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AnonymousI really felt this semester was really entertaining in terms of topics! One of my favorite sessions was the Japanese Cinema session. Even if you can’t show the clips given in class the knowledge of the topic and better understanding of Japanese history of cinema is ultimately what I walked away with and was really taken back by the knowledge of the presenter. I was also interested in the history of Edison, Tesla, and Augustin Le Prince with the invention of the video camera. I can’t say I knew that story before hearing it in class and it is definitely one, that I have continued to retell.
Another session I really enjoyed was the Saturday session with Mike Chinoy and Louisa Lim. I really loved the work that they have done and the knowledge and understanding they have of the events at Tiananmen Square. Their insight and coverage of the event is a perspective that I never knew of previously or really gave much consideration. When I teach about Tiananmen Square later on this year I will definitely prompt my students not to ask just who the man in front of the tank is, but who the men behind the cameras are. That was an incredible documentary, I really enjoyed it! I will plan to use the documentary when I am teaching about the revolts of 1989.
AnonymousThe information gained in this course was overwhelmingly valuable to me and my classroom. As a teacher World History, AP World History, and Geography, much of my content for the year is focused on East Asia. Before taking this course I thought our textbook, and the supplemental materials I created, did a pretty fair job of covering topics in East Asian history. I now realize just how not true my assumptions were. I realize that in my previous year’s teaching nearly all the history related to East Asia came as a side note to the more Euro-centric telling of history our textbook portrays. For example, I've completely upended my usual second semester plan for teaching WWII and instead of starting with annexation of Poland, will begin the unit by looking at the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. By restructuring my curriculum, and adding in many texts and visuals from this course, I hope to not only leave my students with a better understanding of East Asian history, but with a new way of looking at the world around them.
Part of what I loved most about the course were the fascinating lectures. While I had learned about many of the topics in my history courses in high school and college, I’m not sure I ever had the chance to learn about them in such depth. Dr. Dube’s readings, lecture notes, and visuals were a wealth of knowledge that could easily be translated directly to my World History and AP World History courses. Additionally, I loved the seminar with Mike Chinoy and Louisa Lim. It was great to be able to interact and ask questions directly to two people who witnessed such an incredible historical event. Overall, the course was a wonderful experience that I would highly recommend any Social Studies teacher take. I hope to continue taking courses through this program in the future!
AnonymousThis class has truly been eye opening for me. Although I will admit I was extremely tired before a few sessions, I always found something in class that caught my attention and re-energized me. Like I wrote in a post before, I had very little knowledge on any East Asian history before this course, but I learned so much during our sessions. The session that stands out to me has to be the Tiananmen Square video and discussion. I found the event incredibly interesting, as well as the fact that many Chinese are unaware of the event. I keep wondering in my head what has happened here in the United States that the government has hid from us, but I guess I will not know, that’s the point!
I plan to incorporate a bit of what I learned in each of my main units: imperialism, WWI, WWII, the Cold War and current topics. With imperialism, I hope to include a bit on Imperial Japan and Korea. I believe that my students will find it fascinating. I also want to include the article that was posted on the money being granted to the victims forced to be “comfort” women. I feel that money is often tossed around as a form of apologizing, but I want to know what my students think is an appropriate method of repairing what can still be repaired. For the world wars, I will definitely start with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the developments that unfolded as the world looked on and took no action. I also hope to use some of the videos we watched in class, or ones that were mentioned to show the perspectives of people outside of the United States. I also gained so much knowledge on the development of communism in China and on Mao. I plan to use some of the images presented in class as well as my notes to fill that gaps in my curriculum. Lastly, I hope to teach my students about Tiananmen Square. I believe that this historical event and its aftermath can lead to a plethora of topics that relate to issues today.
Overall, this was a great experience and I can’t wait for the upcoming seminar!
AnonymousFinal Essay
“War, Revolution, and Nation-making: East Asia since 1900”
This is my third seminar with USC US-China Institute, and I hope it will not be last one. In this particular seminar, I learned about modern Asia. I don’t remember even hearing about Tiananmen Square in college, but I will from now on I definitely will. The denial from the Chinese’s government about what really happen is not shocking at all. Since I teach 8th grade U.S. History I will not be able to teach my students about this topic, but I hope someone will, because they need to know.
