The longer I lived in rural northern Thailand, the more food adventures I had. I ended up eating many kinds of insects and every kind of animal. When I visited one family, they were having snake meat curry from a snake that they had killed, and honey comb curry with some little bees still in it! I got a serious shock once when I visited a new friend and saw a large dead field rat on the table, waiting to be cooked for dinner. Pastor Lawan especially liked a type of meat that she called "nua sawan," which translates as "heavenly meat." After I tasted it, I decided that I liked it too! Then I asked the children what kind of meat it really was. It was dog meat! People from the Akha tribe in northern Thailand believe eating meat from black dogs will give them supernatural strength. They also eat cobra meat in order to sharpen their senses. I tried a little cobra curry once, but I was afraid to eat very much.
My most memorable food adventure happened when I was visiting a new friend named Mae La in a very small village. I had already learned to do many new things with her, such as making roof thatching and brooms out of dry grass. This time when I visited her, she had just caught a basket full of large cicadas in the jungle. She asked me to help her pull the wings off them, in order to prepare for frying them. Now, the idea of pulling wings off live, squirming, noisy insects did not make me very happy, but I agreed to help her. After the first three insects I got used to the horrible screeching noise they made as I pulled the wings off. Soon, I had filled a big bowl halfway with wingless cicadas, all scratching their little feet on the sides of the bowl trying to escape.
I'll never forget what happenend next. Mae La's husband came home from the fields. He joined us on the porch, and he smiled as he watched me, an American from New York, pulling wings off the cicadas. I guess he decided that the opportunity to tease me was just too good to pass up, because he commented, "You can eat them raw, too, you know." I was so confused- I knew that the cicadas don't die until you cook them. I had eaten fried cicadas before. "You do it like this," he said, and he picked a cicada out of the bowl. It screeched and waved its six tiny legs frantically in the air as he put it in his mouth alive! That cicada was still squirming and screeching as he began to chew it! I was so shocked! I didn't know what to do or say. He laughed at the expression on my face, and tried to hand me a cicada. "You have one," he urged me. Well, what would you have done? If you would have eaten the live cicada, then you are much more adventurous than me. I didn't refuse the local people's food very often, but I knew he was just teasing me. "No, way!" I exclaimed.
Vocabulary- verbs used to denote speech/vocalization
commented (to comment)- to make a remark
said (to say)- to express in words, to utter something aloud
screeched (to screech)- to make a high-pitched noise
laughed (to laugh)- to show amusement while producing a laughing noise
urged (to urge)- to exhort, to entreat, to try to get someone to do something
exclaimed (to exclaim)- to say something with suprise or strong emotion
Vocabulary Practice- fill in the blanks with the words
One afternoon when I was about eight years old, I was walking the dog with my sister Debbie. That time, I was holding the dog's leash and she was holding the pooper scooper, which was alreay half full from the morning walk. My father used to reuse the same pooper-scooper bags all day long to save money. My sister and I were having an argument.
"Ha, ha, you're so stupid," I ____________. "Leave me alone!" she ____________. Her face was getting really angry. Suddenly, she whacked me on the shoulder with the pooper scooper! The bag exploded, and the dog poop went all over my shirt and on my shoe. I was in complete shock for a moment. Then I ran towards my house. "Mommy!" I ____________. "Look what Debbie did to me!" "Oh, my goodness! Well, calm down," my mother ________. "Aren't you going to punish her? Make her clean it up," I ____________. My mother made her clean all of the poop off my brown shoe. "At least the shoe was brown," she ___________.
Moral of the story- never tease your sister while she is holding a pooper-scooper!
Grammar- reporting direct speech
When we report someone's speech, we can do it directly or indirectly. Reporting direct speech means that we write down exactly what the person said. When we do this, we use quotes, which look like this: " "
When we report direct speech, we need to use a verb for reporting speech. Some of the most common ones are said, asked, answered, exclaimed, yelled, cried, whispered, etc.
We can put the subject and verb (for reporting speech) before or after the quote. If we put them before the quote, we use a comma before we begin the quote. Everything the person said should go inside the quotes. We put all of the capitalization and punctuation for their sentences inside the quotes, so the sentences should start with a capital letter and end with the appropriate punctuation. All of this is inside the quotes!
Examples-
He said, "I don't feel very well."
She asked, "What's the matter?"
However, when we put the subject and verb after the quotes, the period at the end of the quotation will become a comma instead. All other punctuation, such as question marks or exclamation marks, remain the same.
Examples-
"I don't feel very well," he said.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
Grammar Practice- change the reported indirect speech to reported direct speech
Write each sentence two ways: one with the quote at the end, and one with the quote at the beginning.
example-
My mother said that I had to clean my room.
My mother said, "You have to clean your room."
"You have to clean your room," my mother said.
