Message from mkang

[Anonymous]

I started my China unit by showing "China's Lost Girls" to my 7th grade students. It is a National Geographic documentary hosted by Lisa Ling. It follows an American family on its journey to adopt a second Chinese baby from China. We started with this film to illustrate the connection between the present and the past. There are many dimensions to this film that middle school students can relate to. There is background and explanation of China's one child policy. The human affects of this are shown in interviews with Chinese families and Chinese people who discuss their shame that girls have been abandoned in favor of baby boys. The vast majority of my students have experience with adoption-- either they know somebody who has been adopted or may have been adopted themselves. It was interesting to see how quickly the young children assimilated into "American" culture once they were adopted.