American Studies
English Honors with Mrs. Rogers
AP US History with Mrs. Wassmer
Summer Homework 2015
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Overall Expectations
1
Prior to returning to JM in September, you are expected to complete all of the assignments listed below for your
English class. Include an MLA heading on all typed work. There will be assessments on this material in the form of
tests and essays when you return to school in the fall. All written work should be completed and ready to be turned
in for credit on the first day of school (do know that late work for these summer assignments will not be accepted).
1.
Watch the video “30 Days: Living on the Navajo Indian Reservation” and answer the corresponding questions
 This video is linked on our Summer Homework website: summerhw.weebly.com
 The questions are located on page 2 of this packet
—
—
The answers to these questions are to be typed (double spaced, 12 point font, ideally in Times New Roman).
This page should be labeled “30 Days Questions” at the top.
2. Watch the first three parts of the video Louise Erdrich: Faces of America and answer the related questions
 These videos are linked on our Summer Homework website: summerhw.weebly.c om
 The questions are located on page 3 of this packet
3. Read The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich and complete the correlating study guide
 Check out the book from the English Resource Center (room 2-106) prior to Friday June 5, 2015.


— Should you desire to own a personal copy or should you miss your opportunity to check out a book from
the ERC, this book can be found for purchase at local bookstores/online, or for loan at the Rochester Public
Library. (Need help finding it? The ISBN is 978-0-06-051511-9 or 0-06-051511-2.)
You need to do the study guide while you read—not after you finish the book. There are sections of the
guide where you are prompted to watch a video: you need to do these in the order noted in the guide.
The study guide is located on pages 4-14 of this packet: there is a helpful family tree on page 15
4. Read the Native American creation / origin notes and stories and complete the correlating assignment
 The notes and detailed instructions are located on pages 15-16 of this packet
 The tasks connecting with these notes and stories are located on pages 16-17 of this packet
 The creation / origin stories begin on page 18 of this packet
5. Read Archie Mosay’s background and complete the questions
pertaining to it. Then, read and annotate his essay “What They Did
Long Ago.”
 The author’s background, followed by the questions pertaining
to it, begin on page 24 of this packet
 The annotation directions are found on page 27 of this packet
and are followed by the essay of which you are to annotate
(pages 28-29).
6. Read the article “Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in the Heart”
by Erdrich and then complete the questions that follow it.
 The article can be found on pages 30-32 of the packet: the
questions are located on page 32 of this packet.
— The answers to these questions are to be typed (double
spaced, 12 point font, ideally in Times New Roman).
7. Complete the five vocabulary units.
 The instructions for the vocabulary units can be found on pages
33-34 of this packet.
— There are three quizzes/practices required for each unit, but
any of the non-required ones may be done for additional
practice. However, you’ll only turn in the three required
components for each unit.
— You may do each of the required quizzes/practices as many
times as you like until you obtain the score you desire.
The following items will be collected
Please arrange in the following order
BEFORE the first day of class. Each
numbered item should be separate
according to the description. Make sure
your name and hour is on each section.
1) The 30 Days questions (typed)
stapled to answers from pg. 3
“Faces of America”
2) Pages 4-17 of this packet: the
questions pertaining to L.
Erdrich and The Painted Drum
3) The origin stories
worksheets/questions
4) Pages 26-29 of this packet: the
A. Mosay questions &
annotations
5) The “Two Languages in Mind…”
questions (typed)
6) The vocabulary printouts (15
total): printing 2 per page &/or
front to back is fine
American Studies
English Honors with Mrs. Rogers
AP US History with Mrs. Wassmer
Summer Homework 2015
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30 Days – “Living on the Navajo Indian Reservation” 2
by Morgan Spurlock
The season finale of 30 Days took host and creator Morgan Spurlock to a Navajo Indian reservation to experience
Native American life. He wondered, would he find a Navajo nation on the rise or would he discover that Native
Americans are still on the bottom of the socio-economic totem pole?
Spurlock explained that there have been many mixed messages about the American Indian. First, he was a violent
savage in need of taming by the white man, and then became the proud spiritualist trying to maintain balance and
harmony with nature in a changing modern world. Nowadays, he said, all we hear about is the Native American as a
