Chapter Assignments and Learning Targets
Three Cups of Tea
by
Greg Mortenson
By the end of the book, I will be able to make the following statements:I can differentiate between theme and motif.
I can identify information presented in various formats (e.g. graphs, pictures, diagrams, charts, media clips).
I can identify and explain different structures used in informational text (e.g. chronology, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution).
I can identify domain specific words or phrases (content words e.g. lava, democracy, pulley) in a text.
I can analyze and paraphrase the main ideas and key points in texts.
I can respond to literary material by making inferences, drawing conclusions and comparing it to my own experience, prior knowledge and other texts.
I can respond to literary material from personal, creative and critical points of view.
I can determine an author’s point of view and explain his/her purpose for writing the text.
I can respect and defend differences in opinions as to what makes a good and/or a great person.
I have refined my listening skills by attending to read-alouds, classroom discussions, and small-group dialogues.
For each reading assignment, you will be expected to provide a typed response. Please refer to the section entitled, “Three Cups of Tea Response Starters” for what to include in your response. Your response due date is the same as the chapter due date. When responding, please remember to: look back at the text; support your answer/response [with quotations from the text when possible]; read over your answer to see if you need to rewrite any part of it; use proper grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Chapter(s) and their responses / Due / ⇃Foreword, Introduction and “Failure”
“The Wrong Side of the River” and “I’m Going to Build You a School”
“Growing Up” and “580 Letters, One Check” and “Hard Way Home”
“Korphe at Last” and “A Bridge Before a School” and “Hunting Ibex”
“Building Bridges” and “Six Days”
“Beginnings” and “Haji Ali’s Lesson”
“A Smile Should Be More Than a Memory” and “A Picture” and “New Schools---And More”
“Running from War” and “Too Much to Do”
“A Village Called New York” and “Afghanistan”
“The First Educated Women in Korphe” and “Stones into Schools” stop at pg. 156
Post-Op / in class
Response Starters for Three Cups of Tea
When responding to the various chapters in Three Cups of Tea, you will be expected to use and cite evidence to support your responses. Please refer to the lessons provided in the following two links for help with this.
You must type your responses in black; however your supportive evidence must be highlighted in yellow.
1) Foreword, Introduction and Failure
Remember to email your quiz results to . Please retake the quiz until you get 9/10 or higher.
Choose 2 questions to answer:
1.Using quotations as support from these sections, describe Greg’s character.
2. Is failure an appropriate title for chapter 1? Why or why not?
3. When you read the first line of the story, “Greg Mortenson was lost,” did you think the author meant literally or figuratively? Have you changed your opinion since then?
2) The Wrong Side of the River and 3) I’m Going to Build You a School
Choose 2 questions to answer:
1. What did you learn about the Balti people?
2. Describe the Korpheschool.
3. What does Mortenson drink for nourishment? Why is this significant to the story?
4. What does Mortenson discover about the quality of life in Korphe, specifically in regard to healthcare and education? List at least three examples of how the quality of life in Korphe is different from your life.
4) Growing Up and 5)580 Letters, One Check and 6) Hard Way Home
Remember to email your quiz results to .
Choose 2 questions to answer:
1. List three important details from Mortenson’s childhood. How do these details impact his actions as an adult?
2.List three of Mortenson’s actions or thoughts from the chapters that reveal his character. Based on the actions and or thoughts you list, describe Mortenson using only one adjective.
3. When Mortenson returns to Pakistan with money for the Korphe school, Abdul Shah, the watchman at the hotel, says, “By the merciful light of Allah almighty, tomorrow we make much bargain.” What does Shah mean? What do the act of bargaining and the mention of Allah reveal about Shah’s culture? How is it similar or different to your culture?
4. Describe how Mortenson feels before a branch of a poplar tree “smacked him in the face.” How do these feelings compare to his feelings toward the end of the chapter?
5.What misunderstanding occurs in this chapter?
7) Korphe at Last, 8) A Bridge Before a School and 9) Hunting Ibex
to email your quiz results to . Please retake the quiz until you get 9/10 or higher.
Choose 2 questions to answer:
1. Mortenson has great news to deliver to Haji Ali about the school, but first he takes tea. What does this reveal about Mortenson? What does taking tea reveal about the Balti culture and traditions? Why is this significant to the story? Describe a custom or a tradition of hospitality from your culture.
2. What new obstacle does Mortenson face in these chapters?
3. Retell, in your own words, the hunt that Mortenson participates in. How does this hunt reflect the values and traditions of the Balti community?
10) Building Bridges and 11) Six Days
Remember to email your quiz results to . Please retake the quiz until you get 9/10 or higher.
Choose 2 questions to answer
1. Why does Mortenson enlist George McCown to help pay those who were working on the bridge?
2. The title of the chapter, “Building Bridges,” has a literal and a figurative meaning. Define both and tell how each relates to the story.
3. What important personal event takes place at this point in the story? How does this add to our understanding of Greg?
12) Beginningsand 13) Haji Ali’s Lesson
Remember to email your quiz results to . Please retake the quiz until you get 9/10 or higher.
Choose 2 questions to answer
1. At the school construction site, what does Haji Ali instruct Mortenson to do? How is this situation a “culture clash”?
2. Retell, in your own words, the custom of “three cups of tea” as defined by Haji Ali. How does embracing this custom impact Mortenson’s success?
3. What are some of the sacrifices the people of Korphe made in order to build this school?
4. Why does Mortenson consider Haji Ali to be the “wisest man he ever met”? List three examples from the text to support your answer.
14) “A Smile Should Be More Than a Memory” and 15) A Picture and 16) New Schools—And More
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Remember to email your quiz results to . Please retake the quiz until you get 9/10 or higher.
W4.3 Write a narrative to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear, event sequences.• Mortenson wants to call his wife Tara, but there are no phones. Imagine a phone call took place. the dialogue of their conversation.
Choose 1 question to answer
1. What advice does Haji Ali give to Mortenson that he incorporates into the Central Asia Institute (CAI) plans for building new schools? Do you think this advice would serve Mortenson well if he were building schools in the United States? Discuss/explain.
2. List two details from this chapter that reveal that describe how Jean Hoerni feels about his role in the CAI.
3. What does this story reveal about the rights of girls?
17) Running from War and 18) Too Much to Do
Remember to email your quiz results to . Please retake the quiz until you get 9/10 or higher.
*Locate the Kashmir region on a map.
Answer both questions:
1.How has your understanding of Muslims/Muslim culture changed from reading this story?
2. There are many reasons for a water pump in Skardu. What do you think water symbolizes in this book? Remember to support with evidence.
19) A Village Called New York and 20) Afghanistan
Choose 1 question to answer:
1. What does Haji Ali mean when he tells Mortenson to “listen to the wind”?
2. Mortenson claims, “The difference between becoming a good local citizen and a terrorist could be an education.” Do you agree or disagree? How so?
3. Describe why going to Washington D.C. like being “dropped in a remote Afghan village” for Mortenson.
21) The First Educated Women in Korpheand 22) Stones Into Schools
Answer all 3 Questions
- What evidence is revealed that demonstrates that the schools are improving the lives of the students who attend them?
- Mortenson states that the war on terror “will ultimately be won with books, not bombs.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Discuss/explain.
- How is education like water?
- How is life like climbing a mountain?