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    The Mulberry Tree
    The Mulberry Tree
    The Mulberry Tree
    Ebook131 pages1 hour

    The Mulberry Tree

    By Khetam Dahi

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Khetam Dahi, the author of The Journey of an Immigrant: From Farm to Freedom, lets the main character, Tamara, recall significant events from her childhood as far back as when she was five living on a farm with her parents and nine siblings in a small town in Syria. She uses illustrations and great descriptive yet simple language that is appropriate for high-intermediate-level to advanced-level ESL courses, which can also be enjoyed by any reader.
    Every chapter begins with a Before You Read brief summary section and a question, and at the end of each chapter, there are reading, writing, and vocabulary and grammar activities to enhance the readers experience by engaging them in the stories and introducing them to critical-thinking skills as they discuss the questions and look for evidence in the text to support their answers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTrafford Publishing
    Release dateMar 4, 2013
    ISBN9781466983182
    The Mulberry Tree
    Author

    Khetam Dahi

    Khetam Dahi is a Professor of ESL and Vice-Chair of the English Department at east Los Angeles College where she has taught since 2007. She has a BA in English Composition, an MA in English Composition with concentration in Teaching English as a Second Language, A certificate in Reading and a certificate in GATE (Gifted and Talented Education). Khetam Dahi is Syrian American and came to the U.S. with her family in 1978 when she was only 13 years old. She was in an ESL program throughout high school, so she understands some of the struggles of second language learners and immigrants in general. She has already published two ESL readers, The Mulberry Tree, and Uprooted, which have been used in some community college ESL programs. Dahi focuses in her books on the immigrant experience and the often ignored voices. Students will be enmeshed in her stories because many can relate to some aspects of each story. Lastly, all three books include activities that promote vocabulary building, grammar and critical thinking. Other books written by Khetam Dahi are: The Mulberry Tree, 2nd Edition, ISBN # - 978-1490770970 Uprooted, 2nd Edition, ISBN # - 978-1490770963

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      Book preview

      The Mulberry Tree - Khetam Dahi

      © Copyright 2013 Khetam Dahi.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

      or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,

      or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      ILLUSTRATED BY NOVIA ELVINA

      isbn: 978-1-4669-8313-7 (sc)

      isbn: 978-1-4669-8318-2 (e)

      Trafford rev. 04/18/2013

      7-Copyright-Trafford_Logo.ai

      www.trafford.com

      North America & international

      toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

      phone: 250 383 6864 ♦ fax: 812 355 4082

      Contents

      Dedication

      Acknowledgement

      A Note to the Reader

      Chapter 1 A New Birth

      Chapter 2 Memories from First Grade

      Chapter 3 Unfortunate Circumstances

      Chapter 4 Could This Be Our Lucky Year?

      Chapter 5 Working for Free

      Chapter 6 The Bellbottom Overalls

      Chapter 7 He Loves Me He Loves Me Not

      Chapter 8 For Love

      Chapter 9 The Big Event

      Dedication

      To my late Baba and Mama

      Acknowledgement

      I would first like to thank my friends and colleagues, John Rude and Jeff Gray for graciously reviewing the book and giving me feedback, my dear and long-time friend Arleta Roberts for her invaluable advice, my daughter Reem Atallah for her assistance in creating the activities after each chapter, Novia Elvina for doing the illustrations, my brothers and sisters for their constant support, my students who continue to inspire me to write and my greatest supporter in every way, my husband, Ayham Dahi.

      A Note to the Reader

      The stories you are about to read are inspired by some events that happened on our farm in a small village in Syria where my family and I lived until I was thirteen and before we migrated to the USA in 1978.

      The main character in this book is Tamara, who is also the narrator of the story. She is the eighth child of ten siblings. She recalls significant events from her childhood as far back as when she was five. These events include her nine siblings, her parents and many other characters from her hometown.

      The language used here is appropriate for high-intermediate to advanced-level ESL courses, but can be enjoyed by any reader. Even though the book is separated into nine chapters, all the stories are connected.

      Every chapter begins with a Before You Read brief summary section and questions, and at the end of each chapter, there are reading comprehension, writing, and vocabulary activities to enhance the readers’ experience by engaging them in the stories and introducing them to critical thinking skills as they discuss the questions and look for evidence in the text to support their answers. There are also many illustrations to entertain and help the readers get the full picture.

      Look also for my book, The Journey of an Immigrant: From farm to freedom, ISBN number, 9781466961111 by Trafford Publishers. This book covers the second part of Tamara’a life as she and her family migrate to the USA. It is written for low to intermediate-level ESL courses and includes vocabulary, prewriting activities and writing prompts.

      For any other questions, please contact me at [email protected].

      Chapter 1

      A New Birth

      Before You Read

      image1.jpg

      I knew that as soon as I heard the roosters crowing in the yard that Mama’s soft melodic voice would follow, yalla, yalla Yammo (come on, come on honey in Arabic). Let’s start the day early. We have a million things to do." We all knew this by heart. Nevertheless, none of us would wake up that easily because it meant that we had to do work.

      You see, we lived on a farm in a small village near the city of Homs in the country of Syria. Everyone over the age of seven had to do some kind of work like, helping with milking the sheep and taking the herd to the shepherd across town. We also had to collect eggs from the chicken coup and place them in special carton plates to be stacked and ready for pickup by venders who took them to the city. If we had outside jobs, we picked almonds or collected grapes. Some of us had to sometimes stay in the house and prepare breakfast for those who needed to go to the fields, and also make sure the house was spotless just in case anyone from town or out of town happened to drop in that day.

      One morning, I heard our rooster crow and was prepared to hear Mama’s voice right after. I actually looked forward to hearing whatever she had to say. Somehow, it was a good start of the day for me. Unfortunately, what followed was anything but pleasant.

      I heard a squeaky sound of the door in the room where seven of my brothers and sisters and I were sleeping, and then it was coupled by a smell that was very familiar, the strong and distinct smell of chickens rushing into the room. On normal days, she would now be telling us that we had to start the day early, but I suddenly heard something drop to the ground as we all drowned our faces in the wool-stuffed comforters.

      I was five and a half years old then, but always very curious. I stuck my head out from underneath the comforter, but what I saw, scared me. Mama was on the floor in the Atabi (a squared space by the door where we lined up our shoes when we walked in).

      Mama, Mama! Are you OK? I cried and called out, "Maha! Amira! Alice! Miriam! Wake up. Wake up. Mama

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