Stone Soup

Three soldiers trudged down a road in a strange country. they were on their way home from the wars. Besides being tired, they were hungry. In fact, they had eaten nothing for two days. "How I would like a good dinner tonight," said the first. "And a bed to sleep in," added the second. "But that is impossible," said the third. On they marched, until suddenly, ahead of them, they saw the lights of a village. "Maybe we'll find a bite to eat and a bed to sleep in," they thought.

Now the peasants of the place feared strangers. When they heard that three soldiers were coming down the road, they talked among themselves. "Here come three soldiers," they said. "Soldiers are always hungry. But we have so little for ourselves." And they hurried to hide their food. They hid the barley in hay lofts, carrots under quilts, and buckets of milk down the wells. They hid all they had to eat. Then they waited.

The soldiers stopped at the first house. "Good evening to you," they said. "Could you spare a bit of food for three hungry soldiers?" "We have no food for ourselves," the residents lied. "It has been a poor harvest."

The soldiers went to the next house. "Could you spare a bit of food?" they asked. "And do you have a corner where we could sleep for the night?" "Oh, no," the man said. "We gave all we could spare to the soldiers who came before you." "And our beds are full," lied the woman.

At each house, the response was the same -- no one had food or a place for the soldiers to stay. The peasants had very good reasons, like feeding the sick and children. The villagers stood in the street and sighed. They looked as hungry as they could. The soldiers talked together. The first soldier called out, "Good people! We are three hungry soldiers in a strange land. We have asked you for food and you have no food. Well, we will have to make stone soup." The peasants stared.

The soldiers asked for a big iron pot, water to fill it, and a fire to heat it. "And now, if you please, three round smooth stones." The soldiers dropped the stones into the pot. "Any soup needs salt and pepper," the first soldker said, so children ran to fetch salt and pepper.

"Stones make good soup, but carrots would make it so much better," the second soldier added. One woman said, "Why, I think I have a carrot or two!" She ran to get the carrots.

"A good stone soup should have some cabbage, but no use asking for what we don't have!" said the third soldier. Another woman said, "I think I can probably find some cabbage," and off she scurried.

"If only we had a bit of beef and some potatoes, this soup would be fit for a rich man's table." The peasants thought it over, then ran to fetch what they had hidden in their cellars. A rich man's soup, and all from a few stones! It seemed like magic!

The soldiers said, "If only we had a bit of barley and some milk, this soup would be fit for a king!" And so the peasants managed to retrieve some barley and milk.

"The soup is ready," said the cooks, "and all will taste it, but first we need to set the tables." Tables and torches were set up in the square, and all sat down to eat. Some of the peasants said, "Such a great soup would be better with bread and cider," so they brought forth the last two items and the banquet was enjoyed by all. Never had there been such a feast. Never had the peasants tasted such delicious soup, and all made from stones! They ate and drank and danced well into the night.

The soldiers asked again if there was a loft where they might sleep for the night. "Oh, no!" said the townfolk. "You wise men must have the best beds in the village!" So one soldier spent the night in the priest's house, one in the baker's house, and one in the mayor's house.

In the morning, the villagers gathered to say goodbye. "Many thanks to you," the people said, "for we shall never go hungry now that you have taught us how to make soup from stones!"

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Oh, how I've loved this story as a child.

How could we apply this story to our students to show them they have "stone soup" writing inside them?

Richard Rodriquez

Richard Rodriquez is well-known both for his multiple best-selling books and for his work on PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer and is a recognized master of the intellectual autobiography, Hunger of Memory, using aspects of his own upbringing as the son of Mexican immigrants in Sacramento, California.

Rodriguez received a B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. from Columbia University, was a Ph.D. candidate in English Renaissance literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and attended the Warburg Institute in London on a Fulbright fellowship

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He is the recipient of the 1993 Recipient of the Fraenkel Medal for Achievement in the Humanities and the 1997 Recipient of the George Peabody Award for Excellence in Television.

Richard Rodriquez believes that bilingual education hinders minorities from developing a public identity and is disadvantageous to their success because it does not push them to use the dominant language.

While I would agree with Rodriquez that to be successful is it necessary to understand the dominant language, I disagree with how to arrive at that place.

Rodriquez and I would probably also disagree on the definition of bilingual education.

To me bilingual education simply means: understandable instruction.

Because of their limited English skills, many people and, sadly amongst them educators, perceive ESL students as academically deficient and in need of a special remedial program to prepare them for the mainstream curriculum. The assumption is that English is prerequisite to literacy, when in fact, literacy is accessible through any language.

It is important to understand the bridge between first and second language. Learning a language is a developmental process which begins with oral development in the native language. This is followed by experiences in emergent literacy learning. With time the student becomes a reader, and later writer, and the total literacy knowledge is realized

The process of transferring native language skills into English can then occur with a minimum amount of trauma. Skills and concepts learned in the native language are manifested in English.

In other words, a students can keep learning academically while gaining English literacy.

When you speak two languages you cherish both of them.

If in my present life I love one person truly,no matter who it is, I believe that we meet somewhere again,though where or how I don't know or care,for genuine love is immortal.”

~Louisa May Alcott to Maggie Lukens,February 14, 1884

Celebrate the differences!

I found this interesting story on the Dartmouth Writing Program website and thought it was an appropriate meditation for us as we think about teaching basic writing
Excerpt from MATERIALS FOR WRITING TUTORS: ESL
section titled: Different Rhetorical Patterns

Our values as regards linearity (and other aspects of writing) are not universal. They are relative, peculiar to our culture. Who is to say which way of thinking and writing is better? Certainly not anyone on our staff. Still, it's our job to train these writers, who are entering a Western educational institution, to write in ways that this institution deems acceptable. And so we need to explain to ESL writers why we do things the way we do. This task isn't always easy. Let me share a story with you that changed the way I taught writing to ESL writers.

Years ago, I had a Korean student who had come to America to study engineering at a prestigious university in the mid-west. His English was very limited - so limited, in fact, that it took him two years to pass the university's English requirement. I met this student late in his first year at the university. He was in my writing class, where I was teaching students how to use certain organizational strategies: compare and contrast, process analysis, cause and effect. One Friday, after a class in which I had taught and then assigned a cause and effect essay, this student approached me to talk.
"Sorry. Cannot write cause and effect essay," he said to me, smiling broadly. I took him literally, thinking that he had declared to me some lack of confidence or ability. "But of course you can!" I responded, smiling just as broadly, launching in to one of my pep talks. He listened patiently to all I had to say, and then responded, "No. You do not understand. Cannot write cause and effect essay. Cause and effect: a bullsh-- Western construct. Is no cause. Is no effect. Things happen. That's it."

Did I abandon my task of teaching this student to write cause and effect essays? No. With my help he wrote an essay that approximated the sort of essay that I (and later, many of his other teachers) were looking for. But I did come to teach these essays differently, with a sensitivity to the notion that many of the simple principles that I take for granted are neither universal, nor "true". They are simply matters of convention - a habit of mind.

Written by Karen GocsikLast modified: Tuesday, 12-Jul-2005 11:25:56 EDTCopyright © 2004 Dartmouth Collegewww.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/tutor/problems/esl.shtml

Wikibook

I would like to add two new sections to the Wikibook of Basic writing- Spelling and Culture.

I have noticed that there is very little in regard to the teaching to Basic Writing to ESL students.

In the area of Spelling, I could add the spelling outline I have used at the English Language Institute for the last two semesters with comments on how the class was taught.

In the area of Culture, I could add how to define Culture and how a understanding of cultural differences and similarities can impact a classroom.