let's get acquainted!

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone.

My name is Davy. I teach at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in Van Nuys. I teach 9-12 grade students. This year I am teaching World History, AP World History, AP U.S. History, and two online computer classes. I've been teaching for about 8 or 9 years. I get bored easily so I do lots of things to keep myself occupied. I am a voracious reader. I make jewelry, sew, knit, and crochet. My favorite hobby is photography.

I've studied some Asian history, and every year I've had to incorporate some Asian history in my curriculum. I spent two weeks last year volunteering at a boarding school in Kunming, Yunnan Province teaching English. I also spent two weeks a couple of years ago in Cambodia, also teaching English. I would love to go back and visit lots of places in East and Southeast Asia, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Looking forward to learning a lot.
edited by dkeo on 3/1/2011

[Anonymous]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Annet Kohen and I currently work at Granada Hills Charter High School. This is my second year teaching Geography and Skills for Success at GHCHS. My coworkers and I have worked together as a department to develop curriculum for each unit of our Geography class. With each unit we make sure to cover both physical and cultural features of the region. In fact, we just finished East Asia and are currently covering South and Southeast Asia.

In the two years that I have taught Geography, I have become very interested in East Asia, specifically the history and culture of each of the countries. I have not traveled to East Asia yet, the closest I have gotten was visiting Turkey ten years ago and Israel in the winter of 2010. Last year a few of my colleagues and I were given the opportunity to travel to Israel to learn about the regions history and on-going internal conflict. As a result, I was able to return to the classroom with a wealth of knowledge and educate my students on the culture and political climate of this region. I look forward to visiting East Asia in the near future, and having a similar experience to the one I had in Israel.

I look forward to exploring the region with you all.

[Anonymous]

Hello There,

My name is Andrew Terranova. I have been teaching for 8 years. I recently swapped Westchester HS for Manual Arts --just in time for reconstitution as it turns out! Ahh, the joys of teaching...where was I? Yes, I teach Social Studies: primarily Government, Economics, US History, and Urban Ecology and Demography (believe it or not, it's an approved LAUSD course). I haven't taught many Asian students over the years due to where I've chosen to teach, but my personal interest in Asia is growing as is my understanding of the importance of teaching Asia in the curriculum.

I'm excited about all that we will learn together!

g'night,

Andrew Terranova

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

My name is Carla Bacon and I work at Granada Hills Charter High School. This year is my third year teaching and in the past, I have taught U.S. History, Government, and Economics. Currently, I am teaching World History and a Skills for Success Class (a support class for struggling ninth graders). While I love all things history, I tend to gravitate more towards the social/cultural aspects of the topics I am studying. I was born and raised in the Philippines, which may explain my affinity for much of Asian culture. My life goals center around being a great educator and world traveler, and although I have yet to travel through Asia (outside of the Philippines and Thailand), I do hope to acquire as much knowledge, information, and insight as I can to satisfy both aspirations I am certainly looking forward to the interesting discussions to be had in this seminar!
edited by cbacon on 3/1/2011

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

My name is Gamaliel Gamboa. I go by "Gamie" for short(pronounced "gammy"). I am teaching for my eighth year at John F. Kennedy High School. This year, I'm teaching US History and Government. I have taught World History and Life Skills in previous years. From 2004-2008 I was involved in Global Classrooms Model UN, first as a teacher advisor for students attending Model UN Conferences, then as a Lead Teacher for advisors taking students to those conferences.

As mentioned in the March 1 meeting, I was born @ the US Naval Base Subic Bay Philippines. In other words..."I pulled off a John McCain." My experiences of growing up with a Navy family in a Navy town, as well as studying History at UC Berkeley have exposed me to a diversity of perspectives which I passionately share with my students. My exposure to diverse perspectives also includes coaching AcaDeca when the theme was China and visiting the Philippines as an American(born & raised...see above).

Looking forward to an exiting seminar!

