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Home › Forums › Short Online Seminars › Two Koreas, Summer 2020 › Final Essay
Maria Cardenas.
cgaoPlease post your final essay here.
Meghann SerilI teach 3rd grade in a Mandarin dual language program. Although the specific topic of the two Koreas does not come up in our social studies curriculum, there are some topics we discussed that I can connect to my social studies instruction.
One big shift I am trying to make in my instruction is to consider what narratives are left out of the traditional curriculum and to ask myself if my students see themselves reflected in the material I am presenting. At my school we have several Korean and Korean American families. I would like to discuss with students and compare the role of women in both older and modern Korea with that of women of the Tongva Indian tribe who are native to the Los Angeles area. I think many of my students might also relate on a personal level to the idea of moms running the household and being in charge of their education. When we talk about immigration and the push and pull forces that cause immigration I have lightly touched on the ideas of poverty, war, and lack of opportunity as push forces. With what we’ve learned about North Korean refugees and defectors, I think I can include some examples to highlight that struggle and explain that the process of immigration is not always easy.
Art and storytelling are other ways in which I can make connections to my curriculum. One of our art standards, as part of art appreciation, is to consider the point of view of the artist and values represented in the art. In the past I have chosen art examples from European and American artists. I would like to include artwork from both North and South Korean artists. I would be particularly interested I how my students react to some of the depictions of Kim Il Sung. I would also like for students to compare and contrasts short stories from Korea with common fairytales and fables. This is a major unit from the third-grade standards. I would wonder what lessons students take from the stories and how they can analyze the author’s craft in delivering that message to the reader.
Most importantly, I appreciated Dr. Jung-Kim’s reminder that we need to separate the individuals from the leadership. At my students’ developmental age, it is common for them to assign traits from one individual to a whole group, to generalize those features. Although I can’t think of a specific Korea connection to my curriculum, it’s just something I want to be mindful of throughout my instruction. I want to reinforce the idea of looking at the individual when it comes to our stories in language arts, or events and people we discuss in social studies.
Laura HuffmanThe issues or ideas raised in the seminar that are of greatest relevance to my courses and my students would be the relationship between political and social history, modern Korean culture (Kdramas and films), and the distinction between a nation’s leadership and the lives of the people. Korea is an perfect case study to look at so many different forms of government over a relatively short span of time between 1900-2000: from kingdom, to colony, to a nation divided by war, then splitting into a communist dictatorship in the north and a military dictatorship in the south, which then evolved into a capitalist democracy. For one nation and one people to see that much change societally, economically, militarily, politically, and culturally makes it ideal for study in a survey course, like my Advanced Topics: World History II course that I teach, which culminates in the AP World History: Modern exam. As this seminar dealt with the Two Koreas following the Korean War, I would be able to incorporate any/all of the readings into a curriculum project based around this idea of the Korean Century.
I knew from the beginning of the seminar that I wanted to do something with a century-long case study, but the assignment that really solidified how I’ve chosen to fashion my idea came from the film review assignment. I choose Ode to My Father, in which we see the history of South Korea from the Korean War to the present through the experiences of one man, who really becomes the embodiment of the (South) Korean evolution from divided, devastated wartime nation to global economic powerhouse. For my curriculum project, I plan to have my classes write a series of film treatments for a K-drama about one extended (fictional) Korean family from 1900-2000, living first under a monarchy, then under Japanese occupation, then divided by the Korean War. Finally, we’ll see the two sides of the family, one living in the DPRK and one living in the ROK. This will allow students to use Korean history as the case study mentioned above, and do it through a relatable lens (Netflix!) while also implementing the College Board’s Historical Thinking Skills of contextualization, causation, comparison, and continuity and change over time. It will also allow students to see the connection between political events/forms of government and the impact they have on the lives of everyday people, the fictional family the students will create (along the lines of Ode to My Father, which I may choose to show the class once the project is done). Just as we stressed during the seminar, what matters most when studying different societies and cultures is really the shared humanity of the people, something we’ve seen, for example, in how North Koreans are portrayed in more recent films and Kdramas like Crash Landing on You. My hope is that by studying the history of Korean’s turbulent twentieth century, students will achieve not only a greater understanding of the various forms of government and Korean history especially, but also be able to see the impact of historical events on everyday lives, and how they can then make the connection (hopefully!) to their own.