savvy businessman making loads of cash from casinos. He suggested that it's possible they deserve the chunk of
change they're getting, given the fact that they were nearly wiped out and banished to reservations. Life on the res
was supposed to give Native Americans a place to re-establish their indigenous heritage and connection to the land,
but it's become a place of poverty, alcoholism and unemployment. He said most reservations don't have casinos and
Indians remain the poorest Americans.
Spurlock would live by three rules: he'd move onto the reservation and become part of a typical Navajo family; he'd
learn the Navajo language; and soak up Navajo culture by taking part in Navajo ceremonies. Spurlock stopped at a
roadside "Indian trading post" in Gallup, N.M., the last stop before reaching the reservation. He perused the various
Native American ornaments, spears and headdresses and wondered whether any real Indian has that stuff in their
home. A man there suggested Spurlock bring the oldest sheep he can find to his host family, so off he went. He
picked up a sheep for $100 on the side of the road, tied it up, dropped in the back of his truck and named it "Lunch."
Spurlock acknowledged how little knowledge he has about the Navajo culture. He said 200,000 Navajo area spread
out on the 17 million-acre reservation, which resides in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
Spurlock said that his time on the reservation showed him that it is "a really complicated place." He said there are
no easy answers. There were things that reminded him of a third-world country, but it is also a place where people
were so proudly trying to hang onto a culture that was vanishing. He said he hoped they would be able to find a
way for both worlds to co-exist. "That's their American dream," he said.
Now, answer the four questions below (answers to these questions are to be typed—double spaced, 12 point font,
ideally in Times New Roman).
1.
Look up and define the word paradox.
After reading the excerpt above and watching the “30 Days: Living on the Navajo Indian Reservation” video
linked on the Summer Homework website, explain the following:
2. According to Spurlock, what is the “American Dream” of the Navajo people?
3. Explain one paradox from the documentary or from the quote above.
4. After watching this documentary, what are your overall impressions? In other words, write about some
things that surprised you, something you can relate to, conditions on the reservation, or anything else
about which you have an opinion.
American Studies
English Honors with Mrs. Rogers
AP US History with Mrs. Wassmer
Name:
Summer Homework 2015
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Hour:
Louise Erdrich: Faces of America
Directions:
Watch the first three parts of Louise Erdrich: Faces of America (these are linked on the Summer Homework website).
Then, answer the following questions and/or complete each task after you watch each of the noted segments of the
video. Be sure to use COMPLETE SENTENCES for each answer. You may type your answers.
Part 1 Task
—
Summarize Louise Erdrich’s words on preserving her Native American heritage. Be sure to capture all main
points.
Part 2 Question
—
What was the downside to being a tribal member, according to Louise Erdrich’s grandfather? Again, be sure
to capture all main points of his argument.
Part 3 Question
—
What are the key points made by Louise Erdrich in this section pertaining to termination and “the Indian
problem”? Again, be sure to capture all main points.
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American Studies
English Honors with Mrs. Rogers
AP US History with Mrs. Wassmer
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4
The Painted Drum
by Louise Erdrich
Study Guide
Directions:
Answer the following questions as you read each
chapter of The Painted Drum. Be sure to use
COMPLETE SENTENCES for each answer. Also,
when asked for textual evidence be sure to CITE
YOUR QUOTES using MLA FORMATTING and to
EXPLAIN EACH QUOTE you cite.
An example of how to properly cite this novel:
In the first chapter, readers are introduced to Faye’s introspective style of narrative , which is established through the
use of phrases like “…but there is more too, I think” and “these days I consider and reconsider the slightest choices…”
(Erdrich 3). Words such as “think”, “consider”, and “reconsider” are clues to the reader of Faye’s pensiveness.
Note that after the textual support the author’s last name and the page number(s) are in parenthesis, which are then followed by the period.
Also note that there is a diagram on page 14 of this guide that may help you keep track of the complex relationships
between the characters.
Part 1 — Revival Road
Chapter 1
1.
Faye Travers, the narrator, states, “There is no right way. No true path” (3). Why does she say this?
2. Faye describes her New England town. What do readers learn about Faye’s life from this?
3. Faye relates an incident with Davan Eyke’s car. What do readers learn about Davan?
