pre-2011 web resources

[clay dube]

Some of you may have access to Link TV from Direct TV, Dish Network, or your cable provider. They offer an interesting array of documentaries. One that I recorded was "Mardi Gras: Made in China." It traces where the beads that are so central to Mardi Gras parades are produced. Link TV's website offers a growing variety of educator-friendly resources. One of these is GlobalPulse, which consists of 5 minute segments of international broadcasts on particular topics. One that is currently featured focuses on the tainted milk scandal in China. Stories from the BBC, Al Jazeera, ABC, CCTV, South African TV and other sources are included.

Take a look: http://www.linktv.org/video/3050

[Anonymous]

The following website I am reviewing is an excellent start for those of you are looking for foundational information on the most important world travelers of the 13th, 14th, & 15th centuries. The website, which is sponsored by Saudi Aramco World, provides educational articles for viewing on important historical topics that affected the region of the Middle East. In this article, several main world travelers are highlighted in essays that describe their journeys and personal lives in the world of traveling/exploring. The main characters that are discussed are Zheng He, Ibn Battuta, and Marco Polo. I truly feel that this website will be a great guide for those looking to gain knowledge on anyone of these historical figures.

http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200504/
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200504/

Manuel 😀

[Anonymous]

Along with the prior posting of world travelers, Saudi Aramco World provides an excellent interactive resource that deals with the Silk Road, titled "Traveling the Silk Road." The website provides an excellent map that lends to understanding the extent of this unique trade route. The article is made up of a variety of essays that focus on the various "types" of Silk Roads that existed during the height of its use. Basically the members of this magazine set out on their own caravan to experience the Silk Road for themselves. Their essays reflect their experiences, and an integration of history on the area of the Silk Road they encountered. For example, the website will provide topics on the following: 1) The Royal Road; 2) The Steppe Route; 3) The Golden Road; 4) The Road North; 5) The Imperial Highway; 6) The Silk Road:A History; 7) Main Street of Eurasia; 8) The Queen and the Silkworm. Overall, this site provides the viewer with some good contemporary and historical information of this great trade route.

http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198804/default.htm

Manuel 😀

[Anonymous]

After visiting the Japanese Art Gallery at LACMA, I went online and found an incredibly rich resource. Not only does this site, http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=browpage;dept=japan, show pieces currently on exhibit, but it also shows pieces not on display that are related to common themes. Each piece shown has a text describing it, giving the period, the artist, and a brief explanation of the subject matter.

I found the section on Japanese folktales and legends especially interesting for my purposes. I only wish that those pieces had been on display when I went there.

The section on Urban Life in the Edo Period shows pieces related to daily life, grooming, animals, foreigners, entertainment, grooming, toys, and occupations. It shows the paintings and sculpture that depict ideas under each topic. A teacher could use these art pieces to describe the life of Japanese people during the edo period, giving a veery full picture of what it was like.

I highly recommend using this site for teaching about Japan.

Susan Dubin[Edit by="sdubin on Dec 22, 11:17:31 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Award-winning Japanese writer/producer Yumiko Aoyagi, who was the Executive Producer for the groundbreaking Internet series, Lonely Girl 15, is ready to take Web entertainment to the next generation with The Scary City, a mystery cyber-series she describes as “The Blair Witch Project meets Lost.”
The million dollar plus website, http://www.thescarycity.com/, hooks up a multinational group of actors who report on what they are doing and thinking in a series of online videos. Horror and mystery abound as the main participants at this time are from Los Angeles and Tokyo. Plans call for other participants from France, Israel, Thailand, and other parts of the world.
For more background on the site visit: http://mickieszoo.blogspot.com/2008/08/yumiko-aoyagi-to-bring-scary-city-to.html
The performances were professional but teachers need to check out the site before allowing students to go there for it may not be appropriate for high school age students. Above all else, it is a living testament to what type of entertainment is being created between Tokyo and Los Angeles.

