contents - Gallatin School of Individualized Study - New York ...

modou sambFalse Teethhis name is Hamidou. He lives in Dakar, Senegal. He has a canoe. Sometimes,he goes fishing with a net, but he also carries people and goods across theriver. He likes his job, and he always has a happy smile on his face. One day, hisfriend Saliou and I came to see him. Saliou has a big shop in Dakar and a small shopon his side of the river. We need to cross the river all the time. He is the richest manin the village. He has false teeth with gold in them, so he smiles all the time.“I need to go to Sandiniery,” he said. “Can you take me now?”“Yes,” Hamidou said. “Get in.”In the middle of the river, Saliou became sick. He opened his big mouth.“Oooooh,” he said. And his teeth fell out of his mouth into the river. He looked veryfunny. Hamidou and I started to laugh. His teeth!He shouted, “Get my teeth. I need to have them.”We tried to see his teeth in the water, but the water was too brown. “Useyour net,” he said. “Try to catch my teeth in your net.” Hamidou and I kept tryingto throw our net in the water. Then we pulled it in. Nothing. I tried again. At last,I caught something. But it wasn’t Saliou’s teeth. It was a big fish with a big mouth.When we got to Sandiniery, Saliou didn’t want to go to his shop. So wemade a fire, and we cooked the fish. When I cut the fish with my knife, we sawsomething shiny. It was Saliou’s false teeth! He put them in his mouth.“Do you want some fish?” I asked.He said nothing, so I ate the fish. I had a big smile on my face, but Salioudidn’t open his mouth.Telling Tales61modou sambA native of Senegal, 22-year-old Modou Samb has lived in New York for a yearand a half. Tilla Alexander is his ESOL teacher at the New York City Departmentof Education’s Mid-Manhattan Adult Learning Center. Diana Raissis is theinstructional facilitator. “After I get my GED,” Modou Samb says, “I would liketo go to college to study science and mathematics. I would like to go back tomy country to be a doctor.”