4. Who is Kurt Krahe and what is his relationship with Faye? Use direct quotes to support this answer.
5. Describe the relationship between Davan and Kendra Krahe. Use direct quotes to support your answer.
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6. Why does Kurt react the way he does to Davan shooting the raven?
7. Explain the deaths of Davan, Kendra, and the old man, John Tatro.
Chapter 2
8. Describe Faye’s job.
9. What do readers learn about Faye’s grandmother?
10. What significant things does Faye find at the Tatros’ that are from the Ojibwe reservation? What makes them
significant?
11. What is it that Faye takes and why might have she taken it? Support your answer with textual evidence.
12. Faye’s mother, Elsie, says, “The drum is the universe” (43). Explain what is meant by this.
Chapter 3
13. Faye and Kurt’s relationship is in trouble. Give an example from the text that illustrates and explain significance
of your example.
14. Describe Everett “Kit” Tatro. Also explain why it is that he starts mowing Faye’s lawn.
15. What does Faye learn about Davan’s mom from their encounter here in this chapter?
16. What do readers learn about Faye’s sister?
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17. Why does Faye say she enjoys the “cold, sleeping, wrecked, and still mine” (73) feeling in the orchard? What
does this show readers about Faye?
Chapter 4
18. After Faye picks blackberries, she says three things happen to disturb her home routine. What are they? What
makes them a disturbance?
19. Explain what happened that day in the orchard when Faye’s sister died.
After you finish Part 1, but before you begin Part 2 of The Painted Drum…
Directions:
Listen to “An MPR Story about The Painted Drum” which was broadcast in 2005 (this is linked on the Summer
Homework website). Then, answer the following questions and/or complete each task after/while you listen to the
broadcast. Be sure to use COMPLETE SENTENCES for each answer.
20. (a) What was a struggle for Erdrich with the creation of the voice of her protagonist, Faye Travers? (b) Also,
according to this audio broadcast, Faye’s solitude causes her to struggle with what?
a)
b)
21. Explain Erdrich’s relationship with her late husband. Be sure to capture all of the key points made in this section
of the audio clip.
22. Moncia Robertson sates that
is at the core of Faye’s life. What goes in this blank? Also, what do you know
about this aspect of Faye’s life at this point in the novel, after having finished only Part 1 of the text?
23. The end of the broadcast hints at how the novel will end. Taking what you know from Part 1 and combining with
the hint at the end of this audio clip, predict what Faye’s life will be like at the end of the novel versus how it is
now? How will she get from point A (where she is now) to point B (where she will be at the end of the book)?
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Part 2 — North of Hoopdance
Chapter 1
24. What do readers learn about Bernard, the narrator of Part 2, in this chapter?
25. How do the people there explain the fact that Faye and Elsie are descendants of the Pillagers when those people
mostly died out?
Chapter 2
26. In this flashback, what has happened to Anaquot that make her want to leave her husband, Shaawano?
27. Explain what happens to Anaquot’s nine year old daughter.
28. Anaquot’s son, whom she left behind, later becomes father to Bernard, Doris, and Raymond. How might readers
describe his parenting style? Support your answer with textual evidence.
29. What is significant about the frayed piece of blanket Bernard’s father has kept?
30. What has happened to Bernard’s family?
31. What significant question did Bernard ask his father? What makes it significant?
Chapter 3
32. Bernard relates a story of a man who went to the wolves. What does the man learn from the wolves?
33. From Fleur Pillager, Bernard learned that Anaquot was taken to Simon Jack’s (her lover’s) house. What/who did
she find there?
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34. Who is the “helpful spirit”? What are the signs that it is there with Anaquot?
35. How did Ziigwan’aage treat Anaquot? Support your answer with text.
36. How does Simon Jack react to Anaquot and her child? Why might this be his reaction?
37. How and why do Ziigwan’aage and Anaquot become allies?
38. What is significant about the wolf that Ziigwan’aage shoots and brings home?
Chapter 4
39. After Shaawano is left by Anaquot, how does he react?
40. What does his dead daughter tell him in a dream? Why might this be important?
41. With what is Shaawano supposed to make the drum?
42. What advice does Geeshik give him? How is the advice received?
43. What does Shaawano likely mean when he says, “The body of a drum is a container for the spirit, just as if it were
flesh and bone. And although love between a man and woman can change and fail, overreach itself, fall prey to
suspicions, yet the drum lives on. The drum waits with the patience of unloving things and yet it heals with life
