Language or Cultural Discovery: Some Places
to Start Looking for a Topic
1. When do you first remember writing? Describe the event
in detail.
2. When did you write in elementary school? What did you
write? Who were your audiences (teacher, classmates, etc.)?
What were your purposes?
3. When did you write in junior high? What did you write?
Who were your audiences? What were your purposes?
4. When did you write in high school? What did you write?
Who were your audiences? What were your purposes?
5. Trace your writing at home. What did you write?
Who were your audiences (self, friends, parents, etc.)? What were
your purposes?
6. How did your family write at home? What were your family's
attitudes about writing?
7. How did your friends write at school? How did they write
outside of school? What were their attitudes about writing?
8. Describe any positive or negative writing experiences that
stand out in your memory.
9. Who were the biggest influences on your writing and your attitudes
about writing?
10. What are your earliest memories of writing before school?
11. What are your earliest memories of seeing other people write?
12. What did others--your teachers, friends, or family--say about
your writing?
13. Describe how you learned to write.
14. What are the reasons for writing?
15. What tools have you used for writing--computer, pens, yellow
paper, chalk, etc.?
16. Have you ever had anything published or publicly rewarded
in some way?
17. In what ways was writing a part of your household?
18. What special pieces of your writing have you or has your
family kept?
19. Do you have a special place to write?
20. To whom do you write letters? What are your letters
about?
21. Have you kept a journal or diary regularly?
22. Did you ever have a pen pal?
23. How is your language different from English? How did
you discover these differences?
24. Who uses language in ways that you admire?
25. Describe a time when others did not understand what you were
saying.
26. Describe a time when you learned something important about
your own language.
27. Describe a time when you learned something important about
using English.
28. Write about an aspect of English that has been really hard or really
easy for you to master.
29. Describe a confusing situation when you were talking with a person
from another culture.
30. Describe situations in America or another country that have been
very uncomfortable for you.
31. Describe a situation where someone from another culture misunderstood
something in your country.
32. What American behavior do you find really strange?
33. What expectations would Americans find very difficult to
adapt to in your country?
34. Describe a situation when your misunderstanding of English or American
behavior was humorous.
35. What stereotypes do people have about your culture?
36. What stereotypes do people in your culture have about Americans?
37. What surprises you about the way old people, children, women, or
teachers are treated in America?
38. How are American classrooms different from other classrooms you
have been in?
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