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone

My name is Florentino Jauregui, but you can call me Tino. I have worked at Hollywood High School for the last 14 years, the first 10 years as a Social Studies Teacher, I was also the Department Chair for two years. I am currently the English Learner Coordinator. I work with all of our Non-English speaking students and parents. Our population has been changing over the last few years with an increase of Asian students, primarily from Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, China and the Philippines. I am hoping increase my knowledge about the history, economies and cultures of Asia. So far I have not been disappointed, our first meeting was vary insightful and interesting.

I have been fortunate to travel to South Korea and China, this class will help to make sense of what I experienced on these trips. I am also looking forward to traveling to other parts of Asia and will have a better perspective after this class.

[Anonymous]

My name is Guillermina Jauregui
I am the proud principal at International Studies Learning Center, Home of the Dragons. We are a small school of 800 students 6-12 grade, where our vision is to inspire and prepare global citizens. We are one of 27 international schools in the country that were granted a start up grant by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Asia Society.

In order to reach our goal, we teach French, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese and Introduction to Korean. Furthermore, we infuse the international perspective to our standards-based curriculum. We begin with the Middle Eastern perspective in the 6th grade, followed by Europe and North America in the middle school grades. In the 9-12 grade we focus the perspectives on the Africa, Asia, South America, Australia and world governments and economics. Even though our student population is 99% Hispanic, our staff is international. Our students have national and international travel opportunities. They have traveled to Washington D.C., New York, Seattle, China, Europe, Costa Rica, and Japan. We also have a sister school in Taiwan, which skypes with our students on a monthly basis. Our families have hosted students from our sister school in New York City, Taiwan, and France. We hope to keep connected to the world through virtual and personal experience.

[Anonymous]

Hello, my name is Melissa Mukai, and I have been the librarian at Franklin high school in Highland Park for the past eight years. I was an exchange student at Waseda University in Tokyo for a year in college, and like Mr. Dube, overshot my stay, by another year in my case, and later returned for another five.

While a student, I visited Korea and swam at the Seoul YMCA when, I was told,it was the tallest building in the city. I was also approached by local students in public places where our conversations would not be overheard, and by older people asking me to take letters back to Japan and mail them to relatives in the north for them. Fascinating stuff for a closeted American teen! I also got to Hong Kong and Macao.

Since my background has mostly involved Japan, I look forward to learning about the other dominant cultures in the region. And as others have said here, I feel energized by the varied perspectives in our class and look forward to sharing our experiences and explorations.

[Anonymous]

It is important to learn about different regions of the world to have a balanced perspective. Historically the United States did not include a lot of information about East Asia in schools. However, with an ever growing connected world, we must pay attention to our allies, enemies, competitors,and future world powers in order to be globally competitive and make the best decisions. Thus, East Asia must be included in our curriculum to ensure that our students, our future leaders, will be global citizens and ready to compete with a global economy.
edited by gjauregui on 3/5/2011

[Anonymous]

Hello,
It was very nice meeting all of you last week.
My name is Rae Kim and I teacher SEIC (Structured English Immersion Center) at Maple Hill Elementary School in Diamond Bar. This is my 11th year of teaching a self-contained newcomer class, but for the first eight years I had only Korean students in my class. It was called KMC (Korean Magnet Center) back then. Since the district changed its name from KMC to SEIC, I have had students from Asia, South America, and the Middle East. This year I have 20 students from China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Interestingly enough, 19 of these students share Chinese language and culture. So it was inevitable seeking an opportunity to learn more about China, and I’ve found it – The first class was fascinating!
See you all next Tuesday.

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone --

My name is Bethany Neubauer, and I teach US history (11th grade) and AP Human Geography (12th grade) at the Archer School for Girls. I've been teaching there, and living in LA, for almost seven years, having relocated from Manhattan in 2004. I'm also the 10th grade dean this year. While US history is my first love, I really enjoy the Human Geo class, which gives me a chance to introduce my students to a range of social sciences and allows me to justify reading the newspaper when there are a million other things I ought to be doing (like grading papers, argh...). And that's where this seminar will mostly fit in.