However, I am able to teach them about the differences between political parties in the United States and Asia. I interested in teaching my students about how Asian’s governments govern their countries as compared to America. Also, the different forms of government like democracy and communism. My students will be able to form their own opinions based on evidence from primary and secondary sources. Another thing that I will like to explore in my lesson plans, are the historical figures like Washington and Mao.
This seminar thought me so much about Asia, and what happen after World War II. I was always interested in finding out why the U.S. , China, and Japan went from sworn enemies to political allies. Is always important to be aware how and why relationships change between countries, and how the people are affected by what the country’s leader do. Students need to be able to learn about the world, even in the 8th grade, and I plan to do just that. Another amazing experience, the seminar, I learned a lot and I will share the knowledge with my students.
AnonymousAttending this seminar has been a great experience for me! I really have enjoyed learning more about East Asia, not only to share this information with my students, but for own personal knowledge as well. Although I teach Ancient China and Japan, I am pushing towards making more modern day and current connections to these locations so that students can relate to the content in a more insightful manner.
By far one of my favorite lectures/presentations that I plan to incorporate into my China unit is the one on Tiananmen Square by Louisa Lim. The information she shared on China’s perspective on the protests of 1989 and the people’s lack of knowledge of this event is definitely something I would share with students, and have them discuss these ideas in the context of censorship (and have them compare what censorship looks like for them here in the US, at their homes and at schools, etc.). I would also share the ideas of the Tiananmen mothers with the students, and the efforts this group has taken to find out more about their sons that were victims of the troops. In order to earn gain more investment from the students, I would take Louisa Lim up on her offer of students being able to tweet and send her questions regarding her research on Tiananmen Square. This way, students connect to the content in a more lively way, and can develop their questioning and interviewing skills.
Another lecture series that I enjoyed were the two lectures by Professor Jennifer Jung Kim. Prior to her lectures, I did not know much about Korea, so her lectures were very informative. I would want to cover the interactions between Japan and Korea with the students, and the ways in which the Koreans suffered under Japanese rule, especially the women. I would have students discuss in a Socratic seminar the ideas of imperialism and how ethical the treatment the Japanese imposed on the Koreans was, and if we still see any of this second-class citizen treatment today in our society or around the world.
In terms of materials, the readings that were more story-like based from the Korea lectures would be ones I would share with the students, as well as the political cartoons illustrating the image of the “New Women.” I would also want to share the current event articles that Professor Dube shared during the first and last lectures on aging populations (in Japan and China), immigration, and birth control. These are very relevant issues, and the students can definitely make connections to these and how the US has dealt with them as well.
Overall, this class has been very informative, and I look forward to participating in more seminars in the future to better serve my students. Thank you!
edited by jenniferlopez on 1/10/2016
AnonymousThis year will be my second year teaching China and Japan, the middle ages. Everything I have learned about this time period I taught myself last year as I was also balancing being a new teacher, and learning how to properly deliver lessons that would make an impact on my students. I was very excited to find out about the USC East Asia Institute and the opportunities given to teachers to learn more about this fascinating area in the world.
I teach 7th grade world history. In East Asia we focus on the civil service exam, Confucianism, the successes of the early dynasties after the Ming, the influences of China on Korea and Japan, and the codes of the Samurai. Applying 20th century East Asia to my course is not a far stretch. Students love to know more about the modern eras and how the past has influenced the present. At least once per unit I make this connection for the students; comparing the culture today to the culture that was developing at the time that we are studying. For this reason learning about the colonialism that occurred in Korea was beneficial to me understanding the history that developed between these countries. I also benefited from the Japanese lessons on culture and Japan after the war. These classes will help me create a richer picture of what East Asia is like today for my students.
My intentions are to use what I have learned about Japan after the war and Japanese culture to extend on my Samurai lessons. I would like my students to dig deeper into Japanese culture and to study the remains of Samurai culture in modern day Japan. The lesson I plan to teach will focus on the relationships between the Samurai and their masters the Shogun and Daimyo. I would like students to make comparisons between these relationships in government in the middle ages and the relationships that occurred in the Japanese government during the reign of Hideki Tojo. Tojo, being of Samurai decent will be an interesting case study of a ‘modern samurai’ in the 20th century world.