itself” (172)?
Chapter 5
44. Bernard says that as his father got older, the “ishkode wabo already had its hooks in my father’s gut” (173).
What does that mean?
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45. Describe how Shaawano put the drum together. Also, what did Shaawano put in the drum before he placed the
hide on it?
46. Describe Simon Jack’s clothing, made for him by his wives. Feel free to use textual support.
47. The drum became a powerful healer; however, one day it all went wrong for Simon Jack. Explain in detail how
everything went awry.
48. What happened to the drum after Old Shaawano put it away?
49. Bernard was told that the drum was to be restored. When?
Part 3 — The Little Girl Drum
Chapter 1
50. Describe Shawnee’s home.
51. Why are the children alone? How does this impact you as a reader?
52. What does Shawnee devise to keep them warm? What does this tell readers are Shawnee as a person?
Chapter 2
53. Why is Ira in a bar when her children are at home alone?
54. How does the man help Ira?
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55. Who is Ma’iingan izhinikaazo?
Chapter 3
56. What does Shawnee decide to do after the fire?
57. Do you think she will make it? Why or why not?
Chapter 4
58. What is unusual about Morris?
59. What does Ira do for income?
60. What happens when Morris stops the truck on the way to Ira’s?
Chapter 5
61. Describe what Shawnee experiences while her body lies in the snow.
62. How are she and her siblings saved? What is your reaction to this as a reader?
Chapter 6
63. Describe the scene Ira finds at Bernard’s place.
64. What does Ira tell Bernard about her whereabouts the previous night?
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65. What does Bernard share with Ira?
Chapter 7
66. Where are the children being kept?
67. At this point, describe Shawnee’s demeanor, especially toward her mom.
68. When Ira goes to visit Morris, what happens?
69. How did Morris’ eyes get to be the way they are? Is there possibly something symbolic here? If so, what might
that be?
70. Why is Aptichi in a critical period of recovery?
71. When Ira awakes in Apitchi’s room and Bernard is there, what do they discuss?
72. Morris has resolved something in his mind and calls his brother to tell him. What is it? Use text to support your
answer.
73. How did Seraphine get the scar on her lip?
74. What does Ira still have of her father’s that survived the fire? Why might this be important?
75. What is about to happen at the end of this chapter? Explain the significance.
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After you finish Part 3, but before you begin Part 4 of The Painted Drum…
Directions:
Listen to (or read the transcript of) “Want To Read Others' Thoughts? Try Reading Literary Fiction,” which
was broadcast in 2013 (this is linked on the Summer Homework website). Then, answer the following questions
after/while you listen to the broadcast. Be sure to use COMPLETE SENTENCES for each answer.
76. Explain what critically reading literary fiction does to one’s brain? What are the results of reading such texts?
77. How does literary fiction differ from popular fiction?
78. What then makes The Painted Drum literary fiction?
Part 4 — Revival Road
The Last Chapter, “The Chain”:
79. Explain the significance of the following: “…the music of all the broken and hunted creatures who survive and
persist and will not be eliminated. For there they are, along with the ravens, destroyed and returned” (258).
80. When Kurt returns to Faye’s house, how does she explain her actions to him?
81. Describe what Faye learns from her mother about the day her sister died. Also, what does Faye realize after she
hears this?
82. In what humorous way has Kit Tatro “discovered” his Indian heritage? In what way does this provide comic
relief? (Not familiar with the term? Google it!)
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83. What do readers learn through Bernard’s letter to Faye about Ira’s family and the drum?
84. When Faye takes a walk through the woods, what does she discover?
85. Kurt’s studio has been vandalized. Who does Faye think might have done it? What proof does he have?
86. What advice does Faye give herself? (Look on page 274.)
87. Why has Faye gone to the cemetery?
88. Explain what Faye is thinking about the ravens in the following quote: “—then aren’t they the spirits of the
people, the children, the girls who sacrificed themselves, buried here? And isn’t their delight a form of the
consciousness we share above and below the ground and in between, where I stand , right here?” (276).
89. Do you think Faye has resolved her issues around her sister’s death by the end of the book? Why/why not? Use
direct quotes from the text to support your answer.
90. Looking back on the novel as a whole, in what ways did the drum fulfill its purpose?
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After finishing the novel, read the short article “A Critical Eye on The Painted Drum” (located at the very back of your