Tom MuellerThank you so much for the allowing me to participate in this workshop. I know it is mainly for K – 12 teachers. My favorite course to teach is Introduction to Geography. The course is taught as a World Regional Geography course, in which students learn the basics of geography by examining different regions of the Earth. My two major goals for this course are increasing students’ spatial awareness and having them become more informed global citizens. In the East Asia part of this course, I have slowly expanded our discussion on Korea throughout the years. We first begin with a discussion of the Korean War, then we discuss complementarity of the Korean peninsula and finally we discuss the North Korean issue. With the information from this workshop, I can expand current topics and include topics on post Korean War, specifically the changing South Korea political landscape and the heredity monarchy of the Kim family. When we examine the changing political landscape of South Korea, we can discuss the reasoning for the changes and specifically the United States’ non role. It will give another example to the students how the Cold War was a chess game not necessarily about democracy but anti-communism.
I am going to work on 2 specific lessons for my class (to be submitted later). The first will be a one day (50 minute) interactive map and discussion of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The students will learn about the Sunshine Policy of South Korea and will highlight the Industrial Complex. Students will examine a map that illustrates the movement of goods from Kaesong. The next lesson will be a 2 day film and cultural discussion. Students will learn and discuss Godzilla and its underlining meanings and then we will discuss other monster movies. The students will then watch part of Pulgassari. The students will discuss cultural connections between themselves, North Koreans and monster movies. Then they will learn about the behind the scenes of the director, etc.
Deborah WhetstoneThis has been such a rich experience in learning about a critical (but poorly known in the West) area of the world. I am fortunate to teach 4 different Social Studies preps at the high school level (Human Geography, World History, Comparative Political Systems, and Law Studies), and believe I will be able to utilize the knowledge and resources gained from ‘Two Koreas’ in all four courses.
In general, I plan to use many of the resources, both articles and film/TV clips to help students analyze and discuss the differences between governing styles, regardless of the country. As others have pointed out, South Korea itself provides great visuals for analysis of types of governments. I especially plan to use one of the last articles we read, along with clips from a film I reviewed for Cult of Personality in North Korea. In my experience, this is the concept students have the greatest problem understanding, and these resources mentioned will be extremely effective to help them realize what the term means and how it works.
For my World History and Human Geography courses, I intend to utilize content shared to help with my Cold War unit. I usually have them evaluate different Cold War events and place them on a Thermometer according to how ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ each event was (NOT how ‘important’). Now, I think I might use insight and resources about the Korean War as a model to help them understand how to evaluate the information for other Cold War events.
For Human Geography itself, I expect to include aspects of this course in virtually every unit in the course. Unit 2 includes Migration, with obvious implications for refugees and push and pull factors. Unit 3 is Culture, including Language Families, Local vs Global Culture. This is followed by Unit 4 Political Geography, where content and knowledge from Two Koreas will figure prominently, including to help explain the concept of a ‘multi-state nation’.
In truth, I am still processing so much of the course. This was an incredibly fantastic webinar series to participate in, and probably the one that will provide the most in class use to provide context for my students.
Hilda DixonThis is my second time joining a USC China forum. What I appreciate about these forums is that information is presented openly and with transparency. Learning about the Two Koreas was an enriching experience for me because I got to read different texts that tell the story about the Two Koreas from different lenses and perspectives. In this way, I can have a more solid idea about what have been for these two countries after the Korean war. Most importantly, I got to understand and appreciate the humanity behind their history, culture, and values.
One interesting thing that I have learned during this forum is the influence and worldwide awareness of the South Korean culture through its soft power. Through Kdrama, Kpop, food and technology, South Korea has been able to influence and attract other cultures positively. In fact, in 2020, the South Korean film, “Parasite,” won four Oscar Awards including best picture which has been the first time that a foreign movie gets this type of award. Through hard work South Korea has positioned its place on the map for others to see, and South Korea keeps working to maintain or to increase its worldwide influence. It seems for me that South Korea seems youthful and energetic, so I think South Korea will be spreading it wings even more broadly in the near future.