An interesting approach I learned in the seminars was the way that readings and films portrayed the cultures of East Asia. History has many different lenses and stories can be told from the views of all people in a society. At times our histories can be too concentrated on rulers and governments of the time; which is why I would also like to connect the perspectives of the everyday people into my history class. The lessons I found most fascinating were those of Korean colonization and Tiananmen Square; true stories of the people who lived the changes that were taking shape in their nation. I would like to incorporate this viewpoint into the Samurai lesson as well, so that students can a full approach to history.
AnonymousBeing part of the USC U.S. - China Institute this fall was a great experience for me. I grew not only professionally but also personally. When I set foot in the classroom the very first day I realized how ignorant I was about East Asia. Probably the only thing I knew was the location of the countries, a bit of their economic systems and a few of social conflicts. I would have never imagined how enriching and impacting this seminar was about to be in my professional development.
The main reason why I decided to attend this seminar was to learn how and why there is a sizable immigration from East Asian countries to several Spanish Speaking countries. All over Latin America you can see Korea Towns, Japanese Towns and China Towns, and what is more surprising, at least for my students; individuals with Asian demeanor speaking perfect Spanish. Fortunately, this seminar exceeded my expectations and I not only found out the responses to my questions and transmitted them to my students, I got immersed into the culture and learned to appreciate it; I found it fascinating!
As part of my lesson plan for the Institute, I’m currently working with my students on a project on Tiananmen Square protests. They are comparing what happened in China in 1989 to the Tlatelolco Massacre in Mexico City in 1968 and the so-called Dirty War in Argentina in the early 80’s. They are to interview our East Asian international students about any information they might know and have a short presentation of their findings as well as an essay where they will analyze why this governments use brutal force carelessly to quiet a peaceful demonstration of freedom of speech all around the world.
My resources for this project are the documentary by BBC on Tiananmen Square and all materials presented in the seminar, the film “Voces inocentes” by Luis Mandoki and the book “La noche de Tlatelolco” by Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska, and last; excerpts from “Nunca más” which is a compilation of testimonies from the families of students disappeared in Argentina during the military regime.
edited by iverdin on 1/19/2016
AnonymousFor the past few years I have received the invitation to attend these seminars. I was unable to take advantage of these great opportunities because I’ve been working on my Masters degree. Upon completion I singed up for the next available one and it has been as rewarding as I expected. As a teacher of tenth grade World History and Geography this class is custom made for me. Just about everything we discussed in class can go directly into my lessons unaltered. I don’t need to look for angles to incorporate this into my classroom; the seminar closely follows the state standards for tenth grade social studies. As a teacher of the subject, many of the topics discussed were not new to me. I’ve researched and taught the Meiji restoration, the end of dynastic rule and birth of republican China, the war crimes against the Korean population and related topics. The three building blocks in social studies classes are the political, economic and social. This seminar has greatly enhanced the social block in my classes. Textbooks usually cover the political aspects; the social and economic is left to the teacher’s resources. This seminar has been that great resource. The topics I found especially enriching include the home front in Japan during World War II and the attempts to eliminate Korean culture in Japanese controlled Korea. I was also enlightened by the different perceptions of the Tiananmen square demonstration of 1989 and the manipulation of media, including literally airbrushing people out of the picture. These topics will be folded into my lesson, and some of them already have, as my World History class is currently in progress. I’m also grateful for the access to notable authors like Mr. Chinoy and Ms. Lim, this accessibility to hear them in person was priceless. This unique and enriching opportunity is greatly appreciated and I look forward to the complementary seminar which covers East Asia before 1900.
edited by sochoa on 1/20/2016
AnonymousI thoroughly enjoyed coming to this class on Monday nights. It was difficult to stay awake at times after a long teaching day (I apologize to our esteemed professors), but I did learn a lot in the lectures, visits to the museums/gardens, and readings. This collective knowledge could only inform my instruction with students.
I enjoyed Professor Jennifer Jung-Kim’s presentations about Colonial Korea and North and South Korea. She provided a wealth of Korean history condensed into two classes! She was very engaging and her presentations were well organized. She opened the class by asking the grade level and/or subject we teach and adjusted her lecture accordingly. She concluded her last class by asking how we could apply the knowledge gained from her lectures towards our instruction. I responded that the readings she provided would be very useful for my upper elementary students learning about what it was like to grow up Korean in Japanese-ruled Korea. My students, some of whom are not born in this country, might be able to identify with the main characters of When My Name was Keoko and Lost Names because my students can understand the theme of a youth’s search for personal, ethnic, and national identity.
