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How to write a summary: an example: Shashikala

HOMEPAGE

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Last Tuesday, Shashikala ran away from home, a big step to take for an English girl of sixteen, but a terrible risk for an Indian girl of sixteen like Shashikala who was born in Cardiff of Sikh parents.

Until Tuesday she had been living all her life under the protection of a very close Sikh family that took religion and Indian culture very seriously. When Shashikala first went to a Cardiff school, her father was very unhappy. In his opinion, the people in Cardiff, the English and the Welsh, drank and smoked too much, didn't take good care of their children and their old people, and wasted their money on silly luxuries.

When Shashikala became a teenager, her father was even more sure that the white children in Cardiff were having a very bad influence on his daughter and had far too much freedom. Because he felt that the white school was a threat to family life and Sikh tradition, he told her to leave school when she was sixteen and to prepare for an arranged marriage with a young Sikh in Birmingham. Shashikala, whose dream it was to study and to become a doctor, was very unhappy. She had not even seen this boy in Birmingham and she certainly didn't want to leave school!

Shashikala's tutor came to see her father and tried to change his mind. The tutor told him that his daughter was very good at physics and chemistry and could easily get a place at Cardiff university to study medicine. When her father refused to listen to this, Shashikala ran crying from the room. That night she packed a small suitcase and, at two o'clock in the morning, she climbed out of her bedroom window and walked to the house of her girl-friend Anna, an Italian girl. Anna understood very well why she wanted to live a different life from that of her mother: she didn't want to wear traditional dress any more and certainly didn't want to marry an unknown Sikh. Shashikala's father went to the police the next morning to get her back. And now she is locked in her room and watched day and night. Her father says she has brought shame on the family.
 

Summary.

1. Look at your answers to the questions below.
If you connect your answers, you'll be able to write a summary quite easily.

2. Connect your sentences with such conjunctions as:
because, although, when, as soon as, so that

3. Put in some explanations for those readers who don't know the text

4. Put in some functions from your list like
 

General questions:
1. Why does Shashikala run away from home?

1. She wants to live a different life from that of her mother.

Shashikala runs away from home because she wants to live a different life from that of her mother.

2. What do her parents think she shall do?

2. She shall leave school and marry a young Sikh in Birmingham.

Her parents think she shall leave school and marry a young Sikh in Birmingham.

3. What does Shashikala want to do most?

3. It is her dream to study and become a doctor.

It is her dream to study and become a doctor.

4. What does her tutor tell her father?

4. He tells that she can easily get a place at Cardiff University.

Her tutor tells her father that she can easily get a place at Cardiff University.

5. What do the parents do to Shashikala after that?

5. Her parents go to the police to get her back.

As soon as Shashikala has run away her parents go to the police to get her back.

6. What happens to Shashikala then?

6. She is locked in her room and watched day and night.

Then she is locked in her room and watched day and night.

Summary:

At the beginning the author writes that Shashikala, a Sikh girl from Cardiff, aged 16, runs away from home because she wants to live a different life from that of her mother. Although her parents think she shall leave school and marry a young Sikh in Birmingham, it is her dream to study and become a doctor. In the main part the reader is informed about her tutor who tells her father that his daughter can easily get a place at Cardiff University to study medicine, but her father doesn't listen. In addition to that we read, that as soon as she has run away, her parents go to the police to get her back. In the end the writer points out that Shashikala is locked in her room and watched day and night so that she can't run away again.
 

See also Shashikala: Cloze-Technik

Table of Contents

How to write a summary: example: Shashikala

HOMEPAGE

back to  Summary: functions

go on to  Example: Generalization: Maze prison