copy of A Painted Drum) and then answer the following question in a well-developed, detailed paragraph. Using text 14
support is strongly encouraged.
The Question:
The Painted Drum contains significant literary merit: according to the short article “A Critical Eye on The Painted Drum”
where can that literary merit be seen in Erdrich’s novel? What strong literary elements does her book contain?
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The Painted Drum Family Trees
Anaquot (The Cloud)
Shaawano
Bernard’s father
Bernard
Daughter who fell
to the wolves
Doris
Fleur
Raymond
Simon Jack Pillager
Ziigwan’aage
Niibin’aage
Elsie
Faye
Man who talked to the
wolves
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White Teacher
Prof. Travers
Faye’s sister
Ira
Shawnee
Alice
Apitchi
Origin Stories Notes and Assignment
A creation myth or creation story is a symbolic narrative of a culture, tradition or people that describes their earliest
beginnings, how the world they know began and how they first came into it.
It is in the nature of humans to wonder about the unknown and search for answers. At the foundation of nearly every
culture is a creation myth that explains how the wonders of the earth came to be. These myths have an immense
influence on people's frame of reference. They influence the way people think about the world and their place in
relation to their surroundings. Despite being separated by numerous geographical barriers many cultures have
developed creation myths with the same basic elements.
Many creation myths begin with the theme of birth. This may be because birth represents new life and the beginning of
life on earth may have been imagined as being similar to the beginning of a child's life. This is closely related to the idea
of a mother and father existing in the creation of the world. The mother and father are not always the figures which
create life on earth. Sometimes the creation doesn't occur until generations after the first god came into being.
A supreme being appears in almost every myth. He or she is what triggers the train of events that create the world.
Sometimes there are two beings, a passive and active creator.
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Not all cultures imagine life starting on earth. Some believe that it originated either above or below where we live now.
Still other myths claim the earth was once covered with water and the earth was brought to the surface. These are
called diver-myths.
According to some cultures humans and animals once lived together peacefully. However because of a sin caused by the
humans they are split up. This sin is often brought on by darkness and is represented as fire. Other times the innocence
of humans is taken away by a god.
On the next pages (pages 16 and 17 of this packet), record the elements listed above for each of the following Creation
Stories taken from our textbook. Then, answer the stories that follow.
The stories can be found in this packet—the pages are noted below:
1. Page 19 (original text page 22), “The Earth on Turtle’s Back”
2. Page 20 (original text page 24), “When Grizzlies Walked Upright”
3. Page 22 (original text page 26), “The Navajo Origin Legend”
“The Earth on Turtle’s
Back”
Supreme Being:
Where did
“earth” exist?
Above or below?
Describe:
Animal
characters:
Mother/Father
Character:
“When Grizzlies Walked
Upright”
“The Navajo Origin
Legend”
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What it the
peoples’
relationship with
the Earth?
Describe the
moral or lesson.
How does the
story explain the
origins of the
human race?
1. How do the animals in the myths exhibit human qualities?
2. What is the meaning of the Modoc custom of marking the site where an Indian was killed by a grizzly?
3. What do these stories tell us about the religious/spiritual beliefs of the people?
4. List some differences in the three stories:
5. What is the role of Nature in each story?
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Questions about the Archie Mosay Biography
1. What enabled Archie Mosay to become more of an expert in Ojibwe culture that other people his age?
2. How did he get the name “Archie”?
3. Name two rituals that Archie Mosay has taken part in and/or conducted as a medicine man.
i.
ii.
4. Archie did not inherit his father’s position of Grand Chief upon his death. How did he come to be the
Grand Chief?
5. What did Archie mean when he said, “I can’t use English in there. The Spirit doesn’t understand me
when I use English”? What was he talking about?
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Annotation Directions
Why are we doing this?
Part of the reason students has such a hard time reading is because they bring little prior knowledge and background to
the written page.
They can decode the words, but the words remain meaningless without a foundation of knowledge.
It is not enough to simply teach students to recognize theme in a given novel; if students are to become literate, they
must broaden their reading experiences into real-world text.
Why Annotate? Because it…

