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Molly Cowan-Johnson.
AnonymousTuesday night we watched "The Way Home." I focused on the cultural aspect of the film. It shows the utmost tolerance on the grandmother's part. She wanted to turn the grandchild around with kindness and generosity. Great contrast of a city boy that is utterly spoiled and is forced to witness the hardships of a village life. Nicely done![Edit by="amohammed on Aug 2, 6:07:01 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousA great study of the Samurai which could be used in your classroom to learn about the 11th century and on. This book has wonderful full colored photos, black and white photos, and much more. You could use this book as your text. It was written by Stephen Turnbull who has his PhD from Leeds University in Japanese religious history. SAMURAI The World of the Warrior, is a great read.
AnonymousASIAN LAUGHTER - An Anthology of Oriental Satire and Humor edited by Leonard Feinberg (1971). Well the title says it all! The catagories are as follows:
On Chinese Humor - Jokes, Anecdotes, Poetry, Drama, Novels, Essays, Proverbs.
On Japanese Humor - Jokes, Poetry, Drama, Stories and Sketches, Novels, Proverbs.
On Indian Humor - Folktales and Fables, Anecdotes, Poetry, Stories and Sketches, Novels,
Proverbs.
On Ceylonese Humor - Folktales, Anecdotes, Sketches, Proverbs.
This is a nice cross-section of material that the teacher could use to compare different genres or different cultures. It's uses are endless for the History or L/A teacher. Hey Chinese and Japanese Jokes oh yes! ??? sometimes it makes us think of the culture ........
One Chinese- The Manly Way,
"You come out this minute!" the wife commanded.
"A man's a man." he answered. "When he says he won't come out, there's nothing you can do about it. He won't come out."
or not.
AnonymousThe Bowers not only has nice informative exhibits, but is also a great place for books to help support the curriculum you teach. I picked up a wonderful book on the Silk Road titled "Silk Road, Monks, Warriors, and Merchants." I also picked up great books on the Incas, Maya, Aztecs, and "The Wisdom of the Buddha." All four of these books are from the same series called Discoveries. They have lots of great pictures and the information is presented in a very simple informative way.
AnonymousLanguage Arts teachers- this is a must see film. "Mummy 3" is a perfect movie to teach the concept of historical fiction. Jet Li plays a powerful, Emperor Ch'in Shihuangdi, who becomes the Dragon King. Great Chinese icons and symbols are perfect to teach setting. It is full of action and drama, at times it was a tear jerker, put the humor remained throughout. "Mummy 3" has powerful scenes of the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta Warriors.
I am going to use this movie in my class to reinforce the idea of historical fiction.
AnonymousA very good novel to read and use, perhaps in a high school world history class, is "Native Speaker" by Chang Rae Lee.
Excerpts of the novel can be used to Koreans in history to Korean Americans today. The story follows the life of a young Korean American man and focuses on his relationship with his caucasian girlfriend, her parents, and his strict Korean father. The book is very very good at engaging the reader, especially because the story is from the first person point of view.
The book covers many asian american issues that include: the tendency for Korean immigrants to move to the United States and experience downward mobility in their occupation; how the Korean community helps its members, especially those who represent them; racial tensions between blacks and Koreans; and the Korean-American identity issue of not being Korean enough, and not being "white" enough. One of the best exceprts one should use lies in the central characters inner thoughts about his father's inabilty to continue practicing medicine in America and his subsequent feelings about being forced to work in a working class occupation. A very good read.
AnonymousTwo outstanding films that can be used during a unit on World War 2 would be Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima". Both of them are excellent and should be watched as a pair. Nevertheless, "Letters from Iwo Jima" stands out because the film is from the Japanese point of view - and the film does an amazing job of painting characters that real, diverse, and very close to home.
The central character of "Letters" is Saigo (which in Japanese means "last"), a baker from a small town who is forced by the government to fight for the Japanese army. From the beginning we see aspects of his personality that illustrate how much of a "regular" guy he is - from his banter with his partners, to his grumblings as he takes out the feces of his platoon. The film has several flashbacks that show us the former lives of some of the soldiers, and how not all Japanese soldiers were committed to fighting the war.
Secondly, you can use this film to tie in a geography lesson on how the geography of the islands played into the battle of Iwo Jima.
A very good movie that is tragic and very sad. The negative thing would be the language - the film is all in Japanese, so unless you have a large screen for a projector, some students might not be able to follow the words.
AnonymousExplaining Chinaby Steve Allen - yep the comedian. This is mainly based on three trips that he took to China. Two trips in 1975 and the last at least for this book in 1979. He takes you on a history trip as he travels from location to location. On July 30th, 1979 Mr. Allen tells you about his lunch at the embassy with George & Barbara Bush and Steves son Bill. Lots of facts, commentary and vacationing talk. Not always the politically correct but a good read.
