The characters and stories from the canterbury tales probably seem vastly different from those you are familiar with in your own life. but are they? don't most people tell stories when they are with other people? when you get home from an outing, you probably tell someone about it—where you went, who you saw, and what happened. these are the fundamentals of storytelling. think about the kinds of stories you have heard from other people. how do stories indicate who people are, what they value, what scares them?

Read the excerpt from the poem "growing up italian" by maria mazziotti gillan and answer the question that follows. when i was a little girl, i thought everyone was italian, and that was good. we visted our aunts and uncles, and they visted us. the italian language smooth and sweet in my mouth. in kindergarten, english words fell on me, thick and sharp as hail. i grew silent, the italian word balanced on the edge of my tongue and the english word, lost during the first moment of every question. source: gillan, maria mazziotti. "growing up italian." poetrymagazine.com. poetry magazine, n.d. web. 30 mar. 2011. what is the tone of this poem? what does the tone reveal about the speaker of the poem and the conflict she faces? based on this excerpt, what can you predict about the theme of the poem?