Posted By: Karen Kozuch
Posted On: December 8, 2019
Karen Kozuch Gateway School District K-6 ESL (English Language Learners)
(Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, Math)
The Firekeeper’s Son by Linda Sue Park is a piece of historical fiction set in Korea in the early 1800s. It is beautifully illustrated picture book appropriate for use in grades 1 through 4 and even in 5th or 6th for cultural awareness and discussion of universal themes like family loyalty, a sense of duty and responsibility, importance of truth, and consequences of our choices in our own relationships and for the greater community. This story is also conducive to vocabulary development and the discussion of how literary techniques reflect the author’s purpose and the tone of the story. A study of character development, setting (both time and place), and plot as portrayed through illustrations could also be made with students of all ages. A discussion of point of view (omniscient) and author’s purpose might also be incorporated while connecting the story to our present day lives.
As an ESL teacher, I interact with students ages 5 through 12 in both elementary and middle school settings. The two themes we are presently exploring are “How are families the same and different around the world?” and “What is a community?” On previewing this book, I noticed that it not only fit both of these themes, but was told with a fast-paced plot as well as similes, metaphors, and an almost musical sentence structure. I decided to use it for a speaking activity with my 3rd and 4th grade mid-range proficiency level students by having the students take on the role of storyteller. Besides assigning points from 1 to 5 on the speaking rubric for vocabulary, sentence complexity, and use of proper grammar, I also judge fluency with respect to intonation, pacing, volume, dramatic expression, and use of eye contact and body language. The descriptive vocabulary and poetic nature of the of this story are ideal for inspiring good storytelling with the support of rich, detailed illustrations. While reading the story aloud for the first time to a small group, I was able to make use of the literary techniques like parallelism, repetition, and sentence fragments to be more dramatic and lyrical and inspire excitement in my listeners who often joined in on the repetition or simply read along chorally of their own accord.
My students were very excited to make predictions at every turn of the story and even stood up to act parts out with the help of similes, “Our part of Korea is like a dragon with many humps,” metaphors, “It (one coal) broke into a hundred red jewels that glowed for a moment, then died,” and personification “a tongue of flame licked the tender. It ate all the tinder and reached greedily for the brush.” These literary techniques served the purpose of creating excitement and suspense as we waited to see if Sang-hee would light the fire or fail in his mission either through his own fault or accidental fate that would bring chaos and shame to his family and the entire village if the king’s troops were deployed on a fool’s errand. On pins and needles, my students were actually shouting advice at the main character, “LIGHT THE FIRE!” Given a few clues, they were able to relate this story to one they have heard before about a boy who cried wolf for his own selfish amusement and found himself regretting his actions as both he and the rest of the community faced the consequences of his behavior. The sense of pride and trust expressed by the father toward his son and the revelation that he too considered not lighting the fire as a young man revealed the depth of these characters. Their words and actions inspired the respect of my students as Sang-hee expressed his own pride and gladness that “felt as warm as a glowing coal.” This theme also fits well with our present unit on the importance of family, what makes a family, and whether your community and the world can be your family.
In our present day climate of uncertainty about what is right and wrong or acceptable in our political and public conduct, the values expressed in this book are an invaluable tool for the teaching of not only the cultural importance of Confucianism in Korea in regard to filial piety, but also universal values regarding ethics as a universal commonality.