In my non-school life, I have an 18-month-old daughter who joyously takes up all the time and energy I can give her. All the other things I love to do -- cook, read, do yoga, knit -- are sort of on the back burner at the moment. Well, not the cooking, but we definitely eat simpler meals than we did when it was just my husband and me.

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all better in the coming weeks.

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

My name is Harue Sakuma. I teach Japanese and Introduction to Media Design this year at Torrance HS. Since last year I attended Summer Traveling Institute in Japan, I decided to come out more out my classroom and present my lesson plans and ideas. The result of last summer's 'Thematic Units for the 21st Century Skills' will be presented at a Japanese teacher's conference this April in Hawaii for the first time. This Thematic Units with Chinese/Korean Studies will be my second challenge. I would like to deepen my knowledge of East Asian Countries and create an interesting lesson plan.
Anyone who likes to know about Japan, maybe I might be able to help you. I was born and raised in Tokyo that I should be able to contribute something in class re Japanese Culture... Try me!

Hope to get to know you more in the coming weeks.

[Anonymous]

It was a pleasure meeting you last week; I’m looking forward to an exciting exchange of ideas through this seminar. My name is Mónica C. Shah. I teach English at Maywood Academy High School, proud home of the Nighthawks! My favorite subject is medieval English/Spanish literature (I teach both), but I enjoy teaching World Lit as well. In fact, this is precisely why I became interested in this seminar; I want to be better prepared to teach my students about the awesome cultures that our beautiful quilt – we call our world – is made of.

When I’m not wearing a teacher’s hat, I become a full-time mom to two extremely hyperactive children of 4 and 2 respectively. I also happen to be in an inter-faith, inter-racial marriage. My husband is a handsome Muslim from India and I am a proud Latina, who has a very personal relationship with Jehoshuah Hamashiaj (aka Jesus). I hope to raise my children with a broader view on life and an emphasis on the appreciation and respect for all peoples of the world. I’ve been very fortunate to travel to East Asia and loved it! I can’t wait to continue exploring this sensational world of ours.

By the way, as I mentioned last week, my seniors are working on an investigative project that requires them to interview peoples from various parts of the world. Some of them have experienced difficulty getting interview from people of Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, and Iran. Does anyone have any recommendations? Anticipated thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Hi Friends, My name is Mary Fraser. I teach at Emerson Middle School in Los Angeles. I have been a teacher with LAUSD for sixteen years. I taught elementary school for ten years and have been teaching middle school for 6 years. How time flies! I teach Ancient Civilizations and English also I teach ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS and Art and Theater games. I grew up in New Jersey and was a stage actress before I started teaching. I love learning about other cultures . I speak a little Farsi, Italian and Turkish and alot of espanol...though I still haven't figured out how to make the computer put accents when I write in spanish. I am always trying to improve my spanish language skills because I love the language and it sure makes communicating with the parents alot easier (providing they speak Spanish, of course...) I'm enjoying the class and I am interested in getting to know you all better.

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone! My name is Mona Garcia and I teach 7th grade World History at El Sereno Middle School. I have been teaching for 7 years and I feel absolutely blessed to be teaching alongside some of my middle school teachers. Hopefully, I can contninue to do so for more years to come.

When growing up, I had limited knowledge of Asia and the Asian culture. It wasn't until I was in college that my eyes were opened to a whole "new world." As a teacher, I want to ensure that my students are exposed to many different cultures so that they don't feel the same "shock" that I did. My recent trip to Japan also motivated me to educate myself more on Asia.
When not teaching, lesson planning, or grading, I can be found hanging out with my 12 year old brother and 8 year old sister, or participaing in events at my church

[Author]

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