Session 1 readings, 9/9 morning

[Jonathan Tam]

My undergraduate degree is in Atmospheric, Oceanic and Environmental Sciences with a focus in Applied Mathematics. I once had the pleasure attending a lecture at UCLA by a chinese physicist who explained the plan he had to create clouds in china. His goal was to fire canonballs into the sky that would shatter and create particles that clouds would form by. As students to a guest lecture, we didn't say much but I remember talking with friends after the lecture hall about how crazy that idea was. He returned a few months later to report that most of the canonballs didn't shatter and ended up destroying houses and hurting people on the way down. This must've been in 2013, but something I knew even as early as then is that the Chinese pollution problem is well out of control and even the most drastic solutions are being considered at this point. Having seen the data on this, it's near impossible to anthropologically solve these things. Nature will run its course and reach stability over the next thousands to millions of years, but at this point, the only thing that anthropoligical measure can do is really just neutralize or maintain it at its particular levels.. Carbon neutralize. Pollutant neutralize. Ozone neutralize.

[Josephine Tambunan]

I know very little about the East Asian history, and as a person who identifies as an Asian American (Southeast Asian to be specific), I am a bit embarrassed to admit how little I know about the Asian history and culture. I am excited to learn about China, Korea and Japan, and see connections and similarities between these countries, and how their history cross paths with the Indonesian history.

 

The presentation on demography and geography of the different Asian countries was enlightening. I never realized how large China and Japan are. I have always thought (and the maps I’ve seen) that Japan was relatively small compared to the United States. It may be the American egocentric thinking, but the US always seemed large in size compared to other countries. The images with the countries superimposed on the United States map gave a great comparison of size (of the geographical space) and population. I’ve always known that China has a large population, but seeing how many different countries make up the population of China gave me a different and clearer perspective.

 

As a science teacher, I knew that it would be more difficult to find ways to incorporate what we are learning in these sessions in my lessons. However, this particular lesson on geography hits one of the crosscutting concepts of the Next Generations Science Standards (NGSS). With NGSS rolling out in the next following school year, I am trying to find ways to hit the seven different crosscutting concepts in all the lessons and activities. One of the concept is scale, proportion, and quantity. Students must recognize what is relevant at different measures of size, time and energy, and recognize how changes in scale, proportion, or quantity affect a system’s structure or performance. Scale and proportion is a concept my students constantly struggle with. Providing superimposed visuals would give my students a greater understanding of this concept, and, hopefully, they would refer to it throughout their learning. I would use the China/Japan superimposed on the US map as an example to teach this particular concept.

[Erin Tanguay]

The 7th grade book that I use has the Sea of Japan not the East Sea. I have always had the students do a map of Japan when we were learning that section. I have always had them label it Sea of Japan. This year when I am teaching about China, Korea, and Japan. I am going to incorporate what I learned on Saturday. I think it will be great for the students to see a different view of the maps of the world. This could also lead to discussions regarding how different countries label landforms differently and why.  

[Tanish Fortson]

In high school as a teenager I remember learning about some of the things discussed in these articles but to read this as an adult and think about all the injustices that have taken place against women such as feet binding and arranged marriage has an entire effect on me. I really enjoyed reading these articles and I found myself talking to my husband about things that are plaguing their society and a few of the law of hierarchy and how to come out of a bad situation that you may have been born in.

 

The Demography readings were of great interest to me personally. When I think about how difficult it is to get married now days, I picture trying to get married in North or South Korea where education is rare and resources are almost non-existent.  I don’t know how I would have lived through all of that. I’m still thinking about how to incorporate these readings into my lessons because my students are only 5 and 6 years old. I am thinking about first introducing a map of the 7 continents and from there focusing on Asia. I would also consider doing different cultures that live on these continents. I could also introduce my students to the water crisis and do a mini lesson on air pollution because we do recycle as a class. 