Shows your thinking when first interacting with a work

Provides a purpose for reading

Improves comprehension

Offers an immediate test of one’s understanding

Increases concentration

Seldom necessitates a reread of the material

Creates a study tool
How do I annotate?
The following is a list of some techniques that a reader can use to annotate text:

Underline important details

Circle definitions and meanings

Write key words/summaries in the margin

Write questions in the margin next to the section where the answer is found

Use a question mark in the margin/near words next to portions that are confusing

Make notes in the margin about where ideas/concepts have been seen before: note familiarity

Take note of questions you have while reading

Circle unfamiliar words: use context clues, knowledge of words parts, and/or a dictionary to help make
sense of the word(s) circled

Make comments that illustrates your thoughts/reactions on the author’s ideas
Think about the HUG (Highlight, Underline, Gloss) technique—this is a perfect time to use it
The text that you are to annotate begins on the next page (page 28).
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May 22, 2000
WRITERS ON WRITING
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Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in the Heart
By LOUISE ERDRICH
F
or years now I have been in love with a language
other than the English in which I write, and it is a
rough affair. Every day I try to learn a little more
Ojibwe. I have taken to carrying verb conjugation charts in
my purse, along with the tiny notebook I've always kept
for jotting down book ideas, overheard conversations,
language detritus, phrases that pop into my head. Now that
little notebook includes an increasing volume of Ojibwe
words. My English is jealous, my Ojibwe elusive. Like a
besieged unfaithful
lover, I'm trying to
appease them both.
Ojibwemowin, or
Anishinabemowin, the
Chippewa language, was
last spoken in our family
by Patrick Gourneau,
my maternal
grandfather, a Turtle
Mountain Ojibwe who
used it mainly in his
prayers. Growing up off
reservation, I thought
Ojibwemowin mainly
The Associated Press
was a language for
Louise Erdrich says she has been
prayers, like Latin in the enriched by her ancestors' tongue:
Catholic liturgy. I was
"There is a spirit or an originating
unaware for many years
genius belonging to each word."
that Ojibwemowin was
spoken in Canada, Minnesota and Wisconsin, though by a
dwindling number of people. By the time I began to study
the language, I was living in New Hampshire, so for the
first few years I used language tapes.
I never learned more than a few polite phrases that way,
but the sound of the language in the author Basil Johnson's
calm and dignified Anishinabe voice sustained me through
bouts of homesickness. I spoke basic Ojibwe in the
isolation of my car traveling here and there on twisting
New England roads. Back then, as now, I carried my tapes
everywhere.
The language bit deep into my heart, but it was an
unfulfilled longing. I had nobody to speak it with, nobody
who remembered my grandfather's standing with his
sacred pipe in the woods next to a box elder tree, talking to
the spirits. Not until I moved back to the Midwest and
settled in Minneapolis did I find a fellow Ojibweg to learn
with, and a teacher.
Mille Lac's Ojibwe elder Jim Clark -- Naawi-giizis, or
Center of the Day -- is a magnetically pleasant, sunny,
crew-cut World War II veteran with a mysterious
kindliness that shows in his slightest gesture. When he
laughs, everything about him laughs; and when he is
serious, his eyes round like a boy's.
Naawi-giizis introduced me to the deep intelligence of the
language and forever set me on a quest to speak it for one
reason: I want to get the jokes. I also want to understand
the prayers and the adisookaanug, the sacred stories, but
the irresistible part of language for me is the explosion of
hilarity that attends every other minute of an Ojibwe visit.
As most speakers are now bilingual, the language is spiked
with puns on both English and Ojibwe, most playing on
the oddness of gichi-mookomaan, that is, big knife or
American, habits and behavior.
This desire to deepen my alternate language puts me in an
odd relationship to my first love, English. It is, after all,
the language stuffed into my mother's ancestors' mouths.
English is the reason she didn't speak her native language
and the reason I can barely limp along in mine. English is
an all-devouring language that has moved across North
America like the fabulous plagues of locusts that darkened
the sky and devoured even the handles of rakes and hoes.
Yet the omnivorous nature of a colonial language is a
