. What is meant by this? What difficulties arise out of this label for young Asian-Australians?

12. What are the editor’s hopes for the collection of stories? That it will bring a more crowded and multi perspective story and that she is not the only one with her experiences growing up.

Pigs from Home by Hop Dac

1. How does the author start this story which is in direct contrast to the title of the story? What effect does this have on the reader and their expectations of the story?

2. What core Vietnamese value is instilled in the author?

3. What is humorous about the mother’s ‘flair for natural medicine’ in regards to her personality?

4. How does the description of the killing of pigeons continue the style utilised in the introduction of the story?

5. What is the author’s opinion of pigs? Give two quotes to support your conclusion.

6. In the paragraph on pgs 53-54, give two examples of alliteration employed by the author.

7. On pg 54 what simile is used to describe pigs? How does this simile work for the situation it is used?

8. What simile does the author use to describe her mother sunning herself? How does this relate to the core focus of the story?

9. What does the author describe as ‘the divide between the old world and the new’? What do you think is meant by this statement?

10. What is the author’s reaction to the slaughter of the pig at night? What statement does the author make about the neighbours which displays the way he feels about the whole experience? What is important about including this statement?

11. Why don’t the parents have pigs anymore? How does this relate to the description of the burial of the last pig they owned?

12. How would you characterise the description of the mother’s treatment of the pig’s blood? Is it appetising?

13. What is ironic about the way the author has a popular Vietnamese dish? What is it about the way the author describes the experience of having pigs that makes it ironic?

14. How does this story relate to the title Pigs from Home?

15. Why do you think this story is in the Battlers section of the book?

Pigs from Home

1. How does the author start this story which is in direct contrast to the title of the story? It contrasts because she talks about George Clooneys pigs which has got is opposite to the title. What effect does this have on the reader and their expectations of the story? This creates curiosity in the reader. 

2. What core Vietnamese value is instilled in the author? That he keeps pigs just for the meat.

3. What is humorous about the mother’s ‘flair for natural medicine’ in regards to her personality?  Her flair for natural medicine in regards to her personallity is humorous because she come sfrom a long line of hypochondriacs. 

4. How does the description of the killing of pigeons continue the style utilised in the introduction of the story? They killed the pigeons by holding their legs and hitting it on the head with a cast iron stove. This description continues the style utilized at the introduction of the story because it is unique, unusual but normal form his perceptive.

5. What is the author’s opinion of pigs? Give two quotes to support your conclusion.  The author hates pigs " of all the animals you can keep pigs are by far the worst smelling" and " no pig has ever been a friend of mine".

6. In the paragraph on pgs 53-54, give two examples of alliteration employed by the author.

7. On pg 54 what simile is used to describe pigs? How does this simile work for the situation it is used?

8. What simile does the author use to describe her mother sunning herself? How does this relate to the core focus of the story?

9. What does the author describe as ‘the divide between the old world and the new’? What do you think is meant by this statement?

10. What is the author’s reaction to the slaughter of the pig at night? What statement does the author make about the neighbours which displays the way he feels about the whole experience? What is important about including this statement?

11. Why don’t the parents have pigs anymore? How does this relate to the description of the burial of the last pig they owned?

12. How would you characterise the description of the mother’s treatment of the pig’s blood? Is it appetising?

13. What is ironic about the way the author has a popular Vietnamese dish? What is it about the way the author describes the experience of having pigs that makes it ironic?

14. How does this story relate to the title Pigs from Home?

15. Why do you think this story is in the Battlers section of the book?