I Hate English!

Title: I Hate English!

Author: Ellen Levine

Genre: Multicultural

Summary: Mei Mei said she hated English, in her head, in Chinese. She went to school in Hong Kong and she was very smart-she learned in Chinese. Her family moved to New York, but she didn’t know why and she didn’t want to go. She said all of that in Chinese. In New York, Chinatown was okay. People looked and talked like people she knew, in Chinese. Unlike Chinese, everything in school in New York happened in English, and to Mei Mei, English was a lonely language because all of the letters stand alone and made its own noise. Mei Mei loved writing in Chinese. She usually understood what her teacher was saying, but it was in English, so she refused to speak. One day, her cousin, Bing, took her to the Chinatown learning center, but Mei Mei wouldn’t bring her homework, because it was in English. What she did do, though, was help the younger children with arithmetic, because those weren’t English or Chinese; they were just numbers. Mei Mei loved going to the center because she was able to listen and do everything in Chinese. With the director, Mei Mei went to Jones Beach. On the bus, they talked and joked the whole way in Chinese. At the beach, Mei Mei was so happy that they were speaking in Chinese. One day, a teacher came to help Mei Mei with her English. She was afraid because it was like a stranger to her so she wouldn’t speak at all, not even in Chinese. The lady introduced herself as Nancy, and she spoke English. She brought a story, and Mei Mei forgot that she didn’t want to listen, even if it was in English. It was about a boy who lived in New York a long time ago, but his family wanted to move to California. Mei Mei knew about California, so she thought about it to herself, in Chinese. Mei Mei started not to understand some of the words because she didn’t know them all in Chinese, so she didn’t want to listen anymore. She felt sad, and started to cry. Nancy saw and stopped for the day. That night, Mei Mei’s mother said goodnight to her in Chinese, and without even thinking, Mei Mei answered, in English and fell into a deep sleep. She dreamt about Hong Kong, and seeing Yee Fong, but he didn’t know who she was. She woke up yelling. The next day, she was mad and said “I don’t care” to the teacher, in English. Nancy explained how important it was to learn English, especially in America. Mei Mei turned to her and said “I’m sorry” in English. Nancy took Mei Mei on a walk, and talked her ear off. This made Mei Mei want to talk, and before she knew it, she was talking to Nancy about so many things and it was all in English! To this day, Mei Mei talks in Chinese and in English whenever she wants.

Characters: Mei Mei, Nancy

Plot: Mei Mei knew some English, but she didn’t want to talk it. She knew about important it was, but Nancy wanted her to speak it.

Theme: Multicultural, diversity

Setting: New York

Opinion: I thought this book was good. It was interesting, because as teachers, we might have kids in our classroom who feel homesick or who don’t want to learn English. It was a good book to give us ideas on how to incorporate different cultures into a lesson.