1 ESL 53C—Simon Essay #5 Assignment Essay #5—Analysis of Girl in Translation Introduction: In this essay, you're going to analyze a theme. The general process for the essay will be: 1) thinking about the theme and coming up with a tentative thesis; 2) finding examples of the theme in the novel (some of which the instructor will give to you); 3) writing up a draft of the essay and finalizing the thesis statement; 4) Submitting a draft for instructor and peer review; 5) Conferencing with the instructor about essay #5; 6) Revising and submitting a final draft. Due Dates: Rough Draft: Monday, Nov. 9—submit online for instructor review AND peer review Final Draft: Tuesday, Nov. —submit on ETUDES by 5pm. Topic: Choose ONE of the following topics. 1. Consider the theme of "translation." In what ways does Kimberly "translate" her world? In what ways is Kimberly herself "translated" by others? What is the author trying to convey to the reader through this theme? Requirements: 1. Your essay must be at least 800 words, about 3 to 4 typewritten pages. 2. Your essay must contain five paragraphs—an introduction with a thesis statement, three body paragraphs and a conclusion (but it may contain more than just three body paragraphs). Please see “organization” for more details. 3. Your essay must contain at least five references to the novel. At least two references must be in the form of a paraphrase; the others may be quotes from the novel. Please make sure to use an appropriate introductory phrase and correct page and author citation. 4. Please use passages from throughout the novel (e.g. not just from the first section or the last section). The instructor will announce some required passages. 5. Use PRESENT TENSE (simple present, present progressive, present perfect) throughout your essay when discussing the novel. 6. Write a title for your essay. Hint: “Essay #5” is not an appropriate title. Also, do not use the title of the novel. Organization: This is an expository essay, which means you are going to explain something by using examples to aid in your explanation. You need to first think about aspects of the topic that you wish to discuss, and then organize your examples to demonstrate the different aspects. Make sure to address Kwok’s overall message or purpose in each paragraph Liu Yang Ming Liu Yang Ming 2 ESL 53C—Simon Essay #5 Assignment � Introduction: Introduce the novel. Then, state your thesis at the end of the paragraph (your thesis should contain a general idea and may contain a "blueprint" (a list of topics you will discuss.) � Body Paragraphs: You will have at least three body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should contain quotes or paraphrases from the novel and an analysis of those quotes / paraphrases. At the beginning of each body paragraph, use a transition word or phrase to make it clear that you are discussing a new idea. Also, w ...

1. 1 ESL 53C—Simon
Essay #5 Assignment
Essay #5—Analysis of Girl in Translation
Introduction: In this essay, you're going to analyze a theme.
The general process for the essay will be:
1) thinking about the theme and coming up with a tentative
thesis;
2) finding examples of the theme in the novel (some of which
the instructor will give to you);
3) writing up a draft of the essay and finalizing the thesis
statement;
4) Submitting a draft for instructor and peer review;
5) Conferencing with the instructor about essay #5;
6) Revising and submitting a final draft.
Due Dates:
Rough Draft: Monday, Nov. 9—submit online for instructor
review AND peer review
Final Draft: Tuesday, Nov. —submit on ETUDES by 5pm.
Topic: Choose ONE of the following topics.
1. Consider the theme of "translation." In what ways does
Kimberly "translate" her world? In what ways
is Kimberly herself "translated" by others? What is the author
trying to convey to the reader through
this theme?

2. Requirements:
1. Your essay must be at least 800 words, about 3 to 4
typewritten pages.
2. Your essay must contain five paragraphs—an introduction
with a thesis statement, three body
paragraphs and a conclusion (but it may contain more than just
three body paragraphs). Please see
“organization” for more details.
3. Your essay must contain at least five references to the novel.
At least two references must be in the
form of a paraphrase; the others may be quotes from the novel.
Please make sure to use an
appropriate introductory phrase and correct page and author
citation.
4. Please use passages from throughout the novel (e.g. not just
from the first section or the last
section). The instructor will announce some required passages.
5. Use PRESENT TENSE (simple present, present progressive,
present perfect) throughout your essay
when discussing the novel.
6. Write a title for your essay. Hint: “Essay #5” is not an
appropriate title. Also, do not use the title of
the novel.
Organization:
This is an expository essay, which means you are going to
explain something by using examples to aid in
your explanation. You need to first think about aspects of the
topic that you wish to discuss, and then
organize your examples to demonstrate the different aspects.

