Short story "Neighbours" used as an e-couse assignment!

This is for those who have always wondered how their short story would look like as an exam question, or in this case, as an assignment worth 40% of their TESL mark!  I've been fortunate that quite a few of my stories from Lovers and Strangers Revisited have been taught throughout Malaysia in various universities, private colleges and even SPM literature (secondary school), and one story was even picked up by the University of Cambridge International Examination (CIE), an excerpt from an earlier version of "Waiting for My Father to Crash" from 25 Malaysia Short Stories, Best of Silverfish new Writing 2001-2005.  A check for £170.00 is now on the way, thank you.  (It was supposed to be three times that amount, but I just found out today that the exam question was never used electronically - on the web or for CD's - just as a printed examination paper.)   Yet, in all this time, I've never actually seen the exam question of any of my stories or how it appeared in the actual examination until today when I stumbled upon an online link for an e-course via Asiaeuniversity, out of Kuala Lumpur that used my short story "Neighbours" in their TESL Masters program.  This is the same story that was taught in SMP literature 2008-2010, published in Thema in the US, and the subject of the 2010 New Straits Times article, "Are you Mrs. Koh?"   Here is the Story Behind the Story link, too. 
 ASSIGNMENT 2 MAY 2011 SEMESTER SUBJECT CODE : ETL642 SUBJECT TITLE : Teaching Literature in English As A Second Language LEVEL : Master
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS 1) This assignment carries a 40% weightage towards the final grade. 2) Your answers should be typed on A4 paper using I Times Roman, 12 font sizes and 1.5 line spacing. 3) Your answers must be submitted to your Academic Facilitator before / on EXAM WEEK. 4) Online students to submit as attachment to email: secs@aeu.edu.my
A. THE TASK This assignment is based on a practical experience where you are required to plan, teach and reflect upon a literature lesson. To fulfill this requirement, submit a bound portfolio to your facilitator based on (a) planning, (b) teaching and (c) self-evaluation of a single lesson based on a given short story. For this assignment, you are required to read the following: (a) The short story Neighbours by Robert Raymer. [attached] (b) Material in reading package assigned for the course, as well as other reference texts on teaching short stories to ESL students e.g. Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context by Erkaya (2005).
As you plan your work you are encouraged to think about the Malaysian ESL learner and how you, as a teacher, can facilitate students' interactions with the text. You may draw ideas from reference texts on the literature instruction, discussions with colleagues and your own classroom experiences. [40 marks]
 
B. GUIDELINES FOR ASSIGNMENT Use the following guidelines to complete this assignment. The portfolio that you are required to submit should include all of the areas listed below (1-5) and there is no page limit. Organize your portfolio using appropriate headings and section markers.
1. Identify a group of students To begin, identify a group of ESL students (minimum 4) whom you can teach for a period of 40-60 minutes. They may be students from your class or young adults who live in your neighbourhood. Write a detailed description of these students, including language proficiency (their grades for UPSR/SRP/SPM), family/socioeconomic background and reading interests.
2. Write a lesson plan Write a lesson plan to teach the short story Neighbours by Robert Raymer. You can either use the whole story or part of it for the lesson. The plan is for one 40-60 minute lesson, inclusive of one or two activities. Organize your written lesson plan according to the (i) objectives, (ii) steps and (iii) assessment format. Remember to cite references for photocopied or downloaded material.
3. Give a rationale for selected activities Using your knowledge of the pedagogy of literature and your students' background, give a rationale for your choice of activities included in the lesson plan.
4. Teach your students Teach the students using the lesson plan you prepared (as in 2 & 3) above. You are required to make an audio/video recording of the lesson. (Reminder: you are required to use the short story Neighbours for this lesson.)
5. Evaluate your lesson Write an evaluation of your lesson based on the audio/video recording. Remember that this assignment is based on experience and learning, and that you will not be penalized for having conducted a lesson that has a few flaws. Listen to yourself in the taped recording (audio/video), concentrating on your instructional language, interaction with text, student response as well as pacing. Focus on what happened, and not on what you wish you had done. Present your evaluation in the form of a reflective personal account using the structure below. 
(i) Teaching Effectiveness: What did you do to find out if objectives of the lesson were achieved? What was the most effective part of your lesson? What did you plan or do that worked particularly well for your students? What went wrong? Was the short story appropriate for the students level of English proficiency? What did you do to help students understand the story? Did you explain literary elements well? What did the assessment show?