Given these points, more than anything, I am thankful that I was able to participate and learn from Professor Jennifer Jung-Kim who is always open and welcomes questions. Learning about the two Koreas was a Journey that is worth taking. I think I now have more tools that I can use when teaching my students about North and South Korea in order to let my students explore these cultures while staying engaged.
Kimberly de BerzunzaI teach middle school Social Studies, so Ancient and Medieval World History and US History from the founding to 1914. Therefore I do teach about Korea (added in CA in 2016) but not about 20th Century. I really took this course for my own learning and to gain more depth to bring to my teaching, even if it's a time period I don't teach. The reason I think this is important is because the modern contexts help us have both a starting and ending point to the study of ancient and medieval history.
I usually start any unit or section with a KWL type activity, and students sometimes know that Korea is divided in two parts, and that's about it. They might also know something about K-pop and Korean food. This past year I was able to add a little bit more with some books and brochures I got at the Korean Cultural Center during the seminar I did last summer, so we were able to look at temples, clothing, writing, and landscapes. As I mentioned in a different post, I showed a video clip from South Korea and one from North Korea- with a questionable video coming up when I wasn't adequately prepared. Students also did a jigsaw study of women, art, and religious practices. I am hoping to add better resources now for this next year, including contrasting scenes from Crash Landing on You. I also want to look up the documentaries mentioned and take some clips. I have the added challenge of teaching in Spanish, so I look first for videos in Spanish or in Korean with subtitles I can put in Spanish. This tends to seriously limit my results.
When I teach medieval history to 7th graders, one of my main goals is to give students a sense of the richness and depth of the cultures and histories we study, and the interconnectedness of the world, even hundreds of years ago. I want them to see Korean culture as unique, rich, and special, and to know that women in ancient Korea were powerful, and that Korea had several powerful queens who ruled in their own right. I want them to see how Korea developed its own phonetic writing system, that is different from both Chinese and Japanese, although it does have aspects of both. I want them to see how both China and Japan influenced Korean culture and history, but how Korea adopted apsects of those cultures either through force or desire, or maybe just through soft-power and exposure, yet made them their own. These points are important on their own, but also to give understanding to the conflicts of the 20th century and beyond, where they will learn about the opressive practices of China, Japan, and the US on the peninsula, and hopefully be able to appreciate why this was and is so devastating to the Korean people. I hope my students will see Korea as a real place with real people, not just a place where a war happened, a place that was occupied, a place that was divided, and/or a place where the "good guys" live in the south and the "bad guys" are in the north. Although my time to teach about Korea is limited, I believe my own understanding goes a long way toward bringing the curriculum to life and toward humanizing the content in a way that is more meaningful and relevant to 12-year-olds.
I really enjoyed this course and have learned a lot, and am motivated to continue exploring the topics we have discussed.
Julie WakefieldIn my World Geography class, I will continue teaching about Korea. However, I have some new resources and updated information and perspectives to include. I teach both about South Korea and North Korea. So much of the information we read and talked about in this seminar have been incorporated into my lessons. (Yes, I have already updated most lessons because if I don’t do it now it won’t get done!!) My lesson I am creating will focus on maps skills, critical thinking and synthesizing information about South Korea. It will draw on 7 months of geographic thinking. It is a spiraled lesson that begins with some basic map skills and data presentation, as we saw in our first class with the infographics. The lesson progresses to an application and simulation level of choosing a location for an industry. This will allow the opportunity to bring in the Kaesong Industrial Complex and introduce the idea/theory of industrial location (labor, transportation and access to materials). This will challenge the students to use the information they have learned and provide for a nice assessment at the end of the unit.
North Korea lessons in class are a little different. We watch a couple videos and I am replacing the Lisa Ling National Geographic Inside North Korea with scenes from Crash Landing on You. This will allow for some new, updated images for the students. Additionally, we will study the political geography and territoriality (the pattern of behavior associated with the defense of a territory). This discussion will include the Treaty on the non-proliferation of weapons and North Korea’s present day geopolitical position.
