Home Game Story

Home Game
by David Bateson
In a few seconds you could pick him out from the two hundred boys in the playground. Nearly all the
others wore plain grey shorts or trousers. He wore flared denims with orange trimmings down the
side, a red jacket and yellow sneakers.
It was his first day at this school. His name was Yang Jim Su. The name Jim could be useful if he was
willing to drop his Korean name, Yang, but Su could be a real drawback. There were girls called Sue
in the school.
It was 9.25 on a bright but windy morning. The bell had sounded. All the pupils were moving towards
the veranda to arrange themselves in straight lines. There was another Korean three lines away. He
was wearing the school uniform. He called out something to Yang Jim Su. Yang started to reply but
sensed that the children had stopped talking and were staring at him. He went quiet.
A tall man on the veranda started talking into a microphone. In all that he said, there was only one
word that Yang could distinguish. It was shoes. Every time the man said shoes all the girls and boys
started laughing. He did not understand why shoes was funny, but after he had heard the word six
times he tried to smile with the others. It was very difficult to smile.
It so happened that the tall teacher was saying:
‘Yesterday at the athletic carnival two children took off their shoes to run. After the races
they went to collect their shoes. When he arrived home one boy tried to put on his shoes. To his
astonishment he discovered that he had two left shoes. Well, as you all know, two left shoes are not
much use except to somebody with two left feet. So, do we have anybody out there who went home
with no left shoes but two right shoes?’
There was a long silence until a boy three places in front of Yang Jim shuffled uneasily before putting
up his hand a little bit at a time until it was upright. The tall teacher looked stern at first, then started
to grin. He talked for a while as the unhappy boy took his bag up to the veranda to produce the two
right shoes.
Not long after that, Yang followed the other children into a classroom. Five minutes passed before
he found himself sitting at a desk. The teacher spoke to the class for a while, smiling now and then
though never saying the word shoes. Soon she began to chalk things up on the board. The pupils
started writing in their books. A few minutes passed. Yang sat there, not knowing what to do. The
teacher stroked her long hair into position, then came to his desk. She picked up a pencil and an
exercise book, making signs that he should try to write.
Yang took hold of the pencil. She smiled. It was a kind smile, warm like spring sunshine, but he could
not smile back. He could only think why he ought to smile, for she had not said shoes. He tried to
copy the patterns on the board. He was only trying to be polite, for her could not understand why it
was necessary to do the writing.
A long time afterwards he heard the sound of a bell ringing. The children stood at their desks. The
teacher spoke. Everyone grabbed biscuits or apples or packets of chips, then hurried out of the door.
Only Yang was left there. The teacher pointed towards the playing area. Yang went out, glad to be in
the freedom of the breeze and bright sun.
Out on the back paddock he looked for the other Korean boy. He was not in sight. Everybody
seemed to be busy. Girls were throwing basketballs, boys wee passing oval-shaped balls around;
some children were hopping and kicking at flat stones on a cement area marked out with chalk lines,
while others were thumping a tennis ball against a wall where there was a makeshift squash court.
There came a moment when Yang realised that a huge boy was shouting at him and shaking is fist.
Without realising, he had walked between two boys who were throwing the oval ball to each other.
He hurried off in another direction.
Two children with fair hair pointed at him and giggled. He stared at them, bewildered. Suddenly they
started swishing a skipping rope, forgetting all about him. The wind came chilling round the corner of
a building. Yang felt he wasn’t part of anything. He shivered.
Then a familiar-looking round leather ball came rolling along the ground towards him, almost as if by
magic. A soccer ball, just like many he had played with in Seoul! Almost unthinkingly he used his foot
to flip the ball up on to his knee, then bounced it up on to his head before letting it tumble back on
to his instep, where he let it rest for a few moments, before passing it back to the boy who had been
sent in his direction.
He became aware that about seven boys were looking at him. Yet they were not regarding him like a
stranger from an alien land. Their faces expressed total admiration. His skill had impressed them. It
was a sort of international language.
No sounds came from their mouths. They made signs. The signs said clearly: ‘Come and join our
game’.
Slowly, nervously, he moved into the zone where they were playing. It was not a familiar zone, but at
that moment he felt that he was not such a frighteningly long distance from the home he knew best.
Home Game
Facts
1) Where is Yang Jim Su from?
Yang Jim Su is from korea
2) What marks him as different from the other children?
He wore denims with orange trimmings down the side, a red jacket and yellow sneakers
where
3) What did Yang Jim Su think was causing the children to laugh? What
effect was created by the author’s inclusion of what the children were
really laughing about?
He didn’t understand what was funny and thought that they were saying su but they were
Inferences
4) What does the narrator’s reflection on Yang Jim Su’s name imply about
the type of treatment Yang can expect in the future?
make new friends and learn English ways also play soccer( like the joke)
5) How did Bateson use language to show us what the boy with the 2 left
shoes was feeling?
Nervous and awkward
6) What impression do you get about Yang’s classroom teacher? Use

evidence to support your answer.
Yang’s classroom teacher smiles a lot and also quite likes yang
7) What effect is created by the simile used to describe the teacher’s smile?
(top of page 2)
welcoming encouraging also maybe she understands how he feels so she
smiled to make him feel better?
8) Why did Yang shiver?

Because he was scared of being alone
9) What does the title “Home Game” infer Discussion
It infers about how he used to play soccer in korea I think
10) What message is conveyed about friendship in this story?

A) I think hes going to become friends with the boy that invited him to
play soccer
B) Or that there will always be the kind people
11) How does this story make you feel? Why?
Happy because this character is feeling a bit less nervous
12) Can you remember your first day at a new school? Compare your
experience with Yang’s.
Well I first of all think I can understand English considering the fact I
grew up here but also I new a lot of people that were going to be in my
grade before I started
13) Discuss with a partner how Bateson used 2 motifs to convey the theme
of BELONGING in this story:
 language
 smiles

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Home Game

It so happened that the tall teacher was saying:

6) What impression do you get about Yang’s classroom teacher? Use

8) Why did Yang shiver?

10) What message is conveyed about friendship in this story?

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