pre-2011 web resources

[clay dube]

There are some great photo collections introduced in this thread. Here is one of the best. A number of scholars at different institutions have combined to make available many interesting photos of early 20th century images of China. They welcome teachers and others to use them for educational and other non-commercial purposes.

The link is: http://chp.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/index.php

The collection, at present, includes images taken by Fu Bingchang, an avid photographer and civil servant who served as the Nationalist's government's ambassador to Moscow 1943-49. A second set of images features the work of G. Warren Swire, a businessman who traveled frequently and extensively in China. The third set includes images from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and were produced by the Chinese Maritime Service. And the fourth set comes from the Shanghai Municipal Police. It includes photos of officers, their training, and "life on the streets."

[Anonymous]

A new lesson plan on Tibet and China is available on the Indiana University East Asian Studies Center (EASC) web site at http://www.iu.edu/~easc/outreach/educators/lessonplan.shtml.

Developed by a curriculum specialist and a China specialist, this lesson plan provides a case study of the conflict between Tibet and China. All readings, resources, and activities are included.

[Anonymous]

Integrated China Thematic Unit

This is a website I find with many integrated thematic lesson plans for China[Edit by="hgoehring on Feb 28, 2:19:59 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Cheng & Tsui presents an online seminar for teachers:

Date: Thursday, April 2, 2009
Time: 4:00 to 5:00 pm (EDT)
Internet and phone connection required

Join curriculum specialists from Primary Source, Inc. to discuss ways of teaching modern Chinese history in the high school and college classroom, from the Qing Dynasty to the 2008 Olympics.

Various activities, timelines and primary source materials from the new textbook, "China in the World: A History Since 1644" (published by Cheng & Tsui), will be used as examples of resources that make history exciting and relevant for students.

Register by clicking on the link below:

http://www.cheng-tsui.com/webforms/sign_china_world?utm_source=citw&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=online_seminar

[Anonymous]

I would highly recommend the exhibit on the Miori peoples of southern China -
most of whom are now known as Hmong.
This exhibit showcases the handmade (even waterproofed) clothing for various ceremonies.
It is quite stunning!

go to Bowers.org for a listing of their times and schedules

[Anonymous]

Kids love it when you use YouTube in the classroom.

or perhaps you may want a quick refresher?

Jeffrey Lewis Low Budget Video History

[Anonymous]

At the risk of sounding too low brow I'm gonna recommend mrdowling.com It's made for kids and is full of simple information on history and social studies for different areas and time periods. You can go to the sight and click on China, or Japan and it will take you to more links for Southeast Asia or time periods for different Asian civilizations. The information is simple and easy to use. I have used this sight for a few years to have students do easy little web searches for information and extra credit worksheets that I have put together from the links and sections of the websight.

GG

[Anonymous]

The Library of Congress offers two valuable resources for international studies:

The Country Studies section consists of encyclopedic entries on many topics. These should not be read as a resource on current events, many haven’t been updated since the 1980s or ‘90s. However, because they are based on academic publications, they are good alternatives to Wikipedia.

The Portals to the World section offers a collection of informative links about many countries.

[Anonymous]

I have a great website for anyone who wants to build a website. It is called http://www.Weebly.com and it is a free web host without all of the banner ads that are inappropriate for a school setting. If you have an Asian club at your High School they could build a site, or you could build one with your world history class.

[Anonymous]

I found a great site for classical Japanese poetry it is called the Japanese Text Initiative. It is sponsored by the University of Virginia Library and University of Pittsburgh East Asian Library. The following are the goals and purposes of the Initiative, ‘The Japanese Text Initiative (JTI) intends to put online on the Web texts of classical Japanese literature in Japanese characters. Our primary audience is English-speaking scholars and students.”
It is possible to search this data base by title and author in English and Japanese. It also includes an online English-Japanese dictionary. What a goldmine for educators teaching Classical Japanese poetry!