In the AP Human Geography class, there are no specific lessons planned but there are definitely opportunities to bring in North and South Korea as case studies and talking points.
Unit 2 – Population and Migration
- escaping from North Korea
- demographic change in South Korea
Unit 3 – Cultural Patterns and Processes
- culture of consumption/materialism in South Korea as a result of economic growth
- culture of juche in North Korea
- hierarchical diffusion of ideas from outside of North Korea
Unit 4 – Political Geography
- government structure and territoriality
- boundaries
Unit 5 – Agriculture
- access and distribution of food in North Korea
- South Korea’s limited agriculture capabilities as a result of physical geography
Unit 6 – Urban Geography
- growth of cities in South Korea to accommodate rural to urban migration and industrial expansion
- planned urban areas (if I remember correctly, the region of Incheon where the international is was planned not only for the airport but also other residential and commercial spaces) that are not a result of growth of small areas but new areas being developed
Unit 7 – Industrial and Development
- economic growth and place in the global economy for South Korea
- development of both North and South Korea with access to health care, education, etc.
So, as seen, there are so ample opportunities to use what we talked about in this seminar in class and I am thankful for all the amazing questions during our online days and the rich conversations on the discussion boards.
Juana EvinkTwo Koreas-Final Essay
I truly enjoyed and learned alot about the two Koreas, their shared history and differences. The resources shared in the seminar and the lectures given by professor Jennifer Jung-Kim were extremely informative and helpful to understand the two Koreas.
Besides the great lectures, I enjoyed completing the assignment of reviewing a Korean film, the “Ode to my Father,” is truly inspirational and it included historical facts. This film doesn’t apply for my 6th grade social studies class, it’s more age appropriate for High school students. The film’s story portrays the devastation of war and the separation of families, yet it has a positive message of loyalty to one’s father and family.
For the curriculum project requirement, I choose to compare and contrast China and Korea’s geography and government leaders. It was a challenging process since the California Content standards doesn’t mention Korea at all, just Ancient China. Yet, that wasn’t enough reason to not try and share some of the great resources I got from the seminar with my students. In my opinion, Asian civilization and now countries have permanent and unbreakable ties to each other. One resource that I would have liked to use with my students are parts of the video lectures by Professor Kim, however I wasn’t able to download them.
By having my students compare the geography of China and Korea, I hope that they will think about how its proximity to each other has made them both enemies and allies throughout history. I want them to use their critical thinking skills every time they read a textbook or a primary source. Also, to understand that understanding a country’s geography can help explain their history in some ways. I hope to inspire my students to want to learn about other cultures and be open minded about our shared differences and similarities.
Heather ButlerAs a high school Visual Arts teacher I am always looking for ways to supplement my knowledge on different areas of the world, so that I can bring as much of the international world to my rural students. Many have never left the county I teach in, much less the country, and often aren’t exposed to the outside world, the way students in a city or a more wealthy area might.. The Two Koreas seminar helped to add so much to my very lacking knowledge about North and South Korea, due partly to the small amount of time that was spent on the Korean War in the US History curriculum when I was in high school and due partly to not having taken any history courses that dealt with the topics covered throughout my college career, especially since I was an Art Education major. I was fortunate enough to be taking an online workshop about the Arts during the Cuban Revolution during part of the seminar and it was interesting to be able to look at the similarities and differences between the rise of Communism in Cuba and North Korea, and the parts that the US played in both.
During the pandemic, I had begun watching a lot of Korean dramas and listening to K-pop, and after learning about the soft wave from South Korea, I can make connections to popular culture with my students. I viewed the documentary, “I am Sun Mu” because I felt like it would be something that I could connect to my curriculum, and I think it would be really eye opening to students to see how artists are still driven to create art under oppressive regimes and how dangerous a choice it is to be an artist, especially in some parts of the world. His quote, “I’m just doing what I have to do” really resonates with me and think it really reveals the power of art and the push to create. This seminar gave me a lot of background to be able to bring into my classroom, and to remind students of the humanity of North Koreans.
