Unit 9 Topic 1

Original Fisherman Story

His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy crashed. John loves fishing, but longs to be more successful. When he was feeling down, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters,” blue and shined it up. John asked his brother what he thought of the new look, but his brother just laughed and said, “You’re always fishing for compliments.”

If John had had more energy, he might have argued with his brother, but instead, he began making more nets, with the hopes of increasing his catch the next day.

Revised Fisherman Story

His brother bought land last winter. He sold it to the neighbor because he lost money in the poor economy. John loves fishing, but wants to be more successful at it. When he was sad, he painted his boat blue and made it shiny. The boat was named “Troubled Waters.” John asked his brother what he thought of the boat after it was finished. His brother just laughed and said, “You always look for a compliment.”

John had no more energy, so he did not argue with his brother. Instead, he made more nets and hoped to catch more fish the next day.

2. After rewriting this story, I understand how confusing different tenses can be for ESL students. Certain idioms such as “economy crashed” and “fishing for compliments” need to be explained to ESL students, so they know what they mean if they encounter them while reading in the future. Certain vocabulary words such as “economy” and “successful” may need to be explained to students as well, so they can understand their meanings. Sentences and phrases containing more difficult tenses, such as “had had more energy”, can be difficult for the students to understand; they may think that there is an extra “had” by accident. The students can be exposed to more tenses in depth as their comprehension levels increase over time. From this exercise, I learned that it is important to give ELLs books and passages to read that are in the simple tense so that they do not become confused and can comprehend the text easily.