Task Analysis for Production
Grandfather’s Journey
Prompt:
You will write an opinion piece about Grandfather. Summarize the key events of Grandfather’s Journey. How did
Grandfather’s journey have an on impact on the author, Allen Say? How did Grandfather’s journey have an on
impact you and what life lesson can we learn from this story? Your writing should include:
§ Topic sentence describing Grandfather
§ A summary of the key events
§ 1-2 sentences telling how Grandfather influenced Allen
§ 1-2 sentences explaining a life lesson you learned from the story.
Target/ADV:
Intermediate:
Sample
response
Grandfather was the kind of person who liked to
travel. The story began when he made the decision
to leave his homeland to explore the New World.
Once he got to the United States, he was
astonished by all the new places he saw. He liked
California so much that he made the decision to
make a home there. As he watched his daughter
grow up he started to miss Japan. He eventually
made the choice to move back.
He was happy to be back home in Japan at first
because he got to be with his old friends and visit
the mountains and rivers he loved. But when he
told his grandson stories about his life in San
Francisco, he started to miss it.
Grandfather decided to take a trip back to San
Francisco. However, he never made it. He was not
able to leave Japan even though he wanted to
because there was a war. The situation was out of
his control.
When Allen Say grew up he wanted to travel just
like his grandfather. He had the choice to travel
where he wanted.
A life lesson I learned is that sometimes you have a
choice, and sometimes you don’t. But you should
make the best of the situation.
Grandfather was a traveler. In the beginning, he
decided to explore the United States.
When he arrived there, he was excited by
everything he saw.
He liked California and didn’t want to leave. He
wanted to make a home there. As time passed,
Grandfather missed Japan. Eventually, he decided
to move back.
At first, he was happy to be back in Japan because
he laughed with his old friends. When he told
stories about San Francisco, he started to miss it.
Grandfather made plans to go back to San
Francisco, but he never made it. He had to stay in
Japan because there was a war. He had no choice.
Years later, Allen Say became a traveler just like his
grandfather. He did not have to stay in Japan. He
had a choice.
I learned that you can love two places. You can be
happy where you are even if you don’t have a
choice..
Patterns
(mortar)
taught
___ was the kind of person who ___.
___ started/ began when/ with ___.
Once (As soon as) ___, ___.
___ so ___.
As ___, ___.
___ eventually ___.
___ because ___.
But when (However ) ___, ___.
decided/had the choice/made the decision to
A life lesson I learned is ___.
___ was (adjective/ noun).
___ when ___. (When ___ , __.)
(Sequence words/ phrases), ___.
didn’t (did not) want/ wanted
didn’t (did not) have/ had
___ but __.
I think/ learned ___.
even if
©
2017 Symposium
Teaching for Acceleration
Website: www.elachieve.org
Task Analysis for Production
Grandfather’s Journey
Topicspecific
vocabulary
(brick)
taught
Flexibility
of language
use (for
written
tasks)
©
Travel, homeland, explore, New World,
astonished, make a home, take a trip, war,
situation, out of his control, life lesson
Adventurer; decided/made a choice; Japan; young
(man); astonished/amazed/marveled; new land,
homeland, home, go back; never stopped
remembering, reminded, years later/passed,
eventually; destroyed; homesick
Uses a range of past tense verbs/verb phrases
Uses a range of past tense verbs/verb phrases,
Uses a variety of sequence words and phrases (in
the beginning, as time passed, eventually, later on)
to order key events
Uses sequence words and phrases (years
later/passed, eventually, after awhile, then) to
order key events
Conjunctions in middle and beginning of
sentence (and, so, because, but)
Uses conjunctions as modeled (and, so, but,
because)
Simple, compound, maybe complex sentences
Simple and compound sentences
2017 Symposium
Teaching for Acceleration
Website: www.elachieve.org