getting acquainted

Hello! My name is Sarah Qavi and I teach 8th grade Algebra and Physical Science. My school is only a couple of blocks away from USC and I take my students running there all the time! I am so excited that I am given the opportunity to learn more about East Asian history. Even though I teach math and science, I know that I can still incorporate the information that I learn in this seminar in my lessons at school.

My name is Andrew Mercado. I am the 7th grade World History teacher at Richard Merkin Middle School in Los Angeles. I am now in my fifth year and have enjoyed pretty much every minute of my career. Each year it has been my goal to better understand one part of my curriculum, political development in China! When this opportunity came along, I had to go for it.

Hi everybody. My name is Lucas Plotnik and I teach U.S. history and global issues at Culver CIty High School. I teach an Asia Unit in my global issues class and this looks like a great opportunity for me to enhance that unit.

Hi, my name is Emily Isler and I am in my third year of teaching at Rolling Hills Preparatory School, a small private school in San Pedro. I teach World History I and World History II to 9th and 10th graders so I am looking forward to using this class in my lessons. And I am planning a trip to China for students over Spring Break so this class will definitely help with that!

Hi all,

Besides what you know about me as the Coordinator of this seminar, and a doctoral student at USC, I want to share a story to introduce my culture, and myself.

A couple months ago, I got a message from a stranger in facebook, wanting to be a friend of mine. The message was:" Hi! I want to go to go traveling to Xinjiang one day. Would you be my friend?"

I of course ignored this request, since I never make friends via facebook, but get connected to my friends. However, I could not help laughing, since this guy mistook my name " Xin Jiang" as the name of a province in China, an autonomous region to be more accurate, "Xinjiang".

So I wrote to this guy:" Thanks. Please reconsider your request after my explanation.

First, the "Xinjiang" you want to visit is nice, but it is as strange to me as it is to you.

Second, my name "Xin Jiang" has nothing to do with this place "Xinjiang". While it means the new frontier, my name means the heart of the river. Even though the spelling is the same, the Chinese characters are totally different.

Third, in China, we actually put our last name first. So I should be called "Jiang Xin" in Chinese.

Now I hope that you will have a better idea of who I am, at least what my name is. BTW, Xin sounds like "Shin"!

Hope that you will have a rewarding experience with us!

Hello everybody! This is Nina Petkova -Social Studies Teacher at International Studies Learning Center, LAUSD. My school is a small public span school -grades 6-12. It is located in the city of South Gate. ISLC is part of International Studies Schools Network affiliated with the Asia society educational program. Our school vision is to "inspire and prepare global citizens". In today's world a person cannot be world citizen without profound knowledge of the history and the dynamic changes in Asia, especially East Asia. I am looking forward enriching my knowledge and developing new engaging units to teach about the region of East Asia. Also, I am very happy to work with all of you.

Howdy! My name is Michael Oviedo. I am a USC alumnus. I teach at West Adams Preparatory High School which is located near the USC campus. My school is divided up into SLCs and my particular SLC is: School of Education and International Studies. I have been teaching for thirteen years.