AnonymousA Day in the Life of China is a photographic book with only small captions. Beautiful done by various photographers. It was published by Collins Publishers in 1989. One or two of the photos are not appropriate for your students (boob shot) but the rest of this 220 page photo opt is. This is great way to bridge the gap of a far away location for your students (if the Olympics have not done it). Hey this may be where our USC
China Institute got their idea from. Awe - USC has more words! I almost forgot that each picture has a simple outlined map showing the approximate site where the photo was taken. [Edit by="mstark on Aug 16, 8:50:21 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="mstark on Aug 16, 9:23:59 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousHighlights of Beijing This is a none-book-book. Kind of reminds me of a book of large post cards, but it is not. It was distributed by "China National Publications Import & Export Corporation" in 1988. Kind of interesting - This is definitely a tourists book written in both Chinese and English. Lots of photos for your students with captioned information. A small delight for the visual learners (like me).
AnonymousTales of Old Japan compiled by and commentary by A. B. Mitford. This is very similiar to the Anthology of Japanese Literatureprovided to us except much better. Mitford provides us not only with 29 short readings, but also of the history or information behind the readings and extensive footnotes. To top this off we are provided "with '31' illustrations drawn and cut on wood by Japanese artists." Hey Clay, keep the new but bring in the old.
AnonymousPark, Linda Sue The Kite Fighters, Clarion Books:New York
2000
I have searched for a good piece of juvenile fiction for medieval Korea for awhile and this is the best I've found. The setting is Seoul in 1473. The main characters are the brothers Lee, Young-sup and Kee-sup with major support from Rice Merchant Lee, their father, the boy- King, and the old kite maker.
Kee-sup is the older of the two brothers, is responsible for maintaining the family name and honor, and is being groomed to take the royal examinations for employment in the palace. Young-sup is a typical second son and jealous of the priveleges to which his brother is entitled. Though Kee-sup is not one to demand the tradional respect from his brother, Rice Merchant Lee is constantly reminding Young-sup to behave in a correct manner. Young-sup will inherit his father's business as is his due as second son.
Both boys are kite flyers, though each has his own unique talent; Kee-sup can build kites and Young-sup can fly them. One day the king comes to the hill where the boys are flying their kites. He commands that Kee-sup will make him a special kite. While Kee-sup is studying, Young-sup is out flying. He encounters the boy-King again and the king insists, in fact orders, Young-sup to treat him like any other boy as he teaches him how to fly a fighting kite.
When the kite is delivered, the king is so pleased that he decides he must be involved in the kite fighting contest that caps the New Years holiday. He decides that Young-sup should fly his kite in the contest, but Rice Merchant Lee insists that the honor should go to the eldest son. How the issue is resolved, and the development of a secret weapon for winning the contest enliven the story.
Ms. Park packs a tremendous amount of historical and ethnographic material into this short book. Tok-gabi , invisible imps, affect the way kites fly; the duties to the ancestors in which Kee-sup must participate once he reaches ten years of age; the capping ceremony that turns Kee-sup from boy to man and eligible for marriage; the history of the real boy-King, King Songjong; the Confucian ethic; and the details of making and fighting kites all add zest to the narrative.
I wouldn't mind having a class set of these in paperback, but for the moment I will have to be content to have it in the library and on the class reading list. Maybe I'll get a chance to read parts of it aloud.
The attachment shows the books cover.
AnonymousJust a follow up not on Peter Hessler's book Oracle Bones: A Journey Through Time in China.. He illuminates many of the issues of concern in China i.e. urban vs. rural and the origins of the controversial Fulan Gong. I would welcome a discussion with anyone about this book.[Edit by="eamador on Aug 31, 10:23:29 PM"][/Edit]
AnonymousKure, Mitsuo Samurai: Arms, Armor, Costume. Edison, New Jersey:Chartwell Books, Inc.
2007
Dr. Kure has assembled an amazing number of Japanese costumes relating to the samurai period. Using actual historic apparel and weapons and some very precise reconstructions, he presents a photographic series that is unique and covers dress from Heian Period to the Edo Period. The detail is incredible and, as Dr. Kure mentions in his introduction, he has also tried to make the undergarments as authentic as possible. A couple of the photos show the skull cap wigs that had to be used for an authentic samurai hairdo, but for the most part, the wigs are not noticeable. One of the pluses for the book is that it includes costumes for women as well. Each costume includes a brief description and a line drawing indicating, in Japanese, the name of each part of the ensemble.
I like it because the book is coffee-table size and the images are quite large. They are great for PowerPoint presentations and for wall posters.
The book is available on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785822089/ref=s9sdps_c2_14_img1-rfc_g1-frt_g1-3215_g1-3102_p?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=18WTPF0R20DTRP69RYZJ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=436516001&pf_rd_i=507846. A couple of the reviews on the above link are quite critical and are worth reading. They were not relevant to my purposes, but I found them quite interesting.
AnonymousI've been reading Soul Mountain by Xingjian, as far as I know he is the only Literature Nobel prize winning Chinese writer. Soul Mountain is a long novel and sometimes confusing as he switches between first, second person narration. Text The novel seems to be formatted in vignettes of varying length, often disconnected except in that they are points on the journey to Soul Mountain. I like the emphasis on shamanism and Taoism, there are erotic parts that seem to break the Confusician prud that seem so much a part of Chinese fiction.
I will keep trying and report more later.[Edit by="kspachuk on Jun 17, 10:16:30 PM"][/Edit]