Grandfather's Chopsticks

• Ask students if any of them use chopsticks to eat. If possible, bring a set of chopsticks to class and invite a student to demonstrate how to use them, or show students yourself. Discuss where chopsticks are commonly used: in East Asian countries, including China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Vietnam.
  

• Have a volunteer read aloud the Up Close box. Explain that tone is the feeling that the poet or the speaker expresses about the topic. A poem’s tone could be serious, admiring, critical, funny, and so on.

• Have students listen to the Audio Read-Aloud by the poet, Janet Wong, or call on a student to read the poem for the class.
  

• Discuss the poem together by answering the questions that follow.

• Read the first stanza. What does the speaker compare Grandfather’s chopsticks to? Why? (simile) The speaker compares Grandfather’s chopsticks to “extra-long superhero fingers” because they can grab anything on the table.

• In the second stanza, what foods does Grandfather put on the speaker’s plate? How do you think she feels about them? What words make you think this? (word choice) Grandfather puts honey walnut shrimp, slippery noodles, and fried chicken on the speaker’s plate. She is very pleased with these choices. She says the honey walnut shrimp is her “favorite,” and she describes the chicken skin as “crispy” and the white meat as “tender.”

• Describing an object as if it’s a person is called personification. How does the speaker make the chopsticks seem like a person in the third stanza? What person is she actually talking about? (personification) She says the chopsticks are “pretty smart” and that they “know” what she wants to eat. She is referring to her grandfather.

• Think about how the speaker describes the chopsticks in the first and last stanzas. What does this tell you about how she feels about her grandfather? What tone does she use to describe him? (tone) By using his “superhero fingers” that are “pretty smart,” the speaker’s grandfather is able to give her her favorite foods, showing that he loves and cares about her. In return, the speaker loves and admires her grandfather and how wise he is. Her tone is warm and admiring.

Distribute or assign the Poetry Writing activity, which will guide students to write their own poems about a food that connects them to a loved one.

To prepare for the poetry writing activity, put students in groups to talk about foods, or mealtime traditions, that are special in their families. They might discuss how the foods or traditions make them feel and whether there is a person in the family who is responsible for making these things extra special.