Looking at visual culture, we can look at how the Arts can be used to depict some cultures a certain way, whether in Western or South Korean films or propaganda. In my courses, we often discuss art that relates to social justice, and I can connect to the #metoo movement and #escapethecorset which many teenagers who are dealing with their own body issues can relate to. My unit will focus on North Korean propaganda, the art of North Korean defectors and refugees, like Sun Mu, and the use of the arts in social justice movements such as #escapethecorset and the programs that float balloons with messages over the DMZ. I intend for my unit to work together as a look at modern Korean Art or to be easily broken apart and added to or to replace portions of topics and themes I already discuss such as censorship and social art. This seminar gave me a lot to process and to pull apart and insert into my courses, which I am always picking apart and re-stitching together, since Art is such an immense part of the world and who humans are. I am really thankful that I was able to participate in this opportunity for learning. It also has made me thirst for more knowledge about East Asia.
Jasmine WeeksWhen I first started teaching at the High School, with my Asian face, students started asking me questions about K-Pop even though I am not Korean descent. Unfortunately at that time, I knew nothing about K-wave and didn't really know how to navigate myself to joining the conversation. This "Two Koreas" seminar not only has helped me to better understand the two Koreas' history and the roles of the U.S. and China in it, but also revealed to me the current Korean culture in relation to K-Pop and K drama that has attracted worldwide attention.
I intend to draw my students' attention into Korea through their interest in the Korean artists. From there, we can compare the two Korean cultures and evaluate how the two very different cultures resulted from a mere 70 years of separation and political system. In the process, we would discuss communism, capitalism, the Korean War and the Cold War in relation to Korean history, popular topics that students will encounter in their Global and U.S history studies.
Since my students are English Learners, my main responsibility is to provide the necessary background knowledge, which are the essential details for students to be able to grasp the highlight of the major events in order for them to participate meaningfully in discussion and further evaluation. Another aspect of support is to allow students to use the essential vocabulary in multiple ways to familiarize with the meaning and usage of the vocabulary words. In these lessons, students get to revisit communism, capitalism, the Cold War and the Korean War, and utilize them in listening, speaking, reading and writing them from different perspectives and topics.
In this seminar the greatest surprise I got is how different the two modern Koreans societies are. Often, the only news we get related to North Korea is about their nuclear weaponry. Little we do know about the North Korean society and people within, how are living such different lives compared to the South Koreans. Another interesting point is although K-Pop and K-drama share the popularity and live issue as Hollywood in the U.S., a lot of the fundamental cultural values are still very closely linked to the Chinese Confucious teaching, which explains both the Chinese and American influence in that region. Reunification seems to be the dream of the two Koreas, at least with the citizens. The questions I have after this is, are the superpowers involvements really helpful to resolve their differences to promote the reunification?
Maria CardenasTwo Koreas-Final Essay
Two Koreas seminar was very interesting and I learned a lot from the readings, videos, and discussions from zoom. I know about South Korea because of dramas and Korean pop. I took a class when I studied abroad about the Korean War but this was an eye opening. I guess I never really put much thought as to the role that the United States was playing in Korea.
I do believe North Korea and South Korea need to come to an agreement to end the Korean War that has been in a stalemate since 1953. If that means unification, who knows, but maybe they can coexist right next to each other. In a time that people have freedom to come and go and families can be reunited.
The movie “Ode to my Father” I would not show the whole movie to my middle school students. But I would show the first 20 minutes it shows the despair, family separation and how people flee their homes for a better opportunity at life. They can visualize how people flee during war times and what can happen.
For the Curriculum project I have decided to compare and contrast Ancient China vs. North Korea. Students will be comparing the leaders Shi Huangdi (Qin Dynasty) and Kim II Sung (North Korea). Students will be able to see that things that happened in the past also happened in present day history. They can also see that we can learn from our history so that we do not make mistakes. Students will enjoy reading about North Korea because I believe everybody knows North Korea as a bad guy or villain. They can read about what happened in North Korea’s history.
We have been given a lot of sources in order for us to educate our students about an asian country. They can see the rich history that comes from Korea. They can compare Korea to other countries and see the similarities. I will be teaching geography to my middle school students so I can go into great detail about Koreas geography and how over time Koreas culture has changed.