Here’s the link: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/

[Anonymous]

A website full of Japanese resources and lesson plans is the Ohio State Institute for Japanese Studies:
http://japan.osu.edu/resources_for_teachers.html#lession

I've always thought teaching about food history would be useful and memorable. There is one here in Unit 2 entitled "Cultural Differences in the Diet of Americans and Japanese Families." The lesson plan is complete (5 pages with photos) with students: discussing cultural/geographic forces, drawing Venn diagrams, and possible coloring/putting collages together. It's too bad schools here don't usually have HomeEcon classes like they do in Japan. Almost all middle and high schools in Japan have student kitchens for study/practice. Many middle schoolers also serve lunch to their classmates and then clean up.

A sidebar in our Asian history textbook recently got me thinking about food in Japan again. It stated that rice has only been the staple of common people in Japan since the late 1800s. Prior to that, they supplemented their diet with wheat, barley, and millet. This was astounding to me as the traditional view is that Japanese have been eating rice since time in memorium. And they have been, basically. Just, when did it become a staple (3 times a day or the overwhelming supplier of calories)? Professor Pitelka told me that wealthy Japanese had eaten rice in lieu of the other grains because they could afford it. The Cambridge World History of Food starts by saying that rice has been a staple for thousands of years in Japan. Whatever the case, it got me thinking about teaching food history in the classroom. Of interesting note, also from Cambridge, is that rice did become more attainable in the 20th century and became to be seen as an entitlement to most Japanese. Rice consumption peaked in the 1962 with 171 kg/person/year (wow!) and declined until the 1980s when it reached around 70kg/year, where it still is today. Instead of rice and sweet potatoes, Japanese today are eating more bread (especially for breakfast), noodles, and junky, snack food.

Here's the Cambridge World History of Food site:

http://http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/japan.htm

[Anonymous]

Google "The Great wall Zoom in @ National Geographic Magazine" It's a cool site for kids to use. Interactive oictures and click on facts. Once you go somewhere it gives you links to biggere and better websites. There is a good link to a history of China that is broken into parts that you have to check out individually so the student can to the tactile thing and not just get all the information on one page. I use scavenger hunts and web searches in my class all the time. The students love to look for information. especially when they don't percieve it as work. Website are a good way to do this. You need to have some specific things to find and do some scaffolding or preteching on how to use a specific site how ever.

GG

[Anonymous]

If you haven’t seen pictures of the Harbin Ice and Snow World (Festival) in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, you should check out this site. This festival and the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics show the world what an advanced civilization contemporary China is.

Here is the link: http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/236728.htm

[Anonymous]

Clay told me I could find an animated clip of the Amaterasu Japanese origin myth on this website constructed by Erika Bird, a student at Berkeley. It is brief (maybe 5 minutes), somewhat roughly edited, subtitled (no dialogue) and accompanied by several music tracks. Think "Schoolhouse Rock" meets Ancient World. It is an accurate, if not simplistic, portrayal of the myth, and as such could find its way into a middle school classroom. Students who often use technology in class might be inspired to create their own productions or at the very least conduct more on-line research. Students could use it as a supplement to a reading of the documentary account of the myth and teacher lecture. As opposed to showing your students episodes of the Simpsons that deal with things Asian (think of all the other choices out there), considering the nature of this content and the lack of competing visuals, using a short, animated video like this would be appropriate.

Here's the link:

http://erikabird.com/movies_2D.html

[Anonymous]

Online Chinese Tools
http://www.mandarintools.com

This site provides tools to assist people (from the novice Chinese language students to the advanced programmer) in learning and using the beautiful Chinese language. There are 4 main categories: tools for learning Chinese, tools for using Chinese, China reference tools, computer tools. It also has a link for Learning to Draw Chinese Characters, including the site: "University of Southern California, Learn Chinese Characters".
This site will help high school students and teachers to learn Chinese language and culture.

[Author]

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