[Anonymous]

In response to a question I posed regarding sources for Ukiyo-e wood block carvings, Mr. Dube(12/20/08, 6:08P.M.) suggested three possible sources(see Asia In My Classroom, UTLA Fall 2008 East Asia Seminar, Mr. Pitelka's "The Rise of Modern Japan", Nov. 25). My question had to do with locating wood block art that depicted Japanese folk tales with the possiblity of overlapping these into/onto literature(American or otherwise).

The first of these was Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller. After looking into the Asian Art books that he has for sale, two books hold promise. One Is Impressions of Ukiyo-e by Amsden and W. von Seidlitz, and another is Art of Japanese Masters by Sandra Forty.

A second source mentioned by Mr. Dube was the Ukiyoe-gallery. This, he mentioned, is a commercial enterprise that markets and buys wood block art. There are thumbnail versions of what is currently being marketed as well as a library of articles on various wood block artists past and present. There are also a variety of articles available on the various skills associated with the art medium and its collection.

Lastly, the Library of Congress link(Floating World) was the most useful and interesting. Not only did it have the folk heros, it also had a brief description of each hero and how he/she fit into history, literature, or mythology.

Many of the wood block scenes were either landscapes or erotic, and therefore might not work well for the applications that I had in mind. The errotic scenes might attract a great deal of interest(teenagers), but I doubt that they would pass for acceptable course material. Of the threee sources, the Library of Congress site would seem to be the best source of wood block art, but this would depend on one's level and type of interest.

Respectfully submitted,
Walt Banta[Edit by="wbanta on Dec 21, 10:38:54 AM"][/Edit]

[clay dube]

Dear Walt Banta,

Thanks for these great reviews - please add the links to make it a bit more convenient for others to visit the sites you've discussed (use the link button in the editor to insert these, first use control + C to copy them and then control + V to paste them in). Most teachers in the Asia in My Classroom forum don't have access to those posts in the seminar forum.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

http://mcel.pacificu.edu/as/students/genji/homepage.html

The website I chose to evaluate provides information about “The Tale of Genji” for middle school students. The location of this site was provided by the state of California’s “Scorek12” website that provides teachers with resources and information. This site contains information about the story, its characters, the culture of the Japanese Aristocracy at the time, and the author.

This site provides a lot of information that is broken down into smaller chunks that are at an appropriate reading level for middle school ESL students. The summary of 10 of the main characters and the sections on the Japanese Court and the author provides students with additional information that is not available in their textbooks or on other sites at an appropriate reading level. The one downside to this site is that there are very few graphics. There are some black and white sketches of some of the main characters, but there are none of the colorful paintings or drawings that were prevalent at the time. These types of things are extremely helpful for second language learners’ retention of new ideas in English.

I could use this site, along with other sources to provide better visuals, to help students analyze the story and gain some insight into Court life during the Heian Period. Students would be assessed by creating a story board for 4-6 major events in the story. They would be required to provide a visual representation and a structured paragraph for each event.

[Anonymous]

To fulfill the website review requirement for Asia in My Classroom, I visited the website referenced in the subject line: http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/

The sponsor/author of the website was Patricia Ebrey, who authored or coauthored two of our text books. One might expect such a website to be as well organized and informative as one of her books, and one would not be disappointed.

Thre are ten different facets of Chinese history that one can click on, which brings up a brief verbal introduction, a series of images, and a series of questions to guide one's research. Each of these pages also has a button that links one to "suggested readings" on the topics. With another button, one can connect to "teaching
guides" that cover each facet of the pictoral history. Lastly, there is a button to see a "timeline" of Chinese history with all of the major eras referenced.

This looks like an excellent resource to support a written textbook on Chinese history, and it could be developed for other uses also.

Respectfully submitted,
Walt Banta

[Anonymous]

Clay,
I have tried to do as you have requested; however, when it comes to computers, I am a real "bumblefingers." I cannot find the right combination of buttons/clicks to carry out this task - I'm sure it is easy as pie. Nuts, bolts, nails, garden tools - I understand; computers, buttons, clicks, drop-downs - these are a real challenge. Computers are too much like "smoke and mirrors."