(ii) Assessment of Learning and Student Response: How did you ascertain that students understood and were able to apply what they have learnt in the lesson? Which literary elements of the story did they understand/not understand? What did your students think or feel about the short story you chose? Did you plan activities that were interesting for your students? How did they respond to the activities you had planned?
(iii) Improvement: If you were asked to do the lesson all over again, what would you do differently? How would you change or improve upon your approach to the teaching of the short story your chose? What advice would you give a colleague about teaching short stories to ESL students?
C. SOURCES OF INFORMATION
It is important to always cite the sources of your information in your assignment. Note that if your work is found to be a result of plagiarism and/or copying, it will be rejected and you will be given zero marks (0) for this assignment.                                                   END OF QUESTION FOR ASSIGNMENT 2
NEIGHBOURS A short story by Robert Raymer  (I'm posting the revised version, now in present tense, since their PDF version didn't transfer well and would take too long to unravel to make it readable)
   "I suppose there's a mess in the back seat," Mrs. Koh says, her face flushed, her arms crossed while standing in front of Johnny Leong's terrace house.  She shakes her head and waits impatiently for Koh and Tan, who have just returned from the hospital, to get out of the car.  "You just had to volunteer our new car, didn't you?  Why didn't you borrow someone else's car like I told you, or wait for an ambu­­lance?  Now it's ruined.  Ruined!"    Koh doesn't bother to respond.  He stretches and rubs his back.  His attention is drawn to the mournful sound of someone playing the saxophone.   Koh and Tan are Johnny's immediate neighbors.  The Koh's terrace house is on the left, while Tan, a bachelor, lives on the right.  The medium-income housing area is new, less than two years old.  Malays, Chinese and Indians live together in relative harmony—a mini Malaysia.  The streets are narrow, and since there are no sidewalks and the monsoon drains are uncovered, people have to walk—and often talk with their neighbors—in the street, moving only to let a car pass.   Across the street, Miss Chee, a secondary school teacher, unlocks her gate and lets out her white Pomeranian Spitz.  Miss Chee is tall and thin, with short black hair and razor-sharp bangs.  Upon noticing Mr. and Mrs. Koh standing in front of Leong's gate, she waves and crosses the street to join them.  She's halfway there when she realizes that Tan, the new math teacher at Penang Free School, is with them.  She blushes, but it's too late to turn back, or he may think she's being rude or purposely avoiding him.   Mrs. Koh bends over to look through the side window of the car.  She doesn't see any mess, though she's convinced the evidence is just waiting for her to find.  She looks up to see Miss Chee approaching.  Before anyone else has a chance to speak, she blurts out, "Hear about Johnny?"   Taken aback, Miss Chee asks a bit nervously, "Were he and Veronica fighting again?"   Mrs. Koh's beady eyes light up like shiny new coins.   "Did you hear them fighting this morning?"  She turns to her husband with an I-told-you-so look on her face.    "Wait a minute, were they fighting?" Tan asks, glancing at Koh.   "No, they weren't fighting," Koh says, glaring at his wife.  "I told you that already.  I was outside all morning, and I would've heard them."   "I didn't think so," Tan says, adjusting his glasses.  "When Veronica and Lily passed by my house, they seemed fine.  In fact, they both smiled and waved like they usually do."   Mrs. Koh twitches her nose.  "Veronica didn't say where they were going, did she?  Gambling, that's where!  Every Sunday she plays mahjong and I'm sure she's in debt!"  She pauses to catch their surprised reaction.  To prove her point, she adds, "She once tried to borrow money from Koh."   "She only wanted five ringgit-lah, to buy some vegetables," Koh says, shaking his head.  "She didn't have time to go to the bank."   "You're not her bank either, otherwise she'd be borrowing from you all the time," Mrs. Koh says.  "Thank heavens you didn't give her any."   "You wouldn't let me, and she's our neighbor!"   "It's bad enough that she's always collecting advance money for her catering, and now that Johnny's dead—"   Miss Chee's mouth drops wide open.  "Dead?"    "He's not dead yet," Koh says to his wife.  "He's still breathing."   "Dead?  Still breathing?"  Miss Chee's mouth goes slack, as she looks from Koh to Tan for some answers.   "He's as good as dead," snaps Mrs. Koh.   "I don't understand," Miss Chee gasps in frustration.  "Who?  Who are you talking about?  Johnny?  Is he all right?"   "All right?  He's all wrong," Mrs. Koh says.  "Him and his whole family!"    "Johnny tried to commit suicide this morning," Koh says to Miss Chee.   "Wah!  Why?"   "Because Veronica ran up all those gambling debts!" Mrs. Koh says.   Koh glowers at his wife.  "We don't know that.  We do know that he drank weed-killer.  