Mother Tongue

[Peter Richardson]

A note to the posting below: I've been using Bryson's Made in America as
one text for a freshman writing course in (sort of) the history of the
U.S. as seen in its vocabulary. The students are always reading ahead,
questioning what they read, talking about the book outside of class, and
writing informal "writes" to me about topics that just captivate them and
inspire their ponderings. Nothing boring there. Gosh, I can even skip the
chapter on Sex and Other Distractions and trust that they'll read it...
I've worked up enough writing exercises built around the text that I see
about 50pp. from each of the 20 students during the semester. I doubt that
our college's book order will allow Bryson to retire early, but it's some
small reward, at least.

Peter Richardson

> >
> I can't evaluate how accurate all of it is, but this book was my first
> introduction to Cockney rhyming slang, which I find fascinating. My British
> husband confirmed Bryson's description of it. I enjoy the book too.