writer's gift. Raised in the English language, I partake of a
mongrel feast.
A hundred years ago most Ojibwe people spoke
Ojibwemowin, but the Bureau of Indian Affairs and
religious boarding schools punished and humiliated
children who spoke native languages. The program
worked, and there are now almost no fluent speakers of
Ojibwe in the United States under the age of 30. Speakers
like Naawi-giizis value the language partly because it has
been physically beaten out of so many people. Fluent
speakers have had to fight for the language with their own
American Studies
English Honors with Mrs. Rogers
AP US History with Mrs. Wassmer
Summer Homework 2015
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flesh, have endured ridicule, have resisted shame and
stubbornly pledged themselves to keep on talking the talk.
Scandinavians. I'm still trying to find out why.
My relationship is of course very different. How do you go
back to a language you never had? Why should a writer
who loves her first language find it necessary and essential
to complicate her life with another? Simple reasons,
personal and impersonal. In the past few years I've found
that I can talk to God only in this language, that somehow
my grandfather's use of the language penetrated. The
sound comforts me.
For years I saw only the surface of Ojibwemowin. With
any study at all one looks deep into a stunning complex of
verbs. Ojibwemowin is a language of verbs. All action.
Two-thirds of the words are verbs, and for each verb there
are as many as 6,000 forms. The storm of verb forms
makes it a wildly adaptive and powerfully precise
language. Changite-ige describes the way a duck tips itself
up in the water butt first. There is a word for what would
happen if a man fell off a motorcycle with a pipe in his
mouth and the stem of it went through the back of his
head. There can be a verb for anything.
What the Ojibwe call the Gizhe Manidoo, the great and
kind spirit residing in all that lives, what the Lakota call
the Great Mystery, is associated for me with the flow of
Ojibwemowin. My Catholic training touched me
intellectually and symbolically but apparently never
engaged my heart.
There is also
this:
Struggling to master a
Ojibwemowi
language that people had n is one of
the few
to fight to preserve.
surviving
languages
that evolved to the present here in North America. The
intelligence of this language is adapted as no other to the
philosophy bound up in northern land, lakes, rivers, forests
arid plains; to the animals and their particular habits; to the
shades of meaning in the very placement of stones. As a
North American writer it is essential to me that I try to
understand our human relationship to place in the deepest
way possible, using my favorite tool, language.
There are place names in Ojibwe and Dakota for every
physical feature of Minnesota, including recent additions
like city parks and dredged lakes. Ojibwemowin is not
static, not confined to describing the world of some out-ofreach and sacred past. There are words for e-mail,
computers, Internet, fax. For exotic animals in zoos.
Anaamibiig gookoosh, the underwater pig, is a
hippopotamus. Nandookomeshiinh, the the lice hunter, is
the monkey.
There are words for the serenity prayer used in 12-step
programs and translations of nursery rhymes. The varieties
of people other than Ojibwe or Anishinabe are also named:
Aiibiishaabookewininiwag, the tea people, are Asians.
Agongosininiwag, the chipmunk people, are
When it comes to nouns, there is some relief. There aren't
many objects. With a modest if inadvertent political
correctness, there are no designations of gender in
Ojibwemowin. There are no feminine or masculine
possessives or articles.
Nouns are mainly designated as alive or dead, animate or
inanimate. The word for stone, asin, is animate. Stones are
called grandfathers and grandmothers and are extremely
important in Ojibwe philosophy. Once I began to think of
stones as animate, I started to wonder whether I was
picking up a stone or it was putting itself into my hand.
Stones are not the same as they were to me in English. I
can't write about a stone without considering it in Ojibwe
and acknowledging that the Anishinabe universe began
with a conversation between stones.
Ojibwemowin is also a language of emotions; shades of
feeling can be mixed like paints. There is a word for what
occurs when your heart is silently shedding tears. Ojibwe
is especially good at describing intellectual states and the
fine points of moral responsibility.
Ozozamenimaa pertains to a misuse of one's talents getting
out of control. Ozozamichige implies you can still set
things right. There are many more kinds of love than there