3. Make sure to address Kwok’s overall
message or purpose in each paragraph
Liu Yang Ming
Liu Yang Ming
2 ESL 53C—Simon
Essay #5 Assignment
� Introduction: Introduce the novel. Then, state your thesis at
the end of the paragraph (your
thesis should contain a general idea and may contain a
"blueprint" (a list of topics you will
discuss.)
� Body Paragraphs: You will have at least three body
paragraphs. Each body paragraph should
contain quotes or paraphrases from the novel and an analysis of
those quotes / paraphrases. At
the beginning of each body paragraph, use a transition word or
phrase to make it clear that you
are discussing a new idea. Also, within each paragraph, be sure
to use transition words between
your examples within each paragraph.
� Conclusion: Summarize your points and spend a few
sentences discussing what can be learned
from your essay.
Essay Worksheet

4. Thesis Statement:
In your thesis statement, you will address the questions in the
topic, focusing most particularly on the
last question: What is the author trying to convey to the reader
through this theme? Think about how
to answer this question and put your tentative answer below:
Tentative thesis:
_____________________________________________________
__________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
Task 2: Thinking of Examples:
Instructions: Use the space below to think of examples of the
theme in the novel Girl in Translation.
3 ESL 53C—Simon

5. Essay #5 Assignment
Task 3: Finding quotes / passages:
Instructions: Use the grid below to find quotes and passages in
the novel. Use the right column to take
notes on their significance.
Quote / Passage Analysis / Notes
4 ESL 53C—Simon
Essay #5 Assignment
Task 4: Paraphrasing
Instructions: Use the space below to convert two of the quotes

6. into paraphrases.
Quote Paraphrase
Task 5: Outlining: Now take your ideas from prewriting and
organize them into the outline below.
I. Introduction:
Thesis Statement:
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
II. Topic Sentence (Body paragraph 1):
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
Support:

7. 5 ESL 53C—Simon
Essay #5 Assignment
III. Topic Sentence (Body paragraph 2):
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
Support:
IV. Topic Sentence (Body paragraph 3):
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
Support:
V. Topic Sentence (Body paragraph 4):
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
_____________________________________________________
________________________________
Support:
V. Conclusion

8. Peihao Peng
Professor Simon
Essay #2 final draft
Sep 19, 2015
ESL 53C
Elite vs. Non-Elite Institutions
In the chapter “Caroline Sacks” by Malcolm Gladwell
from the book, Caroline Sacks and the impressionists have two
different options between Elite and Non-Elite Institutions . In
the cases of Caroline and the Impressionists choice Brown
university and Salon is the Elite Institutions and University of
Maryland and Solo exhibition is Non-Elite Institutions.Caroline
Sacks and the impressionists choose different ways. So Caroline
Sacks chooses to enter Elite Institutions, and the impressionists
don’t choose Elite Institutions. They choose a Non-Elite
Institutions. The result are Caroline Sacks drop her major, and
the impressionists are successful. In this object we learning
how to consider their own abilities and need to make a right
choice.
For this purpose, the impressionists and Caroline Sacks
have the same choice between Elite and Non-Elite Institutions.
Caroline Sacks lived on the farthest of the Washington DC. She
has been interested in science. Sacks sailed through high school
at the top of her class. In the second year of her high school,
Her father and her use three days to look around five
universities , most interesting university is Brown university.
“It is small and exclusive, situated in the middle of a
nineteenth-century neighborhood of redbrick Georgian and
Colonial buildings on the top of a gently sloping hill. It might
be the most beautiful college campus in the United States”(
Gladwell 40). Finally she decides that Brown University is her
first choice, and the University of Maryland as her backup.