He was drinking it with his beer."   Mrs. Koh plants her hands squarely on her hips.  "Drinking!  That's all that man ever did—sit around and drink.  And that—that Veronica!  The way she lets that daughter of hers run around like some tramp!"   Miss Chee's eyes open wide.  "Lily?  She's an all-A student."  She leans toward Tan and says, "Lily is my best student."   Tan nods and smiles politely.  Again he adjusts his glasses, though he doesn't need to.   Miss Chee asks Tan, "When did you find Johnny?"   "Just before noon," Koh replies before Tan has a chance.  "Isn't that right, Tan?"   "Yes, about noon."   Mrs. Koh nods.  "Koh told me he heard Johnny groaning one hour after Veronica took Lily gambling.  I happened to look at my watch when they passed by."   "I didn't hear the groaning until after Tan called me from his gate," Koh says, with a salute to Tan.  "If it wasn't for Tan, Johnny might already be dead-lah."   "And you had to put him in our brand new car!" Mrs. Koh says.  "Just imagine if he died there.  All the bad luck it'd bring, and with the New Year just around the corner!  We'd have to sell it, and it's not even two months old!"
  Dr. Nathan, an Indian dentist who lives next door to Miss Chee, waves as he slows down his car, not wanting to hit any of them.  He stops in front of his gate, gets out and unlocks it before driving inside and parking.  Instead of locking his gate, he smiles, waves again, and crosses the street to join them.  He extends his hand to Koh, one of his patients.
    "A fine Sunday after," Nathan says, and rubs his balding head."   "Not for Johnny," Mrs. Koh replies, "he's dead."   "Alamak!"   "He's not dead yet," Koh says, shaking Nathan's hand.  "Tan and I had to take Johnny to the General Hospital.  He tried to commit suicide by drinking Paraquat.  We managed to contact his son, and he's over there now.  Veronica and Lily haven't been told yet.  We don't know how to contact them."   "For heaven's sake," Nathan says, and looks as if he just pulled the wrong tooth.  "I never realized.  Just last New Year—yes, it was just last New Year Johnny had that party and everyone was there, having a grand time."   "Especially Koh," Mrs. Koh says, eyeing him.  "He was so drunk I had to drag him home."   "I was not drunk—just celebrating."   "Celebrating, ha!  That's what you call it!  You had a hangover for two days and had to miss work!"   "I was on annual leave," Koh corrects.     "Same thing.  You missed work!"   Nathan clears his voice and asks, "Who found Johnny?"   Miss Chee nods at Tan and says, "Mr. Tan did.  He heard Johnny groaning."   "I can't take all the credit, Miss Chee.  Your name is Miss Chee, am I correct?"          "Why yes, it is," Miss Chee says.  Her smile widens.  "My friends call me Alice."   "My friends and my patients call me Nathan," Nathan says, and offers his hand to Tan.  Tan shakes it and introduces himself.     "Anyway," Tan continues, "it was Koh who was the first one inside the house.  He also called the ambulance."    "But we decided not to wait," Koh says.  "The hospital kept asking all these foolish questions that we couldn't answer, so we took him in ourselves."   "In our BRAND NEW CAR!" adds Mrs. Koh.   "Really?  You have a new car, I never realized," Nathan says.  "I haven't had a new car since I bought my first Proton Saga—the very year it came out, mind you.  Our national car.  We've certainly come along way since Independence, haven't we?"  Nathan's smile over­flows with pride.  "Nowadays everyone takes everything for granted.  No civic pride.  Now Johnny, he was a good neighbor.  Yes, a good neighbor, even though he stills owes me for treatment.  Root canals aren't cheap, you know."   "That reminds me," Koh says, "my tooth has been hurting again."   "Oh, dear.  You mustn't wait, or you could find yourself in a lot of pain.  That's what happened to Johnny.  He waited until the pain was simply unbearable."     "Should I call your office for an appointment or just drop by?"   Two passing motorcycles drown out Nathan's reply.     Miss Chee's dog bark and feigns a chase.  After a few frantic steps, it turns around and comes back to Miss Chee.   "Ramli's kids!" Mrs. Koh says, staring down the street after them.  "Race here, race there.  And last week I saw one of them teaching Lily how to ride.  I don't know why Veronica lets her daughter—at that age—run around with boys.  I'd never let my daughter do that!  And today, of all days, she takes Lily gambling!"   Nathan scratches his left ear.  "Oh dear, I never realized Veronica gambles."   Mrs. Koh is nodding, as she adds, "Every Sunday she goes to her cousin's house in Air Itam.  That's where she gambles."   "You told me you had no idea where Veronica went!" Koh says, frowning at her, annoyed.  "Johnny's son was trying to reach her."   Mrs. Koh defiantly crosses her arms and says, "It's none of my business where she gambles."    "You should never gamble with your teeth," Nathan says, and nods to Tan.  He takes out a business card and passes it to him.  "If you ever need a reliable dentist, I live right across the street.  You can't get more reliable than a neighbor," he adds with a chuckle.