are in English. There are myriad shades of emotional
meaning to designate various family and clan members. It
is a language that also recognizes the humanity of a
creaturely God, and the absurd and wondrous sexuality of
even the most deeply religious beings.
Slowly the language has crept into my writing, replacing a
word here, a concept there, beginning to carry weight. I've
thought of course of writing stories in Ojibwe, like a
31
American Studies
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Summer Homework 2015
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reverse Nabokov. With my Ojibwe at the level of a dreamy
4-year-old child's, I probably won't.
Though it was not originally a written language, people
simply adapted the English alphabet and wrote
phonetically. During the Second World War, Naawi-giizis
wrote Ojibwe letters to his uncle from Europe. He spoke
freely about his movements, as no censor could understand
his writing. Ojibwe orthography has recently been
standardized. Even so, it is an all-day task for me to write
even one paragraph using verbs in their correct arcane
forms. And even then, there are so many dialects of
Ojibwe that, for many speakers, I'll still have gotten it
wrong.
As awful as my own Ojibwe must sound to a fluent
speaker, I have never, ever, been greeted with a moment of
32
impatience or laughter. Perhaps people wait until I've left
the room. But more likely, I think, there is an urgency
about attempting to speak the language. To Ojibwe
speakers the language is a deeply loved entity. There is a
spirit or an originating genius belonging to each word.
Before attempting to speak this language, a learner must
acknowledge these spirits with gifts of tobacco and food.
Anyone who attempts Ojibwemowin is engaged in
something more than learning tongue twisters. However
awkward my nouns, unstable my verbs, however
stumbling my delivery, to engage in the language is to
engage the spirit. Perhaps that is what my teachers know,
and what my English will forgive.
Assignment:
After reading the article “Two Languages in Mind, but Just One in the Heart” by Louise Erdrich, answer the three
questions below (the answers to these questions are to be typed—double spaced, 12 point font, ideally in Times New
Roman).
1.
Describe the progression of the Ojibwe language for the author. In other words, explain what the language
meant to her starting from when she was a child to the present.
2. Describe some of the unique beliefs of the Ojibwe people that affect the thinking/words of those who speak
Ojibwemowin.
3. In a paragraph or two, compare this quotation by Archie Mosay,
“Today not enough [Indian people] have Indian names. They are losing it. The Indian is losing everything I saw
them do long ago,”
to Erdrich’s point that,
“… I think, there is an urgency about attempting to speak the language.”
When comparing, be sure to also synthesize each of the two quotes.
American Studies
English Honors with Mrs. Rogers
AP US History with Mrs. Wassmer
Summer Homework 2015
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33
Directions:
Using the website below, complete each of the
five online tests indicated below. After
completing each test and obtaining a score you
feel proud of, print out the results sheet (see
page 32 for specific instructions/visuals).
Keep track of your printouts and be prepared to
turn them in the first week of school.
You are welcome to do any of the other available
tests at this level as extra practice, but by no means are they required.
http://www.vocabtest.com/high_school/sophomore.php
Unit
1
2
3
4
5
Required Online Tests
print out results sheets once completed
(see next page for details)
a)
b)
c)
a)
b)
c)
a)
b)
c)
a)
b)
c)
a)
b)
c)
Learning Definitions
Synonym Practice
Reverse Sentences
Reverse Definitions
Antonyms Online
Vocabulary Sentences
Learning Definitions
Reverse Synonym
Reverse Sentences
Reverse Definitions
Reverse Antonyms
Vocabulary Sentences
Learning Definitions
Synonym Practice
Reverse Sentences
REMEMBER
You can take each
test as often as you
need to in order to
obtain your desired
score (ideally, 100%);
however, only one
printout of each is to
be turned in, so turn
in your best results
for each test.
American Studies
English Honors with Mrs. Rogers
AP US History with Mrs. Wassmer
Summer Homework 2015
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Once you finish an online test, you will have a screen similar to this pop up. Fill in your name (and hour,
34
if you know it) in the upper right corner and then click on “print this page” in the upper left corner.
These printed results pages are what you are to turn in at the start of first quarter:
there should be 15 in total when you are all done.