[Luis Camacho]

The first two sessions of the seminar (Saturday) show us how the Geography and demographics of east Asia countries Japan, Korea, and China, connect with historical events and the consequences along the years. As a science teacher, it is important for me to show to my students that the relationship cause-effect is not an exclusive concept for the physics and chemistry fields, but also it applies to social events.

[Cristina Hernandez]

The morning session was a general introduction to East Asia and the reason why it is important to learn, understand and share the importance of East Asia in our very own American classrooms.  As an ELD and Spanish teacher I see the importance of understanding other cultures and even more important to understand the countries that will soon dominate our economic and cultural landscape.  The readings were interesting and the introduction was great too.  My thoughts are that of all the East Asian countries China is leading the economy of the area.

[Catalina Silvestre]

The water crisis in Dawu, China is very extreme.  As it states in the article, it seems that the people there are falling victim to cancer, which makes it an even more controversial issue. In addition, I suspect that this part of China also experiences a lack of properly irrigated crops, which can also cause food shortages in that particular region. Upon further research, I found that " 70 percent of China's rivers and lakes are currently contaminated and half of China's cities have ground water that is significantly polluted, which is a cause of concern.  

The idea of moving the rivers is clever.  However, China should consider borrowing the idea of the great Man Made River of Libya.  The system that was used to move in the direction to stop the water shortage in Libya which received great support and recognition and was deemed a successful venture.

If China plans on making this a success to assist the population of that region there ill also need to be new polices in place as the water shortage and pollution is a man made and natural water crisis.

I am interested in seeing if this will be a quick fix that doesn’t last or resolve the major issue or if this fix will be long lasting and accompanied by new regulations on water use that don’t counteract the workings of the water move.  

 

Interstingly enough, many regions go through water shortage at times.  I beleive that I will use this article to teach informational paragraph as the topic is relevant an relates to the real idea that Califonia is in and still remains in a water crisis.  thsi will provide me an opprotuinty to collaborate with the science teacher while teaching scientific concepts, writing, and real world issues.  

[Sonia Arrayales]

In reading the article "Life in North Korea: Coming of Age, I learned of what it is to come of age in communist North Korea. Before reading this article, I had an understanding of what life was like in North Korea. I learned that the legal age in North Korea is 17 (A year younger than in our country), the joining of the youth league, and their right to vote. As what I observed in the reading, as soon one comes of age, the party really comes in to control ones life. Additionally, in communism there is a classless society, but this does not appear to be so in North Korea. The party members are the elite in North Korea, which in include military official and the police. Serving in the military for four years can get you a higher education. It seems to me, that in order to get ahead in North Korea must completely devote yourself to the Party.

[Jacqueline Mercado]

Leaning about the geography and topography of China and Japan was particularly enlightening for me. I knew of the general topography of these places but not with the specificity that Professor Dube made explicit during the first session.  I appreciated how he presented this information via visuals and maps and was inspired to use more such strategies in my own teaching and lesson plans. As teachers, we always look for imaginative ways to impart knowledge to our students and today's presentation got me thinking about how I can do this in my lessons. As the course deveops, I hope to explore and think more deedly about how I can carry this out in my own teaching.  I found today's session most informative and thought provoking in regards to my own pedagogy.

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I enjoyed Prof. Dube's presentation on East Asia as I learned many facts I have not been exposed to before.  While I was aware of the pollution in China, I did not realize the extent of it.  I am first grade teacher who works at a "Green Ribbon" school.  Every April, we talk extensively about Earth Day and how we  are able to help.  My students are very environmentally concious and our school recycles religiously.   My plan is to teach a mini lesson incorporating the article Can China fix its mammoth water crisis before it's too late?  The article mentions World Water Day.  I researched this. In 2018 it is on Thursday, March 22.  I will introduce this day to my class this school year.  The lesson would include the images from the article, explaining the concept of the sponge cities and how these conserve water.  I would also research for a short video clip about the Huai River as well as mention Huo Daishan's environmental work.  Using him as an example, I would brainstorm with my class to answer the question how first graders would follow Huo Daishan's lead in their own neighborhoods?

