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AnonymousUSC US China Institute: Final Essay
It was so exciting to spend a week of my summer immersing myself in a USC US China Institute Seminar. I really became intrigued by the topics in a way that wouldn’t be possible with the demands of the school year. At home, I would prepare the readings, look up topics discussed in class, and watch movies recommended by the various speakers. It really was an incredible experience.
The seminar provided me with a wealth of information and insight that I have already begun to incorporate into my teaching in both eighth grade Language Arts and eighth grade Spanish. My teaching will forever be changed due to my change in attitude, my more knowledgeable and inspired approach, and my integration of new materials. Guest speakers provided us with handouts that I would not have had the breadth of knowledge to put together on my own. Additionally, the seminar leaders provided us with book recommendations as well as short stories, and I have already incorporated excerpts of these in my teaching.
My attitude, as well as my approach, has been affected. I found the Language Arts curriculum to be heavy with Western readings, but lacking when it came to those of China, Japan, and Korea. It would be doing many students a disservice to ignore their cultures and give them nothing in which they can see themselves or feel pride. Therefore, I have decided to implement my seventh grade language arts curriculum with additional materials such as “The Tale of Genji” and “The Pillowbook.” Another way in which my approach has changed is in the desire to incorporate some of the teaching techniques learned in class. In teaching Spanish, my approach has been altered as well. Instead of focusing just on the teaching of the Spanish language, I intend to place a bigger emphasis, not just on Spanish culture, but also on world cultures. Students are taking Spanish so they can become better world citizens, so I see no reason why they shouldn’t become more aware of all parts and cultures of the world.
Furthermore, my ability to select materials has been enhanced by the seminar. I feel it imperative to include educational, yet interesting books. I will make a greater effort to be sure all cultures are represented in the curriculum. I also will be more adventurous with my incorporation of different types of media such as powerpoints and film. While all parts of the movies shown in the seminar might not be appropriate to junior high students, if I carefully select clips, I think their understanding of the concepts read about will be greatly enhanced.
I cannot stress enough how the seminar Modern East Asia enhanced my abilities as a teacher. My attitude, approaches, and materials that I use will be forever changed. I cannot wait to share what I have learned with my students!
Anonymous[font=Arial, sans-serif] [/font][font=Arial, sans-serif]The California content standards for grade seven address China, Japan, and Korea. In grades ten and eleven the standards address mostly China and Japan. By using the various seminars offered by USC and the other institutions, I would like to bring not only Asia, but specifically East Asia into my classroom. Considering the changes in California education, I hope that the various entities making these changes not only keep the current standards, but also improve on them.[/font]
I believe that the current attitudes in relation to Asia and East Asia are positive. Most students have a yearning to learn. I have found that when teaching anything about China or Japan students take an extreme interest. Interestingly enough, students enter the room with certain bias about Asia, good and bad. By using the depth or width analogy, I can better guide my students in having a more balanced perspective about Asia.
I always start units with geography. It is amazing how many students do not know about the locations of Japan and Korea, but are comfortable pointing out China. Historical background is of utmost importance for students to create a frame in order to understand the various contributions, achievements, accomplishments, etc of the various cultures. One approach I use to literature is Chinese character writings. Students practice very basic strokes and words. This activity is to illustrate the richness of the Chinese language. Teaching Tale of Genji and the Pillow Book, along with samurai poems helps students understand different genres and styles. I would like to try Korean sijo writing as my next step.
One of the “challenges” I find in teaching literature is finding the proper age-appropriate literature for 7th graders. With that said, I have found excerpts from Tale of Genji and Chinese poems. The other challenge I find is with Art. I look forward to trying my hand at this by having students illustrate the Heian Period using fans. I have had students paint Korean fans. I think that by showing students the various differences in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fans they would greatly gain knowledge about what is important to each of these cultures.
Most ideas in the seminar apply to my classes with the exception of the modern art topics. As mentioned about, it is challenging finding the right match of literature and art for my students. The final challenge lies in making sure it is all taught, learned, and assessed in a timely fashion in order to cover the other topics required in the content standards.
edited by martinc on 9/5/2015
Rob_Hugo@PortNWNallely Arteaga 0 0 2015-07-15T19:06:00Z 2015-07-15T19:06:00Z 1 224 1283 10 3 1504 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} It is my first time with USC US-China Institute. The week in LA was well spent, especially the field trip to Huntington Garden and Japan American National Museum. It is a shame for me not able to take my students to see these, since we are a little far away.
My school is a Mandarin immersion elementary school, and we also offer Korean as a foreign language. Some of my students are also taking Korean in an after-school program. Korean Sijo and Chinese poems are the two topics I will introduce to my students when we talk about Chinese literature. Chinese poems are very short with rhymes, which makes them easy to read and remember. The hard part is the meaning. Typically Chinese poems use flowers, plants, moon, animals, these common objects to represent their opinions over the government, or their emotions over people, family, and love. Students will need some background knowledge to understand the main idea. Sijo can be an interesting way to practice any languages, especially with Mandarin, because each Mandarin character has one syllable.
I like professor Bernards presentation a lot. He mentioned a lot of Chinese authors I used to read about them a lot. I found some different perspectives from what I understood from these books and articles before. Despite that I enjoyed his presentation so much, I feel these content is just too hard for the grade level I teach (3rd). But I went back to find Ailin Zhang’s books in Chinese and enjoyed my moment thinking of my hometown in China.
AnonymousBeing a participant of the U.S China institute has been a wonderful learning experience which has helped me grow as a teacher and overall individual. For the past several months I have been able to enhance my learning and meet wonderful educators as part of the Spring 2015 seminar, Summer 2015 Study Tour, and now the Summer Tour. As a 6th grade teacher, I am required to teach a unit on China. The unit introduces students to the geographical regions along with the Shang dynasty, Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties. In addition, students learn about the Silk Road and three of the philosophies (Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism). Usually the unit is a month long, but as a self contained teacher I will be able to incorporate the new or relearned knowledge across the curriculums. As we near our China unit, I will push students to visit the P.A. M and the Getty museums on free admission days. It will also be a great experience as a class field trip. Students would love the interactive Silk Road exhibit at P.A. M. I will assign research projects that require them to use web sources focusing on China.
Prior to this “Art and Literature” seminar, I was not familiar with Asian literature or authors. As part of this seminar group, not only have I been able to learn about China, but I have also learned about the various countries that make up Asia. Since all or most of my students are from other countries, I try to raise a cultural awareness in my class and teach them to be tolerant of each other. While we might have been born in various places of the world, we still have many similarities. In English class we can analyze authors from around the world such as Asian, Latin American, European, etc. We can even narrow it down and compare Korean, Japanese, and Chinese authors at various points in history. Self expression through art is critical for the level of students that I teach. Since they may not feel confident in speaking and reading a new language, using visual expression and symbolism helps them increase their confidence and learn about each other. This seminar, as the others prior to this, have enhanced my teaching and knowledge of East Asia. It has made my curiosity and thirsts for new knowledge grow. I have enjoyed learning about Ikko Tanaka’s art pieces. His drawings of Japanese men and/or geishas were appealing to the viewer. They were simply made of shapes but created such a visual. Having students draw a self portrait using shapes would be a great activity. They can also create a drawing to raise environmental awareness for global warming or to save water during the drought we are experiencing. While I can think of several ways of incorporating Asian studies in my class, there are just not enough hours or days to cover everything that is already on the curriculum. I will have to be creative with the planning and lesson implementation.
edited by malvarenga on 9/8/2015