Mike Chinoy and Louisa Lim’s lectures were especially memorable and well-organized. Their presentation was committed to Chinese student protests. The lecture opened up with a viewing of a documentary about the Tian An Men incident. The film reminded me of the eruption of pro-democratic tension in China during that time; much of this information I had forgotten or was unaware of when I was in high school at the time. The video gave me a glimpse of what actually took place in spite of what media was publicizing. Chinoy and his colleagues uncover government responses and student responses to the incident; this information was not shared with the world when China asked the journalists to dismantle their satellites and to leave the country!
Using the Tian An Men incident, my upper elementary students can learn that government has a lot of authority to suppress events and uprisings. However, media has more power because it can shape a viewer’s opinions, such as occurred when western journalists began to sympathize with the student protestors in Tian An Men and Cheng Du, some of whom were being fed by the journalists during their hunger strike! Students can develop the skills of testing reliability and validity of sources. These critical thinking skills transfer to writing skills needed for argumentative and evidence-based writing found in standardized testing.
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Anonymous[font=Cambria]As a lover of learning, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience in this seminar. I found this institute and this opportunity to be mentally stimulating, and I really appreciated that it gave me new knowledge to consider and digest. I teach all high school graded levels, however, I am a world history teacher at heart. One of my greatest objectives as a teacher is to foster global awareness for my students and I can’t think of a better way to achieve this than to teach them to bring Asia into their stream of consciousness. One of my favorite units to teach is the Cold War, and prior to this class, the main focus of study in this unit were the proxy wars in South America and Central America. Asia was a prominent theater of tension, but I never took the opportunity to focus in this area of the world because I didn’t feel confident in my knowledge of this region. Having come out of this unit, I am very excited to add new dimensions to my unit. For instance, in focusing in Latin America, we analyze communist stronghold mostly as guerrillas, or underdog forces who combat the powerful military juntas. I am very excited to offer a new dimension to this unit in creating a learning segment around China- a very prominent communist force in Asia. Additionally, I was very intrigued by Louisa Lim’s work on the mother’s of students who were killed. In my unit, we briefly touch upon las madres de la Plaza de Mayo, and I am very excited to show them that this kind of activism is a universal phenomenon. Overall, I look forward to incorporating more of East Asia into my classroom because it is important to prepare my students for a future in which East Asia will rise more in prominence. I am also a fan of creating opportunities for students to expand their concept of what “normal” looks like. East Asia offers a decisively different way of thinking and doing things, and by all means and considerably different version of “normal”. I look forward to expanding my student’s base of knowledge by introducing them to completely different culture. [/font]
edited by nramon on 1/21/2016
edited by nramon on 1/21/2016
AnonymousThis was my first class with the East Asia Institute, and I enjoyed having the opportunity to learn about many countries that I previously knew very little about. I teach United States History, so I took this class mostly out of curiosity, and I definitely have been satisfied with the amount of new information that I learned. Additionally, I am walking away very inspired to connect my content area to many of the events that we studied in this course. I think it is important for my students to be able to understand that the history of the United States, while unique, is also connected in many way to the history and present experiences of many other countries. I am excited to use some of the content from this course to help my students make those connections.
One lesson that I am excited to teach next year is a comparison between Tiananmen Square and the Boston Massacre. In teaching the Boston Massacre for the past two years, I feel like my students have lacked some perspective about the way that the incident was not as bloody or violent as it could have been. I am confident that introducing my students to Tiananmen prior to teaching them about the Boston Massacre will give them more context to question the reasons that the colonists became so upset by the incident. I think it will also help them build appreciation for the fact that the Revolution that took place in America was able to succeed in creating a democracy.