9. Brown University is the Ivy league university in the United
States. But University of Maryland is not an elite private
university. Another story is from one hundred and fifty years
ago the Impressionists are not so popular, because “the
Impressionists had an entirely different idea about what
constituted art. They painted everyday life. Their brushstrokes
were visible. Their figures were indistinct. To the Salon jury
and the crowds thronging the Palais, their work looked
amateurish, even shocking” (Gladwell 39).The Salon was the
most important in the word, but the Impressionist don’t have a
chance to show their own painting. The Impressionists have
been discussing to join the salon or make their own art
exhibition.
Whit this object, Caroline Sacks and the Impressionists
make a different choice, between little fish is the Big Pond and
big fish in small Pond, these two kinds of different is that
former has more opportunity than the latter, at the same time
that has more pressure than the latter. So Caroline Sacks choose
to go to Brown university,she decide to be a little fish in the
Big Pond .She think “Brown is a member of the Ivy League. It
has more resources , more academically able student, more
prestige, and more accomplished faculty than the university of
Maryland”(Gladwell 26). Caroline chooses to enter Brown
university is very correct, because everyone wants to get the
best of things. Although the results are not the same as she had
expected. However, The Impressionists choose to be a big fish
in the Big Pond. The impressionists consider “Although the
Salon is most famous in the world but it very difficult to be the
best in this Salon. “If they were off by themselves and held
their own show, they wouldn't be bound by the restrictive rules
of the salon.”(21 Gladwell ). May be most people think art
exhibition is not the right decision. But the impressionists
adhere to their own choice, and they get the unexpected result.
Finally, Carline Sacks decides to go to Brown university and the
Impressionists made their own art exhibition.

10. In this object, Elite Institutions should more successful,
But Caroline Sacks and the Impressionists get the opposite
result. In the first year of Brown university Caroline met
trouble her chemistry class. Because she choose a lot of classes
and these classes brought huge pressure. and she compare whit
other student, this compare let think she is not a good student.
From these reason she drop her chemistry class. In the second
year she retake this class, but she didn’t get good grade. In the
spring semester she enrolled in organic chemistry. “She was a
Little Fish in one of the deepest and most competitive ponds in
the country- and the experience of comparing herself to all the
other brilliant fish shattered her confidence”(32 Gladwell
).Otherwise The Impressionists made their own art exhibition.
This art exhibition have one month time and 150 paintings on
display. First day have the 157 people to watch this art. After
one month, They have the 3500 people join to the art exhibition.
They got a lot of positive evaluation, also have some bad
evaluation. “In the history of modern, there has never been a
more important or more famous exhibition.” (16 Gladwell )Until
now, impressionist was the most popular art forms in the world.
This lesson I learned, sometimes be a Big Fish in a
Little Pond is better than be a Little Fish in a Big Pond.
Simultaneously different choice can bring the different result.
But elite Institutions sometimes cannot help you become sussex,
also bring the huge pressure for you. Consider their own
abilities and needs, to choose the most suitable for their own is
the most correct choice.
Struggling to Live
The book Girl in translation tells of a deeply moving and a
heart breaking story of a poor Chinese girl and her mother

11. working hard to create a life from the ground up. The story by
Jean Kwok is a semi-autobiography of an immigrant Kimberly
Chang who moves to America and struggles to grab every
opportunity in an effort to fight poverty (Serena). Only 11 years
old, Kimberly finds herself in a difficult situation as neither she
nor her mother can speak the new language, English. Currently
living in Brooklyn, New York, the she has to work extremely
hard, both in her academics and in assisting her mother in
looking for money to finance their daily living. Being a bright
girl who was well liked by her former teachers back in Hong
Kong, she now faces various challenges of cultural and
language variation from what she had been used to “…Ice was
something I had only known in the form of small pieces in red
bean drinks” (Kwok 1).
This essay discusses the various struggles that the main
character of the book Girl in Translation goes through after
moving in America. Some of the challenges discussed her
poverty stricken background, the struggle of working while
studying and the harsh working conditions at the factory.
Discussed also are the troubles Kimberly underwent at school,
the language barriers, the bullying by her classmates and the
negative attitude by her teachers. The relationship struggles that
Kimberly undergoes are also include. Finally, the writer
concludes the paper by giving some of the lessons leant from
the analysis.
The theme of struggle is well illustrated in Kwok’s work as the
girl’s mother works extremely hard to repay for the
transportation and treatment money borrowed from her sister,
Kimberly’s aunt. Aunt Paula is currently married to an
American man and doing well financially from her sweatshop
earnings. Desperate to repay the borrowed cash, Kimberly’s
mother gets a job at her sister’s organization. However, she
soon realizes that, on herself, she might not be able to meet the
set deadline and she is forced to request her daughter for
assistance. Compelled by the presenting circumstances,
Kimberly agrees to join her mother for work after classes. The