   Ramli, an elderly Malay who sells satay at the night markets, is walking down the middle of the street in their direction, his back ramrod straight.  He nods to Tan, one of his regular customers.   "My eldest daughter tells me Johnny hasn't been at school the past three days," Ramli says.  "Then yesterday she saw him walking along the main road carrying his helmet without his motorcycle.  Imagine that!"   Miss Chee asks Tan, in a low voice, "Is Johnny a teacher, too?"   "No," Tan replies, "he's a janitor at my school."   "A dead janitor," adds Mrs. Koh.   "Dead?  Don't talk about dead.  No joke-lah!" Ramli gazes from face to face as if he missed the punch line to a sick joke.  Still, he hopes some­one will explain it to him.  "So, who's dead?  Huh?"   "Johnny, but he's not dead—at least not yet," Koh says.  "But he did try to kill himself by drinking Paraquat."   "Paraquat?  Ya Allah!" Ramli's dark brown eyes roll upwards toward heaven.   "Koh heard him groaning around noon," Mrs. Koh says.  "One hour after Veronica took Lily gambling."   "Wasn't it Tan who heard the groaning?" says Miss Chee.  She glances at Tan for confirmation.   Koh nods.  "That's right.  If it wasn't for Tan, Johnny might already be dead."   "It has to be about money-lah," Ramli says to no one in particular.   Everyone looks at him.   "Why else would he sell his motorcycle?"   "He's right-lah," Koh says.  "Why else?"   "Unless he's involved with another woman!" Mrs. Koh says.  "Was he?"   Tan and Ramli both shrug.   "Wouldn't surprise me," Mrs. Koh adds.  "Gambling, drinking, womanizing—what a family!"   "Now I'll never get that root canal bill paid," Nathan says, and grimaces.   "I'm sure Johnny has some insurance somewhere," Tan says, trying to be helpful.     Koh frowns as if he just found chewing gum stuck to his shoe.   "Well if he does, he didn't buy it from me," Koh says.  "I must've asked him a half dozen times.  What good did it do me?  And I'm his neighbor!"   "I'm his neighbor, too," Ramli says.  "One of my sons had offered to buy his motor­cycle for its license plate number, for good money.  Now look at what he did, sold it to someone else.  A stranger!"   Miss Chee watches her dog go back and forth across the street.  She sighs in exaspera­tion and says, "It's a good thing Veronica has that catering business to fall back on, if worst comes to worst."  She catches Tan's gaze.  "Are you buying from her, too?"   "Well, no, not yet," Tan replies, "but I was thinking about it."   "It must be difficult living on your own like that."   "I've been doing it for fifteen years," Nathan says, "and I can cook, too."     Miss Chee smiles politely.  "Now if Johnny doesn't make it—"          "He won't if he drank Paraquat," Ramli says.  "That one's a sure killer."   "Either way," Miss Chee says, "I'm sure the good Lord will look after Veronica and Lily."   "Are they Christians?" Tan asks.           "He has a Christian name, doesn't he?" Mrs. Koh says.  "So do Veronica and Lily."   "Come to think of it, I don't think they are," Koh says, and scratches his head.  "In fact, I think they're Buddhists.  Or used to be.  With Johnny, you can never tell.  Besides, back in school many of us added Christian names but we weren't Christian.  Even you did, long before you converted."   "That doesn't make it right," Mrs. Koh says.  "It's misleading!"   Tan says, "Unless I'm mistaken, Johnny told me he was a free-thinker."   Koh laughs.  "That's Johnny for you.  He liked everything free."   "You should know," Mrs. Koh says, "you were always over there drinking his free beer."   "You're just jealous Johnny never asks you to come along."   "I wouldn't go over there even if Johnny and Veronica begged me to."   Tan gazes at the round table not far from Johnny's gate.     He clears his voice and says to Miss Chee, "We used to sit right there and talk.  The very night I moved in—even though I was a total stranger—Johnny invited me over.  We must've sat up half the night philosophizing about everything under the sun."  Guilt creeps into his eyes.  "Just last night I was over there."   "I saw you."  