As a form of "sloppy seconds," let me manually type in the references you gave me:
Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller
Ukiyo-e Gallery http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/
Library of Congress site http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/
:}
I apologize for my ignorance.

Walt Banta[Edit by="wbanta on Dec 24, 1:43:11 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

After several hours of searching for a website to review, I finally found http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/general-teach.html . This site is an annotated directory of internet resources for teaching about Asia, and it is formatted in a very user friendly manner. I'm still scratching the surface of the resources available to me as a teacher, and this site is like one-stop shopping. Not only does it have historical links, but it also has cultural and political links. The best part is that it is designed for educators who are teaching about Asia. I plan on using this site when I incorporate Asian literature into my curriculum so I will be able to give my students some historical as well as current background before we read the literature. I won't have to randomly do Google searches since it is all on this one site.

[Anonymous]

Here is a great resource for both teacher and direct student use:

http://www.askasia.org/

AskAsia.org was created by the Asia Society, an international educational foundation created half a century ago. It covers all of Asia, from early civilization to current issues.

This website has great resources for teachers, including FREE lesson plans, maps, images, documents, and other ideas. I perused some of the resources and they are great. It also has a feature that allows you to narrow your search by region and time period so that you are not spending hours searching for what you need. Further, the map feature is partnered with National Geographic and offers interactive features.

The student page is very student-friendly, of course, and offers a nice gateway to studying global issues. It includes fun features like translators so that you can see and hear "hi" in Mandarin, for example.

I plan to use this webite both for my own benefit in planning lessons, but also as a suggestion for students to use as well. They could easily use it for research projects, webquests, position papers, etc.

Stephanie Howe

[Anonymous]

web-site review
M. Herrera

http://www.ndl.go.jp/zoshin/e/index_e.html

Curious aspect about this website is that I was very fascinated with the MIT visual library website that was presented by Prof. Pitelka and therefore I wanted to research more about the black ships, the rise anf fall of the samarai and in particular Katsu Kaishu. Well I found some incredible sites on maritial arts and the history of the samarai, but what I did find with browsing was this site because it had a site on The Japanes Ex-Libris Stamps, which many prominent cosmopolitans used to claim their material and literature. Well, this site is actually the National Diet Library with has an incredible Electronic Exhibition of the Memories of Japan.
The National Diet Library is a huge array of resources that include:
-Tokyo Main Library
-Kansai-kan of the NDL
-international Library of Children's Literature
-Photoduplication service

It also includes links of all Japanese on-line services and a digital Library from the Meiji Era. The on-line Gallery is spectatular. It includes rare books, The Meiji and Taisho eras in photographs, Modern Japan in archives, a 100 year history from the opening of the country to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Fauna and Floral in Illustrations-The Natural History of the Edo era, Incunabula, the Dawn of western printing, portraits of modern Japanese historical figures, birth of the Japanese constitution, the Japanese calender, and Nippon of the world.
It is the one stop resource for Japan- pretty incredible.

Enjoy it!!!!
M. Herrera website review

[Anonymous]

Hi!

After finding an article about the attempted Mongol invasion of Japan in Archaeology Magazine , I decided to do a little more investigation to see what else is there.

China? 222 hits
Japan? 50 hits
Korea? 21 hits

There is ALL KINDS of interesting information here--material from 1996 to the present is online for free.

This would be something great to send students to when they're trying to pick a topic to do some more research on.

--Becca

[Anonymous]

Thank you for this website. I've forwarded it to my fellow 7th grade teachers at Fleming middle school. We will be introducing Japan and the Heian period in about a month and it is hard to find simple descriptions of Genji for the middle school student. I was able to get the animated movie but it's definitely R rated. Another web site provided by a colleague from the study tour last summer, Anna Sarnoff, has a great photo tour of Japan with a description of Genji. http://www.taleofgenji.org/

Thanks again,

Betse Amador Fall 07 participant

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