thoughts about session 9 on 7/31 w/Dr. Dube

I would definitely like to talk to other students about the course requirements to confirm I am clear on what I am supposed to do... I would also offer my email: [email protected] for any of the students who are also either unclear on the requirements or who are confident they know exactly what to do.

I really enjoyed the collaboration at the beginning of the lecture. It got the brainstorming process going to be able to create possible lessons in class. We continually evaluate characters, stories, attitudes, etc. in literature, so the possibilities are endless in my Language Arts class.

I just wanted to share what Tiffany shared with me, it is a book called "China land of dragons and emperors" by Adeline Yen Mah. I looked at it on amazon and it looks really neat because it goes into the meaning of numbers, colors, dragons, etc. (Thanks Tiffany)

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/foster/lifemag.htm

Here are the meanings of the colors in the Chinese culture...Pretty interesting; in particularly white.

Red (hong) is the colour of fire. It corresponds to summer and the South. It also symbolizes success, happiness, and good luck. Red is the color of celebration at birthdays and weddings.

Black (hei) is the colour of water. It corresponds to winter and the North. It symbolizes Heaven in The book of Changes (Yi Jing), believed to be the oldest book in the world. Black was the favorite color of the First Emperor of China; he made black his official color.

Green (lu) is the color of plants, trees, and woods. It corresponds to spring and the East and has a strange meaning in China. A man who ‘wears a green hat’ has a wife who is cheating on him. Chinese men avoid green hats-especially if they have beautiful wives.

Blue (lan) is not a primary color in China. It is the color of the ocean, the sky, and immortality.

White (bai) is the color of metal. It corresponds to autumn and the West. White is not a lucky color for Chinese people. For thousand years, white used to be the color of mourning and death. The word bai also signifies uselessness and lack of success.

Yellow (huang) is the color of earth. It corresponds to the Centre. Yellow was reserved for the Emperor and members of his imperial family. No commoner was allowed to wear imperial yellow colors, except by permission from the Emperor. To be given a yellow jacket by the Emperor was a mark of special favor.

From: Adeline Yen Mah’s “China land of dragons and emperors”
edited by dcontreras on 7/31/2012
edited by dcontreras on 7/31/2012

Thanks for that link Sabro!! Another teacher at my school has some handouts that detail the exact same things the website is displaying. I didn't have enough time to use these resources, but I think this website would be extremely enlightening.

It was interesting to hear about everyone’s ideas for projects .. Good to know that we can have 4 1 hour lessons -- and that it does not have to be 1 4-hour lesson. For me that means I can incorporate small bits of information throughout the year.. insidious I am quite entranced with the three web sites shown to us. The MIT site I could see as being a favorite of students. I guess it goes without saying that Homer Lea was freak. What made him think that he could be a military leader in China when he could not even make it into the US army? Arrogance or Stupidity? We are leading to the revolution or rather the People’s Revolution , right?

I appreciated the differences between Japan and China courses before the war. The level of racism against Asians is news to my young (5th grade ) students. They are very aware of Rosa Parks, but the look on their faces when we discussed racism here was a shock.