Miss Chee blushes as Tan looks at her with surprise.  "I happened to glance down from my bedroom window."   Tan looks up at the window and then at Miss Chee.  "You know, I think Johnny was just a lonely man."   "You think he's lonely?" Nathan says.  "My wife has been dead fifteen years.  Fifteen years!  Johnny can't be lonely, not with a wife and daughter at home.  And his son comes visiting often enough."   "Johnny has a son?"  Ramli ponders this.  "I thought he only has a daughter."   "Danny's his name," Miss Chee says.  "He was one of my first students.  A bright student at that."   "Yes, we had a long talk at that New Year party," Nathan says.  "Danny's a good boy with a good job."   "Good boy, ha!" Mrs. Koh says.  "Ever since he became a big shot at the bank, he certainly acts like one—living in town and wasting money paying extra rent.  What for?  A good boy would stay at home and help his father pay the bills, especially the way Veronica gambles and throws away money on Lily.  Always buying her the latest styles."   "At least Veronica works," Koh says.   Mrs. Koh twitches her nose.  "Her food isn't much to talk about.  So bland!  And she's always asking for advance money.  Why can't her son give her some of his money?  Huh?"   "I wish my elder two sons would settle down and find good jobs like that," Ramli says.  "Before I was twenty, I had a job, a house and a wife!  Back in those days, boys had more responsibilities."   "It sure would be nice if your sons stopped racing up and down the street," Mrs. Koh says.  "The noise is deafening!"   "See!  See!  That's what happens when grown boys stay at home," Ramli says, raising his arms in surrender.  "They get restless!  Only a wife will settle them down.  A wife and a job will teach them some responsi­bil­ities.  If you ask me, Johnny had it too easy.  Too easy. He has a working wife and only two children.  One living on his own like that.  Look at me, six of them, and a mother-in law at home who's driving me crazy!  You don't see me committing suicide, do you?"   Mrs. Koh stares past Nathan's shoulder to one of the houses further up the street.  "Who's playing that—that thing, anyway?"   "It's a saxophone," Koh says, fingering his mole hair.     Mrs. Koh says, "People shouldn't play those things unless they already know how!"   "If he doesn't practice," Koh says, "how can he know how?  When I was a boy, I had an old trumpet and I used to practice all day."  Koh smiles to himself.   He closes his eyes, remembering.   Ramli strains his neck to see around the others.  "Here comes Veronica."     All of them look.   Veronica and Lily are walking side by side, each carrying several plastic bags.   Koh turns to his wife and says, "Looks like they didn't go gambling after all.  Just shopping."   Mrs. Koh twitches her nose in defiance.  She peers around their car to get a better look.   Miss Chee asks, "Think she knows about Johnny?"   Mrs. Koh shakes her head.  "I bet she was too busy spending all her money on that daughter of hers to know anything."   "If you ask me," Ramli says, "Johnny had it too easy.  Too easy."    "I hope they don't move," Miss Chee says.  "Lily is my best student."           "Don't even mention it," Nathan says, "or I'll lose two more patients."   "Of course they'll move," Mrs. Koh says.  "Wouldn't you move if your husband commits suicide right in your own home?"   "I'm not married," Miss Chee replies, and glances at Tan.   "Hey, what time is it?" Koh asks.  "There's a football match on TV I want to watch!"   "Oh my, it's nearly two," Nathan says, glancing at the time.  "I haven't had my lunch yet—no wonder I feel hungry."   "Two?  Already?  I got to run-lah," Koh says, and hurries next door.   Tan asks, "Who's going to tell Veronica?"   Miss Chee looks down at her dog.  Ramli and Nathan both shrug as they return to their respective terrace houses.   "Not me," says Mrs. Koh, leaving before Veronica and Lily arrive at the gate.  "It's none of my business."#  #  #With the new French version out any day now, should be interesting if any of stories from Trois autres Malaisie   gets used in an exam. Just remind me to charge them!