[Gerlinde Goschi]

I enjoyed my conversation with Prof. Dube's regarding the lack of detailed information about East Asia in history books.  I couldn't agree more with Prof. Dube's statement that we grew up learning about the Silk Road and Marco Polo mostly.  This is certainly true for me.  I learned more about the histroy of East Asia during my Book Club meetings.  I enjoyed books like Shangai Girls by Lisa See, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie.  These great reads granted me the opportunity to learn about periods of East Asian history I have not known much about.  The Little Chinese Seamstress is a great novel about two friends who have been forced to move to a mountain village for re-education during China's Cultural Revolution and how a whole new world opens up to them when they devour some banned books of Western Classics.

[Stella Castro]

Wow I was really impressed with class on Saturday the 9th. It was so interesting to learn so many new things about Asia, the economy, the culture, the names, the landscape, their dress to name a few things. The teachers also made it a great fun and interesting experience. I couldn’t believe on my drive home, how much I am looking forward to the next class. Although there was so much information to be had the one thing that stuck to my head, was how when a couple gets married, how they wear their hair. I often wondered why so many men would wear their hair up, and women would wear their hair in a bun. Now, I know, and now when I see a person wearing their hair in this manner, I know they are a married person. In addition to all the great information I learned, this detail made me knowledgeable of something I never knew. Although this may not seem important to many, it is new knowledge for myself, and I am happy that now I have my often wondered question answered.
One of the readings that was so interesting and fascinating to me was the “Treaty of Nanjing( Nanking), and how in Article II, the British, “would be allowed to reside , for the purposes of carrying on their mercantile pursuits without molestation or restraint”, this I found quite interesting, as it seemed this was a sort of back-stabbing. All of the articles were so interesting to read. I was thoroughly enjoying reading each and every word.
All the reading are top notch information. Thanks.

[Kimberly Jones]

The geography maps and power points would work great with my 6th grade curriculum.  The debate on the naming of the Sea and who is the true owner of the water is a great way to demonstrate how history is debatable depending on who is telling the story and how the different parties involved will have different ideas, versions, and reactions to the event or topic at hand. Additionally, it is a great way to intoduce the ties of the different countries in Asia. The 6th grade curriculum focuses on China and India. It would be great way to supplement the history of Korea and Japan.

[Kimberly Jones]

This article would be great to give to my students to utilize the reading strategy-"marking the text". Some essential and critical thinking questions that I would present to my students include, "Do you agree or disagree with the submission?" "Why or Why not?" " Cite text evidence to support your decision." include, "Do you agree or disagree with the rebellion?" "Why or Why not?" " Cite text evidence to support your decision."

"What are some current submissions that are required of  our military and/or citizens in the USA?"  "Do you agree or disagree with the submission?" "Why or Why not?" " Cite text evidence to support your decision."

 

"What are some current rebellions of our military/citizens/or sports teams in the USA?" "Do you agree or disagree with the rebellion?" "Why or Why not?" " Cite text evidence to support your decision."

 

 

[Carlos Oyarbide]

You don't have to be an economist to understand the impending financial doom facing Japan. With an increasingly older population and a declining birthrate, Japan must come to grips with the underlying cultural factors that have helped exacerbate the problem.

The article lays the crux of the problem at the feet of women who no longer need men for financial security. It certainly acknowledges certain male inadequacies and shortcomings to be sure. Male and female dynamics aside, the articles claims that the fundamental causes of the decline in marriage and child rates are economic. This is not surprising considering that the article is published in the Economist. 

However, there is one statistic included in the article that I feel warrants a closer look. According to the article, “Only 2% of Japanese children are born outside marriage, compared with over 40% in Britain and America.” I would argue that while the decline in marriage and birth will certainly be economically devastating for Japan, the true underlying cause of this decline has more to do with culture than economics.

                                            

The two greatest factors that I feel could offset the decline in birthrate would be to have more children out of wedlock and to increase the number of immigrants into Japan (which is not mentioned in the article but Japan’s restrictive immigration policy is widely known) 

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