When My Name Was Keoko

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text throughout the activity.

“Sun-hee and Her Family: One Year Later”

In this activity, students will write a creative epilogue to the novel that describes each of the characters in the family one year after the end of WWII.

While Park’s novel ends on the positive note of Sun-hee and the family reuniting, Koreans still experienced tumultuous political, economic, and social changes in the years following WWII. Working in a small group, you will write a creative epilogue for one of the main characters to talk about their new life one year after the end of WWII.

First, review with your teacher some of the changes that Koreans experienced in the aftermath of WWII. Then, working in groups, select one of the main characters (i.e., Sun-hee, Tae-yul, Abuji, Omoni, Uncle, Mrs. Ahn, or Tomo) and draft a creative epilogue that shares details about her/his life. Use the following questions to help shape your epilogue:

• On which character are you focusing?
• Where is s/he living one year later?
• In what activities is s/he participating?
• How do the other members of the family perceive her/his activities?
• What are her/his hopes and dreams for the future? What about the future of Korea?

Finally, share your work aloud with the class.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity links the students’ understanding of the characters’ development with text details in the setting of post-WWII Korea. You may want to challenge students to write their responses in the same format as the novel (i.e., first-person narrative style). You may also want to review terms, such as “epilogue,” with the class before they begin the activity. Based on details from the novel, students should draft responses that are both creative as well as true to the characters’ interests; for example, Uncle could be navigating life in a pre-Communist North Korea, Tae-yul could be pursuing aviation with the help of the US, and Sun-hee could be taking part in independence activities as a writer. Prior to the beginning of the activity, you may want to provide or have students research a brief overview of the historical context of post-WWII Korea. For example, this article from History.com provides a succinct overview of the changes Korea experienced in the aftermath of WWII.