Another way I am excited to use this content is in teaching my students about women's rights. For session 8 about Japan, I was really interested in the images that showed attitudes towards women modernizing/westernizing. I am planning to use these images to introduce my students to the different ways that people in America responded to the women's suffrage movement. I plan to use these images to build an awareness in my students that much of the opposition to women's suffrage stemmed from fears about women not being able to fulfill their role in the household is they became involved in politics.
edited by tdarkjian on 1/21/2016
AnonymousGiven that half of my students are of Chinese and other Asian descent, this class has been extremely enlightening in helping me understand the sociocultural and historic background of my students. It has also helped me brainstorm and design lessons that I can use in my United States history course. There are a couple of areas especially that I have already started working on with my students:
1. Current Events: I have started to use more current events with my students, especially with a focus on Chinese current events not just to make U.S. history more relevant, but also as a chance to help them feel more connected with the history we study. For example, I am using various current event sources with my students, such as Scholastic's Upfront Magazine (NYTimes) to teach about China and it's current events. Attached you will find an article, "10 Things You Need to Know About China," that I have used with my students as well as worksheets & quizzes. Check it out!
2. Tienanmen Square: I was especially inspired and enlightened by the Saturday lecture on Tienanmen Square massacre. I have developed a lesson that I posted in the lesson folder that I plan to use with my students.
3. Koreas: While the majority of Asian students are of Asian descent, I also feel important to teach about Korea. I was especially inspired by several of the lectures and videos we watched on Korean history. I plan to use these with my students.
I am excited about the new knowledge I have acquired as result of taking this class and that I better understand the history and culture of the students that I teach.
AnonymousThis is my second seminar with the East Asia Institute. It has been a pleasant journey with professor Dube, and his guest speakers. Learning about East Asia continues to be an enriching experience that I have brought back to my classroom and to other classrooms when I am substituting on my conference period. I felt very proud of some sixth graders who knew a lot current events about East Asia, such as pollution and population. They were also impressed on how much I knew on the subject and asked me why did I know so much about East Asia. I told them that I was taking a history class at USC about East Asia. There have been so many rewarding events during the seminar that it’s hard to say which was my favorite.
I will have to say that my favorite seminar was when we had the lecturer Mike Chinoy a reporter from CNN who covered Tiananmen Square events during the protests. I remember being in high school (Ninth grade) during this time, but the event was never discussed in any of my classes. I knew about the events from watching the news with my father, but I did not think much about it. I appreciated learning about the events now as an adult because it’s never too late to learn new things. Listening to Mr. Chinoy’s accounts of the events that led to the massacre was impacting. Also, it has given a perspective to compare how media coverage has changed from then to now. How would have the events been different if social media was around then? Hopefully this type of even will never ever occur again in any part of the world.
I learned so much from the seminars. I have enjoyed each seminar because each time there was a new and interesting topic to discuss and learn. I can now say that I have learned more history about East Asia in the last two semesters than I ever did in high school and in college. I can share my new knowledge with my students. I also must mention the trip to The Huntington Library was an excellent experience. I had never been there before and I have been living in Los Angeles for a very long time. The Chinese and Japanese gardens are amazing. Loved the gardens. I will for sure visit again this summer with family to share with them my new love for these gardens. Thank you for an amazing experience with the professors, guest speakers, Catherine and classmates.
edited by ebonilla on 1/21/2016
AnonymousThank you for sharing those excellent resources Jose. They are great tools to have students to start thinking about China in the classroom.
AnonymousIt was very refreshing to be back in a classroom once again as a student! It was great to take notes and read assigned readings. I have definitely missed it. Before I took this class, as an AP US History teacher, I knew that there are many entry points for East Asia in my curriculum. However, since my knowledge of East Asia was so limited before this class, as I had very little background knowledge, bringing in topics about East Asia was very intimidating. Planning a lesson takes a lot of work, especially if the educator does not know what she or he is talking about.
After taking this class, although much more research is still needed, the entry points for topics about East Asia are clear! When Commodore Perry went to Japan, all I would say is that Japan became open. Now I can make that a prelude to the militarization of Japan and their eventual attack on Pearl Harbor. The Open Door policy that the US advocated for during the imperial drive of the United States received very little instruction by me in past years. Now, I can tie that into other geopolitical events at the time in order to build better background knowledge for the students.
The unit that I am looking forward to the most in teaching, however, is the WW2 unit, specifically the attack on Pearl Harbor. Thanks to Professor Yamashita, I feel comfortable in teaching Pearl Harbor from the perspective of the Japanese as well as the Americans. I am also an Ethnic Studies teacher, so I tend to not only tell the American narrative. I am sure the students will appreciate the lessons I have to give, thanks to this class!