My sister said that she was going to have a baby.
My sister said, "I'm going to have a baby."
"I'm going to have a baby," my sister said.
Your turn!
1. My teacher said that I got an A on my English test.
2. My friend said that she is going on vacation next week.
3. My parents said that they are going to raise my allowance.
4. My brother said that I'm annoying.
5. I said that he is annoying, too.
My most memorable food adventure happened when I was visiting a new friend named Mae La in a very small village. I had already learned to do many new things with her, such as making roof thatching and brooms out of dry grass. This time when I visited her, she had just caught a basket full of large cicadas in the jungle. She asked me to help her pull the wings off them, in order to prepare for frying them. Now, the idea of pulling wings off live, squirming, noisy insects did not make me very happy, but I agreed to help her. After the first three insects I got used to the horrible screeching noise they made as I pulled the wings off. Soon, I had filled a big bowl halfway with wingless cicadas, all scratching their little feet on the sides of the bowl trying to escape.I'll never forget what happenend next. Mae La's husband came home from the fields. He joined us on the porch, and he smiled as he watched me, an American from New York, pulling wings off the cicadas. I guess he decided that the opportunity to tease me was just too good to pass up, because he commented, "You can eat them raw, too, you know." I was so confused- I knew that the cicadas don't die until you cook them. I had eaten fried cicadas before. "You do it like this," he said, and he picked a cicada out of the bowl. It screeched and waved its six tiny legs frantically in the air as he put it in his mouth alive! That cicada was still squirming and screeching as he began to chew it! I was so shocked! I didn't know what to do or say. He laughed at the expression on my face, and tried to hand me a cicada. "You have one," he urged me. Well, what would you have done? If you would have eaten the live cicada, then you are much more adventurous than me. I didn't refuse the local people's food very often, but I knew he was just teasing me. "No, way!" I exclaimed.
Vocabulary- verbs used to denote speech/vocalization
commented (to comment)- to make a remark
said (to say)- to express in words, to utter something aloud
screeched (to screech)- to make a high-pitched noise
laughed (to laugh)- to show amusement while producing a laughing noise
urged (to urge)- to exhort, to entreat, to try to get someone to do something
exclaimed (to exclaim)- to say something with suprise or strong emotion
Vocabulary Practice- fill in the blanks with the words
One afternoon when I was about eight years old, I was walking the dog with my sister Debbie. That time, I was holding the dog's leash and she was holding the pooper scooper, which was alreay half full from the morning walk. My father used to reuse the same pooper-scooper bags all day long to save money. My sister and I were having an argument.
"Ha, ha, you're so stupid," I ____________. "Leave me alone!" she ____________. Her face was getting really angry. Suddenly, she whacked me on the shoulder with the pooper scooper! The bag exploded, and the dog poop went all over my shirt and on my shoe. I was in complete shock for a moment. Then I ran towards my house. "Mommy!" I ____________. "Look what Debbie did to me!" "Oh, my goodness! Well, calm down," my mother ________. "Aren't you going to punish her? Make her clean it up," I ____________. My mother made her clean all of the poop off my brown shoe. "At least the shoe was brown," she ___________.
Moral of the story- never tease your sister while she is holding a pooper-scooper!
Grammar- reporting direct speech
When we report someone's speech, we can do it directly or indirectly. Reporting direct speech means that we write down exactly what the person said. When we do this, we use quotes, which look like this: " "
When we report direct speech, we need to use a verb for reporting speech. Some of the most common ones are said, asked, answered, exclaimed, yelled, cried, whispered, etc.
We can put the subject and verb (for reporting speech) before or after the quote. If we put them before the quote, we use a comma before we begin the quote. Everything the person said should go inside the quotes. We put all of the capitalization and punctuation for their sentences inside the quotes, so the sentences should start with a capital letter and end with the appropriate punctuation. All of this is inside the quotes!
Examples-
He said, "I don't feel very well."
She asked, "What's the matter?"
However, when we put the subject and verb after the quotes, the period at the end of the quotation will become a comma instead. All other punctuation, such as question marks or exclamation marks, remain the same.
Examples-
"I don't feel very well," he said.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
Grammar Practice- change the reported indirect speech to reported direct speech
Write each sentence two ways: one with the quote at the end, and one with the quote at the beginning.
example-
My mother said that I had to clean my room.
My mother said, "You have to clean your room."
"You have to clean your room," my mother said.
My sister said that she was going to have a baby.
My sister said, "I'm going to have a baby."
"I'm going to have a baby," my sister said.
Your turn!
1. My teacher said that I got an A on my English test.
2. My friend said that she is going on vacation next week.
3. My parents said that they are going to raise my allowance.
4. My brother said that I'm annoying.
5. I said that he is annoying, too.
I would not have eaten the live one and probably would have had plain rice.
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