12. two struggle to work strenuous shifts till late night hours,
getting barely few hours to rest. In addition, the conditions at
their place of work are employee-unfriendly and appalling
(Kwok). This coupled with their pest-infested and polluted
home environment with neither protection nor comfort makes
their life in America nearly unbearable “Ma,' I whispered, 'is it
safe?'…'Aunt Paula wouldn't send us anywhere unsafe,' she
said, but her low voice was laced with a thread of doubt…” (6).
Until they settle their debts, they do not have hopes of securing
a better place and so they have to suffer for a while.
Life at school is no better for Kimberly. With her inability to
express herself in well in English makes her first several
months a struggle. The poor girl almost gives up her dreams of
her career due to the discouragement and mockery from her
schoolmates. In addition, Kimberly also finds her teachers’
attitude off-putting and intimidating (Serena). Initially, she is
forced to miss lessons as she is afraid of her classmates’
persistent bullying and scorn. She prefers to hide out in the cold
and filthy apartment that is filled with dampness. “…A sheet of
ice lay over the concrete, I watched my rubber boots closely,
the way the toes slid on the ice…This ice was wild ice, ice that
defied streets and buildings” (7). However, a few days later she
realizes that she needs to look for a better solution to her
troubles. Inspired by the determination to create a beautiful
career and terminate the poverty affecting her family, the little
girl resolves to work hard and achieve the future that she
yearned for. Tasked with the responsibility of being her
family’s future breadwinner, Kimberly decides to focus on her
studies and eventually she earns herself a fully sponsored
scholarship at an excellent high school. Like other adolescent
girls, Kimberly still has a lot of hard decisions to work on.
However, unlike others these decisions could either destroy her
future into nothing or help her realize her dreams.
Kimberly forms various relationships with different people in
her life, some of which are challenging and have heartbreaking
terminations. Around the time she is applying for college,

13. Kimberly gets involved in a romantic relationship with a long
time friend they have shared similar experiences, Matt. Both
Matt and Kimberly had worked together with their parents at
same the factory. Following his mother’s death, Matt invites
Kimberly to their home and the unexpected happens – they
engage in sex and the condom accidentally breaks. After she
thinks that she has truly fallen in love and yet another
misfortune - Kimberly later discovers that she is pregnant and
afraid that Matt will force her to move back to Chinatown with
him, she struggles to keep it a secret. She fears that, her child
will end up in a similar poverty stricken situation as herself.
Eventually, she has to let go of her true love and follow a
different path that will offer a better future for her unborn child
(Kwok).
Overall, Kwok’s work gives a typical picture of the life of
underprivileged immigrants and their families and the fortitude
that it requires to acclimatize and mature enough to create their
own future. Chang’s condition gives readers a lot to reflect on
and as well as give provide optimism as they make headway
against various challenges. Girl in translation is rich in
discussion content for various persons as it depicts cultural
differences, the ruthless realities and courage needed to move to
another country with high expectations and the end results and
regret that from time to time come with the hardest choices we
can make in our daily lives.

14. References
Kwok, Jean. Jean Kwok New York Times Best Selling Author.
24 3 2015. 23 11 2015 <http://www.jeankwok.com/book.shtml>.
Kwok, Jean. Girl in Translation. London: Fig Tree, 2011. Print.
Serena. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. 4 5 2011. 23 11 2015
<http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/05/girl-in-translation-by-
jean-kwok.html>.