Self-introductions

[cgao]

Please briefly introduce yourself here! Here are just a few questions just to help get you started. What and where do you teach? What is your favorite East Asian cuisine or dish? Do you think using food is a good way to connect with your students? What do you hope to takeaway from this course?

[Jennifer Jung-Kim]

Hi, Everyone,

I'm Jennifer Jung-Kim, and I will be your workshop facilitator through this 5-week course. I teach a course on East Asian foodways at UCLA (as well as other courses on Korea and East Asia). I love eating food (especially seafood and vegetables) and talking about food. I look forward to meeting all of you on September 1. 

[Jennifer Smith]

Hello,

My name is Jennifer Smith. I teach 7th and 8th grade language arts for Illinois Virtual School. I also teach a science methods course for elementary education majors at Illinois State University. I don't have a specific favorite East Asian cuisine, but am hoping to learn more about the topic. Prior to this year I spent 14 years teaching 8th grade science where I learned that food provides a multitude of entry points into education and students love to talk/learn about food. I hope to learn more about East Asian cuisine and to find ways to incorporate it into my curriculum. I also hope to be able to network with other teachers and share teaching ideas with them.

I look forward to working with and learning from everyone!

Jennifer Smith

[Rebecca Blankenship]

Hi. My name is Becky Blankenship. I teach 7th grade Social Studies on Vashon Island, WA. The course covers the world from 600-1450. I love all food. I am headed to South Korea summer 2022 on a Fulbright. I was supposed go this summer but Covid. Since I couldn't travel yet I have been exploring Korean foods as I love to cook. My favorite dishes that I can make are tteobokki, bibimbap and hotteok. I think just like written records foods and recipes tell a story. I want to find a way to use food as a lease for my students to understand the world especially during 600-1450.

[Jennifer Smith]

Hi Becky,

It is nice to meet you. I like the way that you mentioned recipes as telling a story. I hadn't though of recipes in that context before. 

Regards,

Jennifer

[Ellen Davis]

Hello Everyone! My name is Ellen Davis, I am originally from the Buffalo, NY area and lived for many years in Boston, MA. I am a 7th grade Civics teacher  in Broward County, FL and school coordinator for National History Day. I love to learn and travel and have adventures, and I LOVE food! I have been priveleged to travel to (and eat in) Japan and the Philippines. My children and I have also trained in Tae Kwon Do, and tried to incorporate Korean food into our lives as much as possible because of our training. It would be difficult to choose a favorite cuisine as my family and I truly enjoy cooking and eating so many different Asian cuisines. I hope to learn more about food history, and be able to give my students an entry point for independent research for NHD projects.

[Angela Lee]

Hi everyone!  My name is Angela Lee, and I teach 9th and 10th grade world history in a small suburban school district outside of Boston.  My mother worked in the Chinese restaurant business when I was growing up, so I have always been surrounded by good food. Since we were from Taiwan, the Japanese culture had a huge influence on us, including what we would eat at home. I discovered bimbibap when I studied for my junior year abroad in China, and since then I will admit that I love any kind of Korean food, and through the pandemic have learned to cook more Korean cuisine at home. My family and I have traveled through China and to Japan and South Korea, and we follow our stomachs! 

I love showing students how cultures and histories are connected through food, and how they mix and mingle to create new cultures.  It's my favorite way to trace the changes in world history, so I bring in food history whenever I can! 

[Amy Stamm]

Hi everyone, I am a special education teacher in institutional settings, which means working with incarcerated students, in Western Massachusetts. I love food so much and am so glad to be in the company of other lovers of eating, which is sometimes hard to come by in the U.S. with its crazy dieting culture. I love noodles of every kind. It's hard to say what my favorite foods are, but I also love tteokbokki and bibimbap, as well as ramen, sushi, curry, etc. I was part of a teachers' tour of Korea in 2019 (very lucky timing) and ate an array of wondrous food on that trip, from street food to green tea ice cream. I brought back Korean candies and snacks to share with my students, and they loved the unusual-to-them flavors. Food connects so deeply with our memories, families, sense of place, and histories, and food evokes such a sense of fun, connection, comfort, cross-cultural understanding, etc. that I think it's a great topic and way of accessing questions of history, power, and memory with students.

[Gabriel Valdez]

Hi, everyone. My name is Gabriel Valdez and I'm a K-12 Social Studies Instructional Coach in the 4th largest district in Texas. The law that you've probably heard about goes into effect today and well, I'm always fair game to talk about most things. I have had the opportunity to have shared some meals at a few Michelin starred meals with Mr. Dube and Mrs. Gao in China and Taiwan (and yes the food was glorious) and was so excited about the direction of this class. I've also had the opportunity to travel most of Southwestern Asia and lived in Korea. I guess some (like Angela Lee) would say that I'm a foodie, and I'm the administrator of the Social Studies Network on Facebook (12,000 + educators strong) and on Twitter/Instagram as @socialstudiestx

[Gabriel Valdez]

I heart Korean food and would take a class specifying about seafood in Korea

[Gabriel Valdez]

We went on Spring Break last year and never went back to regular school, but I found this website and several kids participated in some of the challenges with me and we posted on social media. https://www.wa-shokuiku.org/

[Gabriel Valdez]

Still waiting to travel with you!!! 

[Angela Lee]

Yes! We've got to get something together some day soon!

[Angela Lee]

It's not even a question if you are a foodie or not!

[Angela Lee]

It